Suspicion That Some Man Is the First Husband, After the Second Nikah of a Missing Man's Wife

Question

Manzur Ahmad went to East Pakistan before the partition of the country, and there he fell ill and was admitted to hospital; a man who came from there gave news of this. After the partition, correspondence stopped. When correspondence resumed, he did not write any letter home saying that he was alive. Nine years passed in this way. Then an enquiry was made to Darul Uloom Deoband. The Dar al-Ifta (fatwa department)

Answer

It is possible that he is not Manzur Ahmad, since he did not admit it, nor did anyone recognise him with certainty — even his father has only expressed a suspicion. It is also possible that he is Manzur Ahmad, and that he abandoned Islam and took up the path of yogic asceticism; it may be for this reason that he swore that he was not Amina's husband.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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