She committed zina with a Christian, then she married a Muslim – what is the ruling on the children they produce?

 

She committed zina with a Christian, then she married a Muslim – what is the ruling on the children they produce?

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A Muslim girl lived with a Christian man without any marriage contract for a period of time, then she left him and married a Muslim. What is the ruling on what she did? 


Is she permissible for her Muslim husband? What is the ruling on the children that she has with her Muslim husband? Peace be on those who follow true guidance.

 

Praise be to Allaah.
 

 

This woman has to repent to
Allaah from the sins and evil actions that she has committed, regret that
deeply, resolve never to do it again, and do as many righteous deeds as she
can, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“And verily, I am indeed forgiving to him who repents,
believes (in My Oneness, and associates none in worship with Me) and does
righteous good deeds, and then remains constant in doing them (till his
death)”

[Ta-Ha 20:82] 

1 – The Islamic ruling on
that is clear: zina is an immoral action and a major sin, and a
reprehensible crime for which a person deserves the curse, anger and wrath
of Allaah for transgressing His sacred limits; and deserves His punishment
in this world by being given one hundred lashes if he or she is not
previously-married, and being stoned to death if he or she was
previously-married. We ask Allaah to keep us safe and sound. 

But whoever commits any such
action then repents sincerely to Allaah, his bad deeds will be turned to
good deeds. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“And those who invoke not any other ilaah (god) along with
Allaah, nor kill such person as Allaah has forbidden, except for just cause,
nor commit illegal sexual intercourse
and whoever does this shall receive the punishment.

69. The torment will be
doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein in
disgrace;

70. Except those who
repent and believe (in Islamic Monotheism), and do righteous deeds; for
those, Allaah will change their sins into good deeds, and Allaah is
Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful”

[al-Furqaan 25:68-70] 

2 – With regard to her
marriage to a Muslim man, if it was done after she repented and established
that she was not pregnant as a result of zina, then there is nothing wrong
with that, otherwise it is haraam, because it is not permissible to marry a
woman who is known to have committed zina until after she has repented and
established that she is not pregnant by waiting one menstrual cycle,
according to the most correct scholarly view. The Hanbalis and Maalikis are
of the view that she should establish she is not pregnant by waiting three
menstrual cycles, as in the case of a woman who is divorced by talaaq. The
former view was narrated from Ahmad (may Allaah have mercy on him) and was
favoured by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him), and
is supported by the report which speaks of establishing that a female
prisoner of war (i.e., a woman captured by the Muslim army in a war against
the kuffaar) is not pregnant, which was narrated from Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri
(may Allaah be pleased with him) who said that the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said concerning the female
prisoners of Awtaas: “No one should have intercourse with a pregnant
(concubine) until she has given birth, or with one who is not pregnant until
one menstrual cycle has passed.” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in
Saheeh Abi Dawood. 

The benefit of establishing
that she is not pregnant by waiting one menstrual cycle is to ensure that
she is not pregnant as a result of zina, so that the “water” (semen) of
marriage will not be mixed with that of an immoral relationship. 

If he married her during the
time when it had not yet been established whether she was pregnant or not,
then the marriage should be annulled until that has been established, after
which he may marry her if he wants. 

3 – With regard to the ruling
on the children, doubts apply only to the first pregnancy after the
marriage. If she gave birth to a child after less than six months from the
date of the marriage, then according to sharee’ah the child cannot be
attributed to the husband or named after him, because that falls short of
the minimum length of pregnancy which is six months. 

If she gave birth six months
or more from the date of the marriage, then the child should be attributed
to the husband and is regarded as his son, even if she married without
having repented or establishing that she was not pregnant, so the child
should be named after the husband in this case. 

See al-Mughni, 7/108;
al-Fataawa al-Kubra by Ibn Taymiyah, 3/176; Mawaahib al-Jaleel,
3/413

It should also be noted that
the basic principle concerning the phrase “Peace be upon those who follow
true guidance” is that it should be said to a kaafir when writing to him,
not to a Muslim. 

It says in Kishshaaf
al-Qinaa’ (3/130): If a person writes a letter to a kaafir and wants to
include a greeting in it, he should write “Peace be upon those who follow
true guidance”, because that carries a comprehensive meaning. 

The Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to use this phrase when he wrote to
the kings around him such as Chosroes, Caesar and al-Muqawqis. 

And Allaah knows best.