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Ask The Imam Question and Answer

670 I am a Muslim woman who had a relationship with a Muslim man. I was living far away (different country) from him, and then we decided to move together and get married. We got married in the register office.

I have always insisted to get married, religiously by seeing the Imam. We lived together for 1year and 7months. Unfortunately, we got separate 5 months. I decided to leave him because he was lying, cheating and I was angry. Now he is with another woman (girlfriend).

I want to divorce him but someone has told me that I can't because we didn’t get married in the Islamic way. Is it true I can't divorce him even though we didn’t get married religiously?
We have emphasized that this forum is not adequate for advice on marriage or divorce as personal circumstances have to be considered and efforts made to start a marriage with care and consideration rather then mere desires. Also before ending a marriage it is duty of every individual to ensure no possibility of reconciliation is present as divorce is the most dislikable of the allowed thing in Islam. Therefore please take it to be a humble request to contact your local Imam to resolve such delicate issues. The Jurisdiction I will briefly explain.

Based on what you have written sister, if you and your partner had consented in taking each other to be husband and wife with the will of Allah (S.W.T) in the presence of 2 Muslim male witnesses (or 2 female and 1 male) with the presence of a Mehr (gift) then your marriage was Islamically performed. If this was not done then there is no Islamic marriage in place.

Islam allows the man to divorce his wife. If a woman wants to be separated from her husband then the woman (wife) can do Khulla (request separation with reason). It is better to speak to a local imam in person in such a scenario, who will hear both sides and advise accordingly.
Category (Marriage / Divorce)
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