Marrying Off a Widow Under Coercion

Question

There is a widow who also has a daughter with her. After being widowed she lived for about a year at her parents’ home, after which her father negotiated a nikah in a certain place. On hearing news of the nikah, her former father-in-law came to her parents’ home and said: “Come to my place, I will marry you to my other son.” But the woman would not agree to go by any means. In the end her father-in-law took the woman’s daughter in his arms and went off to his home.

Answer

If the woman refused even after the nikah, then according to the Shari‘a this nikah was not valid. But if she did not refuse after the nikah and instead gave permission — even if she gave it only because others were abusing her — then the nikah became valid. In the first case, a nikah elsewhere is permissible. In the second case, until the husband gives a divorce (talaq)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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