Nikah with Another Man’s Wife, Then the Husband Died: What Is to Be Done Now?

Question

If a certain wealthy man seized the beautiful wife of a poor man, forcibly took her to another place, had the nikah read and kept her as his wife, and two to four children were even born, and after 3 years the first husband died — will that same nikah which was read with the other man remain, or will the nikah have to be read again?

Answer

Doing this is zina and fornication, a grave sin and a very great injustice; this nikah was by no means valid. Nevertheless, despite this enormous crime, her own nikah was not dissolved. From the time this woman’s husband died, it is necessary for her to complete the ‘idda of death — four months and ten days.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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