If a man had illegal sexual intercourse with a woman, and then he gets married to his wife a year later (not the same woman with whom he had sexual Intercourse) without performing Ghusl (ritual bath), is his marriage invali? This is because the man did not know how Ghusl is performed and only learned this after marriage. Before his marriage, he was a bad Muslim who made mistakes and was far away from Islam. Therefore, he had no idea how Ghusl is to be performed. All he knew is that if he has a wet dream, he has to take a shower. So is his marriage valid if he was not in state of Ghusl at the time of the wedding because he had sex with another woman a year ago? Obviously he did shower and take baths during that year. Thanks

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

First of all, this man must repent to Allah for having committed illegal sexual intercourse. Please refer to fatwa 86527 about the conditions of sincere repentance. If he has repented to Allah of this sin, then he has done well, and we ask Allah to bless him with more guidance and righteousness. He should keenly avoid whatever leads to Fitnah (temptation) in the future.

There are a number of conditions for the validity of the marriage. We have previously underlined these conditions in fatwa 83629, and purification from Janaabah (major ritual impurity) is not one of these conditions. However, if the man was not performing the obligatory prayers at the time of his marriage, then scholars held different views regarding the validity of his marriage based on their difference of opinion regarding the ruling on the person who does not pray and whether he is declared a disbeliever on account of this or not. The majority of the scholars held that the Muslim who does not pray is not declared a disbeliever, contrary to the famous view of the Hanbalis. According to the view of the majority of the scholars, the marriage is valid.

If this man abandoned the prayer during this period or performed the prayers without proper purification, then scholars held different views as to whether he is required to make up for all the past prayers or not. The majority of the scholars held that he must make up for all the past prayers. If he cannot remember the exact number of prayers, he should perform prayers until he believes that he has most likely cleared his liability from this obligation.

Ibn Qudaamah wrote, "If the missed acts of worship are too many, he should engage in making up for them unless this causes him harm in his body or wealth; i.e. it weakens his body or makes him ill, or he stops earning a living or is harmed by that. Imaam Ahmad stated this meaning, so if he does not know how many prayers he has to make up for, he repeats until he is certain that he has cleared himself of his liability."

Shaykhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah underlined that whoever abandons the prayer or neglects any of its conditions out of ignorance is not required to make up for it and should observe the conditions in his future prayers.

However, the view of the majority of the scholars is more prudent in terms of clearing yourself of your liability.

Allah knows best.