Validity of secret marriage
14-4-2009 | IslamWeb
Question:
Salam Dear Scholar, I prayed istikhara and secretly married a man 2 years ago from a different country and we have never lived together or are still not together. Now my family has got a marriage proposal for me from another brother and the person i had the nikah with contacted my father and my father said i can go and live with him(fiance) in his country,but despite loving him feel confused and scared.The other brother has been informed about my nikah and is still interested.I don't know what to do, repeat istikhara or just go and start living with my fiance. Thank you for your answer.
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.
If what happened with the first man was that the marriage contract took place with the consent of the guardian and the presence of two trustworthy witnesses, then the marriage is correct, and this is not the secret marriage which was prohibited by the scholars 
. Subsequently, you are a wife to that man and you are not permitted to marry another man as long as you are still his wife, and you are obliged to reside where your husband resides.
However, if the marriage took place without the consent of the guardian and the presence of two witnesses, then the marriage is void because there are some conditions for a correct marriage that should be fulfilled, the most important of which are the consent of the guardian and the presence of two witnesses. Therefore, this marriage should be invalidated whether by the husband or by the Islamic court and it is not permissible for you to marry another man before this.
If this marriage is invalidated, you may marry the first man or the second man, but if this second man is a religious man who has a good moral conduct and he resides in the same country as you, then it is more appropriate for you to marry him because in this case he will let you live among your family generally, and this may be a reason for the stability and continuity of the marital life. However, if you want to marry any one of them, then you should perform Istikhaarah prayer before going ahead with the marriage. For details about performing Istikhaarah prayer, refer to Fatwa 81434.
Allaah Knows best.