I am living in Pakistan and my wife is living in U.S.A. We met on the Internet and we got married. None of her relatives are living here but she is Muslim. I want to know if we are married. She appointed someone (her deputy) to marry her with me over phone. Still we haven't met. Please help me. Imam said we are married and we have a marriage certificate.

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.

Everyone who decides to marry should search for a pious, religious, noble and chaste woman. No doubt, to be certain that a woman has such qualities through the Internet or from a far distance is next to impossible.

Know that the matter of marriage is of major importance in Islam. It is not permissible to marry a woman based on contact through means of communication only. The consent of her guardian is a compulsory condition for the validity of her marriage.

Therefore, the procedure you followed in your marriage is not correct, thus the marriage is invalid. The Prophet said: “Any woman who got married without the consent of her guardian, her marriage is invalid.” [Ibn Hibbaan and Al-Haakim]

The Prophet also said: “If a woman marries herself without having the permission of her guardian, her marriage is invalid (and he repeated this thrice).” [Al-Haakim]

However, if you want to marry this woman, then you should ask her guardian to marry her off to you. He can appoint someone legally (as approved in Sharee’ah) to marry her off to you on his behalf. This is the legal way of marriage, otherwise the marriage would be considered invalid.

For more benefit on marriage through the phone, please refer to Fataawa 370909, 338692, 83629, and 133687.

Also, for more benefit on a woman’s marriage without guardian, please refer to Fataawa 92758, 85057, 226429, 132754, and 269080.

Allah knows best.