Repenting from Drinking, Then Marrying a Muslim

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

Question: Assalamu alaykum

If a Muslim man drinks alcohol and later regrets his sin, how can repent? Can he then marry a Muslim girl?

Answer: Assalamu alaykum Sister,

Thank you for your question. Your question is answered in the following link:
Drinking Alcohol: Are My Prayers Not Valid for 40 Days? Please see these other links as well: Seeking Forgiveness for Drinking Alcohol

Inspiration for repentance

Allah, Almighty says, “Turn towards Allah, O believers, every one of you, so that perhaps you will have success,” [24:31] and the Almighty says, “Ask your Lord for forgiveness and then turn in repentance to Him,” [11:3] and the Almighty says, “O you who believe! Turn in sincere repentance to Allah.” (66:8)

Abu Hurayra said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, ‘By Allah, I ask Allah’s forgiveness and turn towards Him in repentance more than seventy times a day.” [Ibn Majah]

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said, “Allah has greater joy at the repentance of one His slaves when he turns towards Him than one of you would have over his mount, which, having escaped from him with his food and drink in the middle of the desert so that he has despaired of finding it and gone to a tree to lie down in its shade, suddenly appears standing by him while he is in that state, so that he takes its reins and then says out of the intensity of his joy, ‘O Allah, You are my slave and I am Your Lord!’ getting confused because of his intense joy.‘” [Muslim]

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Allah Almighty will stretch out His hand during the night, turning towards the one who did wrong during the day, and stretch out His hand during the day, turning towards the one who did wrong during the night, until the day the sun rises from the place it set.” [Muslim]

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Allah will turn towards anyone who turns in repentance before the time that the sun rises from the place it set.” [Muslim]

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Allah the Mighty and Majestic accepts the repentance of His servant as long as long as his death-rattle has not begun.” [At-Tirmidhi]

Marriage

After one has made repentance, it is permissible for him to marry a Muslim girl. He should resolve never to do this again, and get therapy if needed. He should learn his personally obligatory knowledge, take a course on Islamic Marriage and choose a girl for her religion. Allah, Mighty and Majestic may well raise his ranks far beyond what he could imagine.

One should never look down on another Muslim scornfully with contempt or arrogance because of the following hadith. Committing sins in this world are no indication of how a person will end up.

Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and give him peace, the true and truly inspired said, “Verily, a human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days, and then he becomes a clot of blood for a similar period, and then a piece of flesh for a similar period. Then Allah sends an angel who is ordered to write four things. He is ordered to write down his deeds, his livelihood, his time of death, and whether he will be blessed or wretched (in religion). Then the soul is breathed into him. So, a man amongst you may do (good) deeds until there is only a cubit between him and Paradise and then what has been written for him overtakes him and he starts doing the deeds of the people of the HellFire. And similarly a man amongst you may do (evil) deeds until there is only a cubit between him and the HellFire, and then what has been written for him overtakes him, and he starts doing the deeds of the people of Paradise.“ [Bukhari]

May Allah give you the best of both worlds.

Wassalam,
[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqidah, fiqh, tajweed, tafseer and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterwards, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic and other sciences. She recently moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.