Dought & clear,- They committed zina and got married before they repented; do they have to do a new marriage contract?.

A young Muslim man got married three years ago to a girl who only
embraced Islam a week before the wedding, andnow they have a child and
she is six months pregnant with their second child. But before they
got married they were in a haraam relationship and they committed
immoral actions several times. Now it seems to them, after reading a
fatwa, that their marriage is invalid and that it must be annulled as
they did not repent before marriage. In fact they only repented after
marriage.
What should they do now? Do they have to annul their marriage now and
then repeat it without any need for 'iddah? Does this mean that their
children are the result of haraam andimmoral actions (are they
illegitimate)? Do they come under the ruling on zaanis (fornicators)
for the duration of their marriage? Is annulment a straightforward
procedure, or is it a lengthy process like talaaq (divorce)? Can they
be excused becauseof their ignorance? All they want to do is live a
clean married life that is pleasing to Allah, may Hebe blessed and
exalted. Please note that the girl got her period once before they got
married and the young man did not have intercourse with her after that
until after they got married; that is, he wanted to make sure that she
was not pregnant before marriage. Allah knows that they did not know
that repentance is stipulated as a conditionof marriage being valid,
otherwise they would not have hesitated to repent straightaway at that
time. What about the children, do they notdeserve some consideration
in this situation? Can they stay together for the sake of the children
only, without any sexual intimacy? I tried to find out about the
matter as much as I could so that all aspects of it would beclear,
because they found two contradictingopinions that only increased their
confusion, and they do not know which way to proceed. They do not want
to live in haraam and they hope that you can explain with detailed
evidence.
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
It is not permissible for the zaani (fornicator or adulterer) to marry
the zaaniyah (fornicatress oradulteress) except after repenting
because Allah,may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
"The adulterer marries not but an adulteress or a Mushrikah and the
adulteress none marries her except an adulterer or a Muskrik. Such a
thing is forbidden to thebelievers (of Islamic Monotheism)"
[an-Noor 24:3].
Repentance is achieved by regretting (what one has done) and resolving
not to go back to the sin.This may have happenedin the case asked
about here, hence they gave up zina and wanted to live a clean life
that is pleasing to Allah, as you say, and they wanted to be on the
safe side by making sure that she was not pregnant as a result of
something haraam.
The fuqaha' differed concerning the validity of a marriage between two
who committed zina, if the marriage wasdone before they repented. The
majority are of the view that it is valid, but the Hanbalis are of the
view that it is not valid, and this is the more correct view. See
question no. 85335
What is required in that case is to repeat the marriage contract. The
matter does not require a talaaq (divorce); ratherit is a repeat of
the marriage contract, in which the woman's wali (guardian) may be her
Muslim father, brother or any other male relative on the father's
side, so long as he is Muslim. If she has no male Muslim relatives,
then the imam of the Islamic Centre may act asher guardian for the
purpose of marriage, in the presence of two Muslim witnesses.
It is not essential to tell the one who does the marriage contract of
the details of the situation; itis possible to use double entendres
and to say that they want to repeat the marriage contract because of
some uncertainty about its validity, because they got married without
a wali, or for some other appropriate reason, or because it was done
in another city or country, and so on, because the Muslim is enjoined
to conceal his faults and mistakes.
Secondly:
The children who were born under the previous marriage contract should
be attributed to the husband, because they were born in a marriage
that both spouses believed to be valid.
And Allah knows best.