Marrying one's ex-step-mother-in-law
Fatwa No: 143611

Question

is it permissible for someone to marry his step motherinlaw who is now divorced from his father inlaw?

Answer

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.

It is permissible for a man to marry the wife of his father-in-law if the father-in-law has separated from her and she completed her waiting period from him because there is no family lineage between him [the man] and her. In principle, it is permissible to marry any woman unless there is evidence that it is forbidden. Imaam Ash-Shaafi’i said: “It is permissible for a man to marry at the same time a woman and her (ex) step-mother; many scholars of our school of jurisprudence said this.”

Since it is permissible for a man to marry at the same time a woman and her ex-step-mother, then it is more appropriate for him to marry the step-mother of his wife after having separated from his wife or after her death, because since it is permissible to combine (in marriage) a woman with another woman, it is permissible, with greater reason, to marry her separately.

Allaah Knows best.

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