Search »

Advanced Search »

Multimedia
» Special Pages

Education Today

Raising Positive Children

Families Torn Apart

Story Time

Week in Society

Love and Intimacy

Your Contributions

Live Dialogue

Discussion Forum

Family

Services

Last Update: 02:20 GMT, Wednesday, Dec. 02, 2009

Family > Cyber Counselor

 

Search

Submit Question

Receive Answer

Browse

Question and Answer Details

Name of Questioner

T   - South Africa

Title

All for Love

Question

I will try to keep this short as possible.

 

About five years ago, O got married to a wonderful man who is a good Muslim. I married him for love, but also because I wished to marry a deen conscious man who respected me. He was a god husband. However, after marriage, we found that I suffered from an intimacy problem whereby I feared sexual relations. It was very difficult for us, and although I tried my best I could no submit to him. I suggested that we got help, but he was reluctant.

 

After a year of constant tension, and not being able to get any help, I unfortunately met someone whom I fell in love with. He was unmarried at the time, and asked me to consider leaving my husband. Due to my family being strict, I was afraid to take that step, and then this man got married to his cousin. I tried to make my marriage work and forget this man, but it was very hard, and my husband refused to get help.

 

After six months of marriage, the other man met up with me and said he was very unhappy, and that he could not forget me. We tried not to go dwon the wrong path, but we were both weak, although we both stayed in our unhappy marriages. However, the man's wife fell pregnant after one month of marriage, so it was not easy for him to just leave like that. We tried several times to break contact, but our mutual unhappy situations kept bringing us to gether. We found that we got on very well with each other, but not with our spouses.

 

Anyway, after five years of amrriage, I finally got up the courage to leave my husband as were both still having problems in the bedroom. He was reluctant, but he finally gave in. I did mention that I met someone else, but my reason was for ending my marriage was not due to this person. However, I did not divulge the other man's identity.

 

When the other man realized that I was divorced, he wanted to marry me, and that he could no longer stay in a marriage whereby both him and his wife were miserable. However, because of his son who at the time was four years old, he was unsure on how to get out of his marriage. He tried to talk to his wife, but she's willing to stay in the marriage even though she's not entirely happy. He has not yet, told her about me. He is very close to his mother and is also worried about how his family would take to [divorce] as he married his cousin.

 

Could you pelase advise me . If our intention is to get our lives back on the right path, and we wish to marry, how do we go about dealing with the issue of his son and his family? Should he tell them about me and risk their condemnation? And with regard to his wife, if she does not wish to end the marriage, will that be a concern? Please can you advise me as I do not wish to continue life in the wrong way.

 

Shukran  

Date

07/Jul/2007

Name of Counsellor

Hwaa Irfan

Topic

Before & After Divorce

Answer

As salamu 'alaykum dear sister.

 

Emotions have a way of complicating an issue making right seem wrong and wrong seem right. I ask you, you loved your husband before you married him, and this other you love, and if opportunity presents itself, you will marry him. What leads you to believe that there is any difference between your husband and this man? Up until now, there is no evidence, that you will be more predisposed to having an intimate relationship with this man if he should divorce and thus able to marry you. Although you do not say about your marriage, it would seem that everything is fine with the exception of the matter of intimacy. You made it clear that the problem is with you, so why did you not seek counsel for yourself as opposed to being between you and your ex-husband. You did not show that your husband was unhappy, and in fact he was reluctant to divorce you, and yet you are frightened of living a life that is wrong?

 

"A man divorced his wife and she married another man who proved to be impotent and divorced her. She could not get her satisfaction from him, and after a while he divorced her. Then she came to the Prophet and said, "O Allah's Apostle! My first husband divorced me and then I married another man who entered upon me to consummate his marriage but he proved to be impotent and did not approach me except once during which he benefited nothing from me. Can I remarry my first husband in this case?" Prophet Muhammad said, "It is unlawful to marry your first husband till the other husband consummates his marriage with you" (Bukhari 7: 63 #190)


The virtue in this is the act that will help determine whether you and your husband are unsuitable. Islam always looks at both sides of the story. in the following ahadith mercy as demonstrated:

 

"The wife of Thabit bin Qais bin Shammas came to the Prophet and said, "O Allah's Apostle! I do not blame Thabit for any defects in his character or his religion, but I am afraid that I (being a Muslim) may become unthankful for Allah's Blessings." On that, Allah's Apostle said (to her), 'Will you return his garden to him?" She said, "Yes." So she returned his garden to him and the Prophet told him to divorce her" (Bukhari 7: 63 #199).


In other words, your mahr, (dower) returns to your husband. In your case, the problem was not coming from your husband, but from you, and marrying again will not necessarily solve the problem, unless the source of the problem was that you had no physical attraction towards your husband.  

 

The wrongness my dear is that you did not make the most of your marriage, and that the one that you love asked you to leave your husband, and then years later, considers leaving his marriage in order to marry you.

 

Narrated AbuHurayrah: Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: Anyone who incites a woman against her husband… is not one of us (Abu Dawud  12 #2170).

 

Neither of you have shown commitment towards your marriage. The only saving grace in the situation as it stands now, is that the man you love has a son, a son who he has some level of paternal attachment to. I ask you, if you were in his wifes shoes, would you want your husband, your son's father to stay, or to leave? The only real condition for having a second wife, is if the first wife cannot have a child. I think you have not considered being a second wife, but why should she consider being a divorcee to satisfy your need? Yes, they are unhappy, but is the wife unhappy because your are in the picture? Is it not the case that her husband did not think of divorcing her until he knew that you were and are divorced? What was their marriage really like before you divorced?

 

My dear sister, reality can seem so harsh, but this harshness is sometimes what is needed to wake us up. To part a father and a husband from his son and wife, is no greater sin than that which could happen to you. Be a sister in Islam, and try to review what was good about your marriage and what is within you that prevented you from being satisfied with that marriage. A man of deen was a man you loved, what more could a woman ask for? Intimacy does not begin in the physical but in the way you communicate, understand, feel for one another and share everyday things and issues with each another.

 

"Sex is so much about the mind. It is about connecting and uniting physically

which is a metaphor of our inner desire for oneness"

Sabnum Dharamsi  -

"Narrated Al-Hasan: The sister of Ma'qil bin Yasar was married to a man and then that man divorced her and remained away from her till her period of the 'Iddah expired. Then he demanded for her hand in marriage, but Ma'qil got angry out of pride and haughtiness and said, "He kept away from her when he could still retain her, and now he demands her hand again?" So Ma'qil disagreed to remarry her to him. Then Allah revealed: 'When you have divorced women and they have fulfilled the term of their prescribed period, do not prevent them from marrying their (former) husbands.' (2.232) So the Prophet sent for Ma'qil and recited to him (Allah's order) and consequently Ma'qil gave up his pride and haughtiness and yielded to Allah's order" (Bukhari 7: 63 #248).


For your further guidance, please try the following links:

Valid Reasons for Divorce
•   Divorce Should Be the Final Resort

•   Effect of Divorce on Marital Home and Child’s Custody

 

Survival  or Revival You & the Economic Crisis
   Revival or Survival: You and the Economic Crisis
Special Focus 




Your Counselors

Your Contribution

 

 
what is this?
This widget will help you to store, organize, search, and manage your favorite online content through a range of social bookmarking services. These services permit users to save links to websites that they want to remember and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, but can be saved privately, shared only with specified people or groups, or shared only inside certain networks. Authorized people can usually view these bookmarks chronologically, by category or tags, or through a search engine. Most social bookmarking services also permit their users to vote and rank public bookmarks to determine which are the best ones according to the number of votes they get.
Send to a friend Send content to your friend Print Print it

 

 

 

Search

Submit Question

Receive Answer

Browse

 



 

News | Living Shari`ah | Health & Science | Politics in Depth | Discover Islam | Family | Art & Culture | Youth

 

About Us | Speech of Sheikh Qaradawi | Contact Us | Advertise | Support IOL | Site Map