The Wife of an Absent Husband

Question

A woman says: I have no means of livelihood, because my husband, having committed a theft, went away 9 years ago, and he also took my jewellery with him. May I now enter into a nikah or not?

Answer

Such a woman should bring a case before a Muslim ruler, stating: such-and-such a man is my husband, he has been absent for such-and-such a length of time; he did not leave anyone as guarantor (kafil) for my maintenance when he went, he neither sends anything from there nor gave me anything before leaving; I am in great distress and need a second nikah.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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