Is it permissible to get married to a girl with whom one has had Zina(fornication)?

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 is His slave and Messenger.

Whoever commits Zina (adultery/fornication) with a woman should make sincere repentance. After doing so, if he wants to marry this woman, he cannot do so until she also turns to Allah in repentance and her ‘Iddah (waiting period) comes to an end. In this case, her ‘Iddah may be up to three months (from one to three according to various opinions) or until the birth of the child if she is pregnant. This period of waiting is legislated because the sperm from the act of Zina is considered forbidden, disrespected, dishonorable and should not be mixed with the lawful, legal, honorable, and respected fluid discharged during marriage. The issue of when the pregnancy occurs is important because all scholars agree that the child born from illegal intercourse (Zina) cannot be traced to the father. Other scholars, however, say that waiting is not compulsory for such a woman to make certain that she is not pregnant, if she desires to marry the man with whom she committed Zina. They base their opinion on a narration that in the time of Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq a couple committed Zina and he whipped them both one hundred times and married them at the same place. Ibn ‘Abbaas said in this concern: “Its beginning is Zina and its ending is marriage.”

The predominant opinion according to the Sharee’ah; however, is the first one, so that the child born of Zina is not traced falsely to the wrong person.

For more benefit on the marriage of a fornicator (adulterer) with the woman he committed Zina before repentance, please refer to Fataawa 329617, 188393, 158403, 135767, 95615, 405622, 148021, 378067 and 86903.

Allah knows best.