My questsion is the following: my husband hid his actual parents at the time of marriage as he was born in a Christian family and was adopted by a Muslim family. At the time of marriage, however, we were totally unaware about the facts. He told me after some time that he is an adopted kid. My husband is Muslim but does not offer prayers and fast regularly. Please guide me; is my marriage to him valid given that the marriage certificate contains the names of his adoptive parents? We have two kids now.

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. 

We have previously underlined the conditions of the valid marriage contract in Islam in fatwa 83629. If the marriage contract was conducted in accordance with these conditions, then it is valid, even if the husband is not attributed to his real father in the contract. This does not affect the validity of the marriage contract.

However, your husband should correct this situation. We remind him of the hadeeth narrated by Abu Tharr in which the Prophet, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, said, “If a man claims to be the son of other than his real father knowingly, then he is committing kufr (disbelief). And whoever claims to belong to a people to whom he does not belong, let him take his place in Hellfire.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

We advise you to try your best to guide your husband and try to convince him kindly; you can also seek the help of reliable scholars, pious people, relatives, and friends to clarify the importance of prayer and fasting  to him, as well as the seriousness of neglecting them. Please refer to the directions in fataawa 88016 and 88932.

Allaah knows best.