Asalamu aleikum. I am 21 years old living at home. At the age of 18 I met a Muslim (from those who curse the companions of the Prophet SAWS) at my college and we fell in love. He wanted to ask for my hand but my dad refused to meet him. I begged my dad to meet him just once but he said he to keep dating him as long as there is nothing serious between us. I continued to date him and when after I turned 19 we went to a masjid belonging to his sect where the sheikh married us. (with my consent). We told the sheikh that I was living alone and supporting myself which was false. He also did not ask me how much I wanted for the dowry but he gave me a small Quran which I accepted. After that we did not move in together and I am still a virgin. Is the marriage contract valid? I really need an answer as I have not been able to live a normal life since. jazakAllah khayr.

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.

There are some conditions that must be met for the marriage contract to be valid, the most important of which are the consent (and presence) of the guardian and the presence of two witnesses; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 83629.  If the situation is as you mentioned in the question, that this marriage took place without the consent of your guardian, then it is a void marriage.

Therefore, it must be ended either by your husband divorcing you, or if he does not wish to do so, then an Islamic judge or whoever acts on his behalf would invalidate your marriage, as there is a controversy regarding its validity, so to end it, it must be invalidated; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 92478.

Therefore, you are obligated to repent to Allaah for lying and for disobeying your father’s order and marrying without his permission.

Finally, we would like to point to the following matters:

1-     For details regarding the ruling on marrying an innovator, please refer to Fatwa 87880.

2-     Your father is wrong by allowing you [as his daughter] to continue the relationship with that young man outside marriage.

3-     We advise you to marry a religious man who has a good moral conduct, because if such a person loves his wife, he would honor her and if he hates her, he would not mistreat her.  

Allaah Knows best.