A Married Woman Runs Away and Contracts Another Nikah

Question

A husband left a girl at her mother’s house and went to Bombay, writing in a letter: “I am coming after two months.” But the girl, only eight or ten days later, left home, went to the court and contracted nikah with someone else. Neither did her husband give a talaq, nor has he come back from Bombay as yet. Is this nikah valid or not?

Answer

Since it is known that the husband is present, even corresponds by letter, and has not given a talaq, and yet she contracted a second nikah, this nikah was never concluded at all. If there was intercourse with the woman, it was haram. The woman remains in her husband’s nikah as before. She should immediately separate from that man.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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