Some questions about the Islamic rules of divorce and remarriage
Divorce through the Court
Salaam Alaikum,
There wasn't a single question I needed an answer to, but rather a few questions.
First of all, I am new to Islam and I am making a study for myself. My fiance is very understanding of me, and he did not ever ask me to convert; this is something I did on my own because it is simply my choice. I live in America and he is from Pakistan but currently living in Abu Dhabi. I trust him on most of his knowledge, but I am often finding that there are many things about Islam he did not know, or maybe he pretends not to know because he did not expect me to know. I feel sometimes maybe I embarrass him.
All praise and glory be to Allah, because he is the one true God and Muhammed (peace be upon him) is His messenger.
That being said, I will start my questions here:
I was married before, and my husband abandoned me. This was a legal marriage in the courts in United States. Because of the laws involving divorce, I have to be legally separated from my husband for one year before I was able to apply for a divorce.
My year was up in January and I wanted to apply for the divorce. When I went to apply, the lawyer told me I would need some 2500 dollars to file. I did not have this money. I feel bad asking my fiance for the money because this is not his problem, it is mine. Also, he even offered it to me once before and I told him no I will do this myself because it is my responsibility.
Am I WRONG to not accept his help?
Next question, regarding the same issues...
My fiance told me I am able to marry Islamically even if I don't have an official divorce because my previous marriage was not through Islam. I do not believe this to be correct so I did study and the only information I was able to find so far was about a woman's waiting period after her divorce. My time away from my husband has been much longer than the required waiting time, but I think because it was a LEGAL marriage, I still need to obtain a LEGAL divorce before I am married again through Islam, is this correct or was he correct?
Please, with any help that is given, quote the hadith that involves the answer so that I may see this myself and become knowledgeable for myself. It is important for me that I am able to find answers on my own, even though I do still seek the knowledge of others.
Thank you for accepting my question and I am patiently awaiting your response.
-SabahAlkhir
3 Responses »
Leave a Response
Entries(RSS)
salaam
I believe you are right about needing a legal divorce but i also believe that like myself that you should go to your local mosque and ask for the person that deals with divorce and ask him .
jazakala khair
From a legal perspective in the US you need to be divorced per US law prior to any marriage (Islamic or not). If you marry your fiance prior to your divorce, you will not be able to sponsor him as your husband for entrance into this country as your marriage to him will predate your divorce. If your marriage to fiance occurs before legal US divorce, immigration will NOT consider the marriage to be valid.
As for filing fees...you can go to a court house clerks office and file yourself for around 400.00. You do not need to have a lawyer. Lawyers are more important with regard to property settlement and child custody issues. If there is no property or children from your first marriage, then just go and file for divorce yourself and save yourself some money. The clerks in your local courthouse office can help you with the paperwork.
Salaams,
Lydia is right, you can file on your own for much less than an attorney would charge. Depending on where you live, it might not even be $400--I know in my county the filing fees are $80 with an additional $25 for sherriff's service of papers.
If you want an Islamic marriage for the purposes of being halal for each other to circumvent obvious temptations, then you can go ahead and have one without a legal divorce if it's been more than 3 months since your conversion. Once you convert, since you are still technically married by law, your spouse would have that amount of time to convert and preserve the marriage. If that time has passed and your first husband is still non-Muslim, your marriage automatically becomes invalid Islamically and you are free to marry whomever you choose. However, it is only a marriage in the eyes of Allah, so everything Lydia mentioned about immigration status etc etc would still indicate a need for an eventual legal marriage as well.
-Amy
IslamicAnswers.com Editor