Assalaamu alaykum. I had some doubt regarding the reality of the world around me after reading a science article which stated that things are not real and are a mere dream. So then I thought: is Islam for real? Is my wife whom I married real? So I had a doubt, but my heart was not at rest, and I wanted to believe that Islam was real. I researched this subject for two weeks and concluded that the science article was absolutely inaccurate and had no basis and that the world was real and Islam in fact was real and my wife and the marriage which I had with her was real. I want to know that the fact that I doubted whether my marriage had taken place in reality and that she was my wife meant that a divorce had taken place by me thinking or doubting my marriage/wife? I renewed my testimony of faith and my marriage contract as well. So, how many divorces do I have left with her after this? Did I go out of the fold of Islam when I doubted these things given that I did not have the conviction that what the article was saying was true; rather, I kept inclining towards Islam as I thought that I must have been misunderstanding things? Was I still a Muslim during those 2 weeks? Was it Waswaas (devilish whisperings/obsessive doubts) or disbelief? Please help me.

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

If this doubt was just a thought that crossed your mind but did not settle in your heart and you disliked it, which is what seems apparent to us, then it does not harm you and does not take you out of the fold of Islam. But if it was a real doubt that removed the certainty that Islam is true from your heart, then it is a doubt that takes you out of the fold of Islam.

However, as long as you have returned to the truth and repented, then repentance wipes out the sins committed before it. Your marriage bond is still intact, whether the matter was only a passing doubt or a doubt that takes one out of the fold of Islam, as long as you have repented before your wife's ʻIddah (post-divorce waiting period) expired. If you had not divorced her earlier, then you still have three divorces left. No consideration is given to your doubt regarding the reality of your marriage and the reality of your wife; divorce does not take effect because of that.

Allah knows best.