Question

Assalamu 3alaikom wr wb; I'm married with a non-muslim woman, and she lives abroad; I want her to come and live with but to do so, she'll have to make her "shahada"without trully believe in islam, just to have a muslim certificate; So, my question is...if she do so, have I any responsability in what she'll do after her shahada?(not wear hijab,not pray,and more then everything..Responsability in helping her to lie, and make her self a muslim when she is not? Shukran

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.

First of all, it should be mentioned that it is not permissible to marry a non-Muslim woman unless she is of the People of the Book, and is free and chaste. The woman whom you mentioned in the question –as well as every non-Muslim –is obliged to embrace Islam and utter the Two Testimonies of Faith, which is to say: "Ash-Hadu Allaa Ilaaha Illallaah Wa Ash-Hadu Anna Muhammadan Rasoolullaah" (I testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah), while believing in it and acting according to it. As regards uttering this declaration without believing in its meaning, but just for a worldly benefit, then this is the very hypocrisy, and it will not benefit her in the sight of Allah.

Besides, you should know that if she utters the Two Testimonies of Faith without believing in it, she remains a non-Muslim in reality even though she apparently is considered as a Muslim.

At the time of the Prophet there were hypocrites in Madeenah and Allah informed him of the names of some of them, despite this, the Prophet used to deal with them as Muslims in regard to the rulings of this world, like marriage, inheritance and the like.

In conclusion, such a woman is ruled to be a Muslim but if she does not act according to the Two Testimonies of Faith, like establishing the prayer, she will be ruled to be an apostate and the Hadd (i.e. the corporal punishment determined by the Islamic Law) of apostasy should be applied on her. Moreover, your marriage contract with her becomes void because it in not permissible to continue the marriage with an apostate woman, and it is not permissible for you to allow her to cheat the Muslims if you know that she lies and insists on disbelief.

Furthermore, her receiving a certificate as being a Muslim while in reality she is not, may lead her to abusing the religious rulings because becoming a Muslim involves many Islamic rulings, like inheritance and so forth. In addition to this, allowing her to deceive the Muslims, is in reality allowing her to become a hypocrite and misuse the religion. Therefore, we advise you to endeavour to call this woman to Islam so that she would embrace Islam with true belief and sincerity. However, if she insists on disbelief and you know this from her, then it is not permissible for you to bring her to that country as a Muslim while in reality she is not.

Allah Knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb