Remarrying but no divorce papers from previous marriage
Salaams,
My friend was divorced 9 years ago by her husband verbally saying Taliq 3 times. She wants to remarry now but ex husband won't produce taliq papers. He has married again after divorcing my friend, and divorced his second wife and now he married 3rd time. My questions are:
1) - Can she remarry without documents as all she is bothered about is the second marriage being ok in the eyes of Allah (SWT).
2) - Because she has been married before; how many witnesses are needed.
3) - Does she have to be present when marrying for second time. She does not want to celebrate her wedding but marry legal in Islam.
Salaam,
ZahRa88
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Salaams,
The issue of having divorce papers has more to do with civil law than Islamic Shariah. In Islam, the verbal utterance of divorce by a man is sufficient to be divorced, and this is honored by Allah. However, some countries will require proof of divorce on paper if they have some type of legal record of the marriage, in order for someone to remarry. If the sister in question never registered her first marriage with the country she married in, then they wouldn't need any type of divorce papers and in the eyes of the government she would be considered single. So to answers your questions:
1. If the sister is getting strictly an Islamic marriage, with no government involvement or documents, she does not need divorce papers from the previous marriage in order for the new marriage to be valid in the eyes of Allah.
However, if the sister is registering the marriage with her local government, she will need proof of divorce ONLY if the previous marriage was also registered with the government.
2. Previous marriages do not change the amount of witnesses that need to be present at a nikkah. It will still need to be two male witnesses.
3. A woman must be present at her marriage, in order to give consent. In some cases where it's a first marriage, the wali can be present on her behalf. However, since this lady is already divorced, she doesn't technically need a wali to represent her interests but can speak on her own behalf. In order to do so she must be present at the nikkah, regardless of what kind of walimah (celebration) she has or doesn't have afterwards.
And on that note, having a walimah is a sunnah in Islam. Even if she doesn't want to have a big celebration, it would be best if she at least have a small gathering of a few close friends and/or family for tea and sweets. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate at all, but following the sunnah is always better than foregoing it.
-Amy
IslamicAnswers.com Editor
Thankyou for the information you provided.
Jazakallah khair
Amy the information you provided is correct if there was no legal proof of the lady being married in her home country then she was single all the time. Islamically she is divorced and can remarry my friend has been in this situation and the guy did sign papers, whether he provides papers or not i believe you would be fine to remarry has your marriage was invalid for your home country law.
Asalam alaikum,
Am Maimoonah from Uganda,I separated from my husband two years now with only one divorce by word from my him,he sent a letter and my father forbed me from opening it(I haven't heard from my husband since he sent me to my parents house) and it was taken back but all this while he was away. Am confused,do I need a divorce certificate to remarry(my marriage was officiated in a mosque with legal documentation). Please help me