Would Thoughts and Conjectures About Future Marriage be Valid?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

What if a girl had said that whenever her future husband gives her authority to decide about divorce, it’s a divorce from her side? Now, she doesn’t mean it. She doesn’t want to say yes to divorce, and her husband doesn’t know about it.

Something like that has yet to happen, but is the nikah valid if she ever gets authority and says no? Does what she said earlier matter? What should she do?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.

These are just anxious thoughts and misgivings you are having and playing in your head. Don’t worry at all. If you get married or your husband gives you authority, nothing will happen as these are all pre-marriage anxious thoughts playing in your head. There is no need for conjecture, assumptions, or even investigation.

Also, mere assumptions have no legal consequence. Mere possibilities and even likelihoods do not change this. There is a fiqh principle: “Mere doubts and suppositions are of no legal effect.” [Ibn Nujaym, al-Ashbah wa al-Nadha’ir; Majallat al-Ahkam al-‘Adiliyya]

I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction, in sha’ Allah.

Related:

• A Reader on OCD and Waswasa (Baseless Misgivings)
• Love, Marriage, and Relationships in Islam: All Your Questions Answered
• Etiquette of Marriage: A Comprehensive SeekersGuidance Reader

I would like you to go through this 2-hour long podcast. It will be highly beneficial and guide you through: Being Balanced – Emotional and Mental Health – Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat.

Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersGuidance?

I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.