al salamoalaykom I am a muslim born in algeria and live in canada I maried a non muslim because she was pregnant with my daugter and now I have 2 kids with her one 9 years and 7 I am not with her any more cause I am practessing my religion wa alhamdo lilah, better than before and she doesnt like that I am in prosses to mary a muslim women wa al hamdo lilah but my kids are been raised by there mam who dont want them to b muslim I only see them ones in a week or less because it herts me to see my kids been raised non muslim I know its my faut cause I was doing al haram and I had tham with al haram but am trying to be good and hope allah will forgive me. am just a lable father cant do anything in a non muslim contry.please advise me what to do leave them with ther mom or accept the fact or stick a round and try my best and what happen to me if my kids endup no muslim wa aleado be allah thank you

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

First of all, we congratulate you upon your repentance, and may Allaah reward you for willing to remain steadfast on the Path of Allaah, and we ask Him to prevent you from straying in the future.

We did not clearly understand you, as on one hand you say that you are married to this woman and on the other hand you say that the children are a result of an illegal relationship with her. Anyway, if they are a result of an illegal relationship, they should not be traced back to you, and you do not have any responsibility towards them. They should be traced back to their mother and they are considered like her in regard to their religion.

For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 89082.

However, if there is any reason for tracing them back to you, like if they are resulted from a correct marriage, or a marriage which you believed to be correct, then they should be considered as Muslims because they should be traced back to you in this case. Hence, you should not leave them with their mother and you are obliged to do your best to take the children away from her using any means without causing any harm to yourself. If you are unable to do so, then you should establish a strong relationship with them as much as you can. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 89418 and 81957.

Since the matter is a little bit ambiguous, then you should contact the scholars in your country and clarify to them your case so that they would issue a Fatwa to you accordingly.

Finally, it should be noted that there are many temptations for a Muslim in residing in a non-Muslim country. Therefore, if there is no necessity or dire need for him to reside there, he should migrate to a Muslim country where he would feel safe about his religion.