Is a Woman’s Statement “I Am Without a Husband” Accepted?

Question

A Muslim woman, a stranger from another area, who has been married and has a three-year-old girl in her lap, states before Muslims: “I am a widow; I have no one.” Now the question is: may she be given in marriage according to the Shari‘a merely on the statement of this strange woman, or not?

Answer

If it is apparent from the outward circumstances that she is not lying, and rather the preponderant assumption (zann ghalib) is that she is truthful, then it is permissible to give her in marriage; but she should be asked again in detail: “Did your husband die, or did he divorce you?” If the preponderant assumption is that she is lying, one should refrain from her nikah.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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