Dought & clear - If a woman commits zina, then she is forced to marry a chaste man, isthat marriage valid?

I want to know that, in Quran Allah the almightysays a fornicator
shall not marry anyone but another fornicator. I also heard that in
hadith and sunnah a man guilty and punished for zina was not allowed
to marry any virgin but to some woman similarly punished. So, what if
a woman who gets married to a man who isnot a fornicator but she is
unfortunately one. She couldnt help but getmarried to this man because
of the situation.What can she do about this problem. She feels scared
of having intercourse because the marriage is not halal as per the
ruling of the Quran and it is wreckinghavoc in the lives of everyone.
What is the islamic ruling in her case? No body can help her and the
families are in terrible danger due to this.
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
The verse (interpretationof the meaning)"The adulterer marries not but
an adulteress..." [an-Noor 24:3]does not mean that the fornicatoror
adulterer cannot marry anybody but a fornicatress or an adulteress, or
that the fornicatress or adulteress cannot marry anybody but a
fornicatoror adulterer. Rather what the verse means is that it is
haraam for a man or woman who has committed zina to marryone who is
chaste, unless they repent.
Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said:Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal
(may Allah have mercy on him) was of the view that the marriage of a
chaste man to an unchaste woman is not valid so long as she remains
like that, unless she is asked to repent. If she repents, the marriage
contract will be valid, otherwise it will not. Similarly, it is not
valid for a free, chaste woman to be given in marriage to a man who is
immoral andunchaste, unless he repents sincerely, because Allah, may
He beexalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):"Such a thing is
forbidden to the believers" [an-Noor 24:3]. End quote.
Shaykh 'Abd ar-Rahmaanas-Sa'di (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
What this verse means is that if a person commits zina, man or woman,
and has not repented from that, then the one who wants to marry himor
her even though Allahhas forbidden that, mustbe:
-either one who does not adhere to the rulingsof Allah and His
Messenger, and such a person cannot be anything other than a mushrik;
-or if he does adhere to the rulings of Allah and His Messenger, but
he wants to marry this person even though he is aware of her zina,
then this marriage itself is zina, and the one who wants to get
married is an adulterer and unchaste. If he truly believed in Allah,
he would not want to do that.
This clearly indicates that it is haraam to marry a fornicatress or
adulteress unless she repents, and it is haraamto marry a fornicator
or adulterer unless he repents.
End quote fromTayseer al-Kareem ar-Rahmaan fiTafseer Kalaam al-Mannaan(p. 561).
Therefore, it is not permissible for a chaste man to marry a
fornicatress, and by the same token it is not permissible for a chaste
woman to marry a fornicator, unless the one who has committed zina
repents. Similarly, it is not permissible for theman or woman who has
committed zina to get married unless they repent.
For more information, please see the answer toquestions no. 122639and 14381.
Secondly:
If a person repents from zina, he is no longer described as a
fornicatoror adulterer, therefore the prohibition on marriage of a
fornicator or adulterer no longer applies to him; in that case it is
permissible for him to marry a chaste woman, i.e., one who never
committed zina; it is also permissible for him to marry a woman who
committed zina previously but has now repented.
The same applies to the woman who has committed zina. She does not
have the right to marry a chaste Muslimman unless she repents. But if
she repents, it is valid for her to marry him.
With regard to what youhave mentioned about the fornicator who has
been given a hadd punishment not being allowed to marry anyone but a
woman who is like him, who committed zina and has been subjected to
the hadd punishment, this is a view that was narratedfrom some of the
early generations, for which they quoted as evidence the report
narrated by Abu Dawood (2052) fromAbu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased
with him) who said: The Messengerof Allah (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said: "The fornicator who has beenflogged may not
marry anyone but a woman who is like him."
It was classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani inSaheeh Sunan Abi Dawood.
Al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:az-Zajjaaj and others
narrated from al-Hasan that he said: What is meant is the fornicator
and fornicatress on whom the hadd punishment has been carried out. He
said: This is the ruling from Allah, so it is not permissible for the
fornicator on whom the hadd punishment has been carried out to marry
any but a woman on whom the hadd punishment has been carried out.
Ibraaheem an-Nakha'i said something similar.
InMusannaf Abi Dawoodit is narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be
pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said: "No fornicator on whom the hadd punishment
has been carried out should marry anyone but one who is like him."And
it was narrated that one on whom the hadd punishment had been carried
out (because of fornication) married oneon whom it has not beencarried
out (i.e., one who was chaste), and 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with
him) separated them.
The correct view is that the description "one who has been flogged" in
the hadeeth refers to one who is known to have committed zina and it
has been proven against him, and that can only apply to one onwhom the
hadd punishment has been carried out. Therefore what the hadeeth
meansis: it is not permissible for a chaste woman to marry one who is
knownto have committed zina, and it is not permissible for a man to
marry a woman who is known tohave committed zina. Sothe meaning of
the hadeeth is in accordancewith the meaning of the verse
(interpretation of the meaning)"The adulterer marries not but an
adulteress..." [an-Noor 24:3],and reinforces that meaning.
Ash-Shawkaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The words "the
fornicator who has been flogged" refer to one who is known to have
committed zina. This indicates that it is not permissible for a woman
to marry a man who is known to have committed zina; similarly, it is
not permissible for a man to marry a woman who is known to have
committed zina. This is indicated by the verse mentioned in the book,
because at the end of it it says"Such a thing is forbidden to the
believers" [an-Noor 24:3]. End quote fromNayl al-Awtaar, 6/201
Based on the above, if the woman regrets whatshe fell into of
fornication and repented from it before that man married her, then the
marriage contract is valid. But she has to conceal her (past
misconduct) and not tell anyone about what she did previously.
But if the marriage contract was done before she repented from zina,
then the opinion on which fatwason this website are based is that the
marriage is not valid andthe marriage contract must be re-done. See
theanswer to question no. 85335
Therefore, if it is possible to repeat the marriage contract – if the
marriage contract was done before repentance – even if thatis with any
acceptable excuse, then this is what should be done and is more on the
safe side, soas to avoid a matter concerning which the scholars (may
Allah have mercy on them) differed,and it is more on the safe side for
the marriage contract.
But it is not possible to do that except by statingclearly that zina
occurred, and if doing sowill lead to negative consequences, such as
if the husband will divorcethe wife if he finds out about her past, or
at least it would create mistrust and doubt on the part of the husband
if he agrees to keep his wife with him, or it will disclose her fault
among the people or cause her shame, and other negative consequences,
then there is no blame on her, in sha Allah, if she continues with
this marriage contract. Undoubtedly this opinion carries weight and
has a valid foundation; in fact it is the view of the majority of
scholars, especially with regard to one who entered into that marriage
contract believing that it was valid.
In fact some of the Hanbalis themselves even stated clearly that
marriage in the case mentioned is valid.
Al-Mirdaawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:Some of our
companionssaid: it is not haraam for her to get married before
repentance if someone other than the fornicator marries her. This was
stated by Abu Ya'la as-Sagheer.
End quote fromal-Insaaf, 8/133
To sum up:
If it is not possible to renew the marriage contract between the two
families except by causing greater negativeconsequences, or creating a
scandal and exposing the woman to shame, there is nothing wrong with
her remaining in this marriage and letting herhusband be intimate with
her, and living her life in a normal manner.
And Allah knows best.