Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Salam be on to you and the Muslim Uhma,

Please help answer this question as soon as you can.

I am a divorcee. There is this man who has proposed to me 9 months after the break up of my first marriage. He has discussed this with his parents seeking their consent and assistant to marry me. His uncle who is now his Wali was a bit difficult because he once chooses a woman for him to marry and he turns it down.  So he asked him to wait for a time that is too long for both of us to wait without any reason.

While waiting for the uncle’s approval, unfortunately, on two occasions we kissed and cuddled but nothing more than that. Am please asking if this marriage can still take place and be blessed as a marriage in Islam.

I know marriage is a very important thing in our deen, so I want to marry according to my religion and expect earning the blessings of Allah (SWT). This is a thing we both regret so much.

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Answer:

Couple wishing to marry meet alone

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Question: ….While waiting for the uncle’s approval, unfortunately, on two occasions we kissed and cuddled but nothing more than that.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 5:

(Lawful unto you in marriage) are (not only) chaste women who are believers but chaste women among the People of the Book revealed before your time when ye give them their due dowers and desire chastity not lewdness nor secret intrigues. If anyone rejects faith fruitless is his work and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 3118 Narrated by Umar ibn al-Khattab

The Prophet (saws) said, "Whenever a man is alone with a (non-mehram) woman, the Shaytaan makes the third."

Islam has categorically prohibited that two members of the opposite sex casually meet, talk, or interact alone; unless there is absolutely genuine and valid reason to do so.

If the two of you casually met, talked, and interacted and your emotions got the better of you and you touched, kissed, or cuddled….indeed the two of you are guilty of transgressing the Prescribed Boundaries of Allah Subhanah! It is only prudent that if the two of you sincerely fear Allah and the Last Day, you should turn unto Him in sincere ‘taubah’ and seek repentance and abstain from such illicit meetings and interactions until you are bonded with each other in the sacred bond of marriage.

If you are indeed sincere in seeking repentance, it is expected that you will find your Lord Forgiving and Merciful.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale Imraan verse 135-136:

Allah likes such good people very much, who, if ever they commit a base deed or wrong their own soul by the commission of a sin, remember Allah instantly, and ask for forgiveness from Him for their shortcomings. For who, but Allah, can forgive sins? (And Allah loves those) who do not knowingly persist in the wrongs they did. These will be rewarded with forgiveness from Allah, and with Gardens beneath which canals flow, and they will reside therein forever! How excellent is the reward of those who do good deeds!

Your Question: …Am please asking if this marriage can still take place and be blessed as a marriage in Islam.

As grave and as heinous your transgression might be in the Sight of Allah Subhanah, your illicit meeting and interaction with the person by itself does not prohibit you in the least from seeking to marry the person of your choice….provided all the legal obligations of a marriage are scrupulously honored.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan