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What is the ruling on a verbal marriage to a Christian woman, without documentation, and without informing the first wife and family, with the presence of family members online, and the wife waiving her rights to maintenance, lodging, inheritance, and equitable treatment, due to circumstances of unstable residency?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

We advise you, first, against interaction between foreign men and women without necessity, as it is a door to temptation, and this contradicts Islamic law. Second, it is preferable not to marry a non-Muslim woman, especially in these times, due to the many corruptions associated with marrying women from the People of the Book. It is not permissible to marry a non-chaste woman from the People of the Book unless she repents, based on the Almighty's saying: {The adulterer does not marry except an adulteress or a polytheist}. If she repents, it is a condition that her guardian marries her, who is her father, then her grandfather, and so on. It is not valid for her brother to marry her if she has a father. However, the closest guardian may delegate someone else to perform the marriage contract, even by phone or internet, and the presence of two Muslim witnesses is required. Marriage contracts via the internet are disputed regarding their permissibility, and it is safer to avoid them. If you intend to divorce her in the event of not finding work, and this was not a condition in the contract, then there is a difference of opinion regarding the validity of the contract, and the majority hold it to be valid. We do not advise marrying this woman, and she will not inherit from her Muslim husband due to the difference in religion.

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

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