Fatwa: # 15791
Category: Marriage (Nikah)
Country: South Africa
Date: 31st October 2007

Title

South African wants to marry a Pakistani

Question

A friend of mine introduced a friend of his to me, the guy is Pakistani, and now this man would like to marry me, i am a South African Muslim woman who has never been married, nor do i have any children. i don't know whether or not to consider this man's proposal because in this country fake marriages are rife. i am however taking the time to get to know this Pakistani Man. Our level of communication is very bad, he doesnt speak English well and i dont know how to speak Urdu. i dont know anything about his home land except for what he has been telling me. what i am worried about is if i should decide to marry this man, what would happen if he does have a wife and family in his homeland?

Answer

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Assalaamu `alaykum waRahmatullahi Wabarakatoh

You are a female. The person from is a male. We do not know whether your friend is a male or female. If it is a female then it means the person is her friend which is wrong and Islamically unacceptable. If it is a male, then it means you have a male friend which is also Islamically unacceptable. Shariah prohibits friendship of the opposite gender. It is not free of fitna.

Nevertheless, reverting to your query, we advise you to be cautious. There are many foreigners in our own country who marry local women. Some are honest and sincere but many are not. In many instances, foreigners marry local women and after having achieved their objectives (whatever they may be) they abandon their wives and return to their country. The matter becomes worse if she has a child/children from the foreigner. Many local women have been in such a predicament and then request for the annulment of their marriages. You should not be hasty in your decision. We strongly advise local woman who marry foreigners to enter into a pre-marital contract of (Tafweez-ul-Talaq) wherein the autonomy of talaq subject to certain conditions given to a responsible person from the girl’s family or to an esteemed organization like the different Jamiats. This is merely to ensure getting talaq in a situation of being abandoned. However, it is upon you to guard yourself from being a victim of such a situation. Consult with appropriate family members and decide with caution.

And Allah knows best

Wassalam

Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Darul Iftaa

DISCLAIMER - AskImam.org questions
AskImam.org answers issues pertaining to Shar'ah. Thereafter, these questions and answers are placed for public view on www.askimam.org for educational purposes. However, many of these answers are unique to a particular scenario and cannot be taken as a basis to establish a ruling in another situation or another environment. Askimam.org bears no responsibility with regards to these questions being used out of their intended context.
  • The Shar's ruling herein given is based specifically on the question posed and should be read in conjunction with the question.
  • AskImam.org bears no responsibility to any party who may or may not act on this answer and is being hereby exempted from loss or damage howsoever caused.
  • This answer may not be used as evidence in any Court of Law without prior written consent of AskImam.org.
  • Any or all links provided in our emails, answers and articles are restricted to the specific material being cited. Such referencing should not be taken as an endorsement of other contents of that website.
The Messenger of Allah said, "When Allah wishes good for someone, He bestows upon him the understanding of Deen."
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]