Knowledge Every Muslim Should Know (Book One)

Married to One Who Does Not Pray

MARRIED TO ONE WHO DOES NOT PRAY

The questioner asks regarding her sister being married to a man who doesn't pray.

Praise be to Allaah.
It is not permissible to stay with a husband who is like this, because by neglecting the salaah (prayer) he is a kaafir, and it is not permissible for a Muslim woman to marry a kaafir or stay with him. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“… if you ascertain that they [women] are true believers, send them not back to the disbelievers, they are not lawful (wives) for the disbelievers nor are the disbelievers lawful (husbands) for them…” [al-Mumtahinah 60:10]

The marriage between you and him is null and void, and there can be no nikaah (marriage) between you unless Allaah guides him and he repents to Allaah and comes back to Islam. In that case the marriage will remain valid. The husband’s conduct is not correct, and it seems to me that he is suffering from some kind of (mental) illness, namely paranoia and waswaas (insinuating whispers of the Shaytaan) from which some people suffer with regard to their worship and their dealings with others. Nothing will get rid of this sickness but remembering Allaah (dhikr), seeking refuge in Him and putting one’s trust in Him to get rid of it. What matters is that for your part, you have to leave him and not stay with him, because he is a kaafir and you are a believer. With regard to your husband, we advise him to come back to his religion and to seek refuge with Allaah from the accursed Shaytaan, and to try to recite some beneficial du’aa’s with which to rid his heart of this waswaas. We ask Allaah to help him.

From the Fataawa of Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, in al-Da’wah magazine, no. 1709, p. 34

Praise be to Allaah.
If the husband does not pray then it is not permissible for your sister to stay with him, because the one who does not pray is a kaafir according to the sounder of the two scholarly opinions.

If he did not pray during the marriage, then the marriage is not valid but the child is to be attributed to him because she was born as the result of a marriage which both partners thought was valid.

If he stopped praying after getting married and continued not praying until her ‘iddah ended, then the marriage is annulled. But if he repents and starts to pray, she can go back to him on the basis of a new marriage contract if she agrees to.

Some of the scholars say: if he repents and starts to pray, he may go back to her even if that is after the ‘iddah has ended, so long as she has not got married to another husband.

From this you will know that according to sharee‘ah there is no need for a divorce (talaaq) from him, but because she is regarded as his wife in official papers and that has an impact on inheritance between them and preventing her from marrying someone else, she has to try to get the divorce even if she has to give him money so that he will divorce her.

With regard to the child, the mother is entitled to custody.

The husband should be advised to repent to Allah, may He be exalted, and to pray. He should be told that his wife is not permissible for him until he starts to pray. If he repents, praise be to Allah, but if he remains as he is then your sister should try to get a divorce and she can refer the matter to the court and ask for divorce because he is not spending on her and because of the harm caused.

We ask Allah to grant her a way out.

And Allah knows best.