Assalaamu alaykum. I work in a MNC company in Kerala. I am unmarried and am 28 years old. I saw a girl in our office compound and talked with her then. However, I know that she is married, and she is waiting for divorce. After her divorce, what are the conditions to marry that divoced girl, and what would the benefits of that be in my life in this world and the next. Please give me a advice for that.

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, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

You have to avoid this woman completely because this relationship involves the risk of committing two sharee'ah violations:

Firstly, it is impermissible for a Muslim man to have a relationship with a non-mahram (marriageable) woman outside marriage. The prohibition is further emphasized if the woman is married because it incurs fitnah (temptation) and mischief. Please refer to fatwa 81356 about the prohibition of having relationships outside marriage.

Secondly, you could be the reason for encouraging her to get a divorce either through words or actions, and this constitutes takhbeeb (turning a woman against her husband). We have previously underlined that takhbeeb is prohibited in fatwa 92056.

If it happened that this woman got a divorce, then it would be impermissible for you to marry her except after her ʻiddah (post-divorce waiting period) ends. It is impermissible and invalid to marry a divorced woman before her ʻiddah expires; please refer to fataawa 49197 and 90732.

As for the benefits gained by marrying this woman in the worldly life and the Hereafter, you should know that this matter belongs to the realm of the Unseen, the knowledge of which is only with Allaah. However, if the marriage is properly founded on the correct basis, namely the correct criteria in choosing one's spouse, taking into consideration the importance of righteousness, piety, and the like, then hopefully such a marriage yields great rewards and benefits in the worldly life and the Hereafter for both spouses. The spouses relish happiness in the worldly life and beget good offspring who will be the source of their comfort in the worldly life and the Hereafter. When they die, Allaah shall join them all in Paradise, even if their ranks are different according to their deeds in the worldly life; Allaah, The Exalted, says (what means): {And those who believed and whose descendants followed them in faith - We will join with them their descendants, and We will not deprive them of anything of their deeds. Every person, for what he earned, is retained.} [Quran 52:21]

Ibn Katheer commented on this verse, saying:

“Allaah, The Exalted, affirms His favor, generosity, compassion and beneficence towards His creation. When the offspring of the righteous believers imitate their parents regarding faith, Allaah will elevate the latter to the ranks of the former, even if the offspring did not perform deeds as good as their parents. Allaah will comfort the eyes of the parents by seeing their offspring elevated to their ranks. Surely, Allaah will gather them together in the best manner, and He will not decrease the reward of those higher in rank for joining them together.”

Allaah knows best.