The Ruling on Denying a Concluded Nikah

Question

Hinda entered into a second nikah with Zayd in the presence of fifty or sixty Muslims of the biradari (kinship community). After the nikah the relatives of her former husband raised a dispute over property and filed a suit in court. Both parties engaged lawyers; Hinda’s lawyer is a Hindu, who advised that if Hinda denies the second nikah she can remain in possession of her former husband’s property. Acting on this, Hinda and her adopted son both began to deny the nikah.

Answer

Lying is haram in the Shari‘a and a major sin; however, to obtain one’s right and to repel oppression, when no other means is within one’s power, lying by way of allusion (ta‘rid) is permissible, while explicit lying is not permissible even then.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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