Non-Muslim cannot be Wali (guardian) of a Muslim woman in marriage contract Fatwa No: 225424
- Fatwa Date:5-11-2013
Assalam o alaikum w.w. thank fully i found this site. so i can clear my doubt i have on my mind always. I married to a girl she converted to islam. Allhamdhulillah she is practicing muslim now. She love islam n following with dedication. But before she met me she had a son of 5yrs with her ex boyfriend.Since she arranged our marriage with imam i didn't know any rule about marriage in islam i trusted imam and we married in front of her family and brothers in islam were there. But the imam used her father ( christian ) as wali. and brother in islam and her father (christian) signed the witness. later i found in few days witness must be muslim so i asked imam that her father can not be witness. so imam said he will include muslim brother to sign as witness. may be he wasn't there as witness at the time of our wedding. my qtn is now is our marriage valid? bcoz her father was a wali.if not what should i do now? should i marry her again?
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. We have already clarified the conditions of marriage in Fatwa 83629, so please refer to it. Among the most important of these conditions is the presence and consent of the Wali (guardian) and the presence of witnesses. According to what you mentioned, there is no problem regarding witnesses since a number of Muslims attended the marriage contract, and by this, the attestation of the marriage contract was achieved. The problem is with respect to the guardian as long as that woman became a Muslim before the performance of the marriage contract, which is evidently the case with this question. It is not Islamically permissible for a non-Muslim man to marry off a Muslim woman even if he is her father, as it is a condition that the guardian of a Muslim woman be a Muslim himself. For more details, please refer to Fatwa 86524. Therefore, it is an obligation to renew the contract in a valid manner, and an Islamic judge – or whoever may act on his behalf – should marry off this woman. If there is no Islamic judge, then a trustworthy Muslim man whom she would appoints, should marry her off. Finally, it should be mentioned that the marriage contract cannot be conducted if the guardian is one of the only two witnesses, as his testimony would naturally be biased to the woman under his guardianship. Also, it is a condition that the witness be present at the meeting of the contract. Allaah Knows best.