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Fatwa CenterWants to know if he is still married
Question
In 2000 I went to Jordan to get married to a Syrian girl. This was an arranged marriage. Two weeks after meeting her we did the Kaatib al-Kitaab. We spent another two weeks together as husband and wife but we had not consummated the marriage. When I came back to the states I decided not to apply for her papers and thus divorce her. From Jordan, she went back to Syria and married another man. It has been 4 years now. Am I still considered married to her?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
If your marriage with this woman has been concluded with its conditions and pillars, the most important of which is the presence of the Wali (guardian) and the two witnesses, then this woman has become your wife. So if you have not divorced her by uttering the expression 'you are divorced' or by writing this same expression with the intention of divorcing her, or she has not taken the case to an Islamic judge who gave her divorce after fulfilling the conditions of divorce on the absent husband, then she is still considered your wife and divorce does not take place just by intending it. We do not know on what basis she married the other person, therefore a Fatwa would be of no use in this case, rather the case should be taken to Islamic courts. So you have to refer to an Islamic court in
Allaah knows best.
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