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Is it permissible for a man to marry the daughter of a woman with whom he committed adultery before marrying her?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

He who approaches his fiancée or any other woman commits a grave sin and an abominable act. This indicates a weakness in faith and poor morals, and the prescribed punishment (حد) is applied to him according to Islamic law. As for his marriage to her daughter after committing adultery with her mother, there is a difference of opinion among scholars:

A group holds the view of prohibition: If a man commits adultery with a woman, her mother and daughter become forbidden to him, and she becomes forbidden to his father and son. They supported this with the Almighty’s saying: {And do not marry those [women] whom your fathers married} [An-Nisa: 22], and that sexual intercourse is referred to as 'nikah' (marriage), and with the Hadith: "Allah will not look at a man who looks at the private parts of a woman and her daughter."

A group does not hold the view of prohibition: They supported this with the saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him: "What is unlawful does not make lawful what is lawful," and because unlawful sexual intercourse does not make the woman a 'bed' (i.e., establish a marital relationship).

The opinion that holds the prohibition is preferred, especially in this era, because it prevents the continuation and strengthening of the relationship, and it prevents the perpetrators from returning to immorality.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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