Marriage through the Internet Fatwa No: 85892
- Fatwa Date:9-6-2003
Whats your opinion of a married Muslim man who decides to take a second wife whom he met through Internet and she is agreed to accept Islam and live with him without causing any harm to his first wife?
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.
Marrying through the Internet is full of risks as none of the two partners knows the other sufficiently. The matter becomes more dangerous and the picture becomes dimmer when the woman in question is a non-Muslim who is promising to become Muslim in the future. Marrying through the Internet with such a lady can be a depravity. But there can be an advantage if this lady will become Muslim as she might become a good Muslim and do a lot for this religion. Here, we have a conflict between a depravity and a benefit. But the benefit is greater. However, there is fear that it might not be achieved as this lady might become Muslim and she might not. She might also become a good Muslim as she might stay on the customs and traditions of her disbelieving people and gets satisfied by the name of Islam without its content. It is better for anyone who wants to marry to look for chaste pious Muslim ladies who are numerous. Anyway, if this lady is from the People of the Book and she is chaste, then it is lawful to marry her. But if she is not from the People of the Book, it is unlawful to marry her unless she becomes Muslim.
Allah knows best.