Marrying the Father of the Man with Whom She Had Had Zina
Fatwa No: 85255

Question

If a person committed zina when she was young and then repented truly to Allah and lived a Muslim life, is it permissible for her to marry her zani's father if he proposes marriage? What if she is not a virgin now? and what if she committed other acts but is still a virgin? Do these make a difference and if so please say what. Thank you very much.

Answer

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.

The scholars are not agreed about the ruling on whether Zina spreads the unlawfulness of marriage to the woman with whom the man had sex or any of her female relatives such as: her daughter, aunt, etc. The reliable opinion is that it is lawful for the man who committed Zina with a woman to marry her daughter, sister, aunt, etc. as it is lawful for his father or son to marry them as well. This was reported from Ibn ‘Abbaas, may AllaAh be pleased with him. It is also the opinion of Sa’eed Ibn al-Mussayib, Yahya Ibn Yamur, ‘Urwa, Az-Zuhri, Maalik, Ash-Shaafi, Abu Thawr and Ibn Al-Munthir [You may refer to Al-Mughni]

The existence or inexistence of hymen does not affect the ruling of marriage (i.e. it is the same whether she is virgin or not virgin).

The woman in question must repent from all previous sins. She also should conceal all what happened to her from everybody above all her husband.

Allah knows best.

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