Full Lecture Transcript (Cleaned)
The Question: What Constitutes a Valid Non-Muslim Marriage? — 19:39
A questioner asks: if a non-Muslim married couple converts, what is the minimum for non-Muslims to be considered married? When different non-Muslim societies conceptualize marriage differently — how do we know a couple from any given culture has a marriage instead of a mere living partnership?
Ibn Abidin's Ruling — 20:12
Ibn Abidin, the famous Hanafi scholar, states in his Hanafi textbook — and Yasir Qadhi cites this because it is the madhab he has studied most — that the nikah of the kuffar will be considered valid if it was done in accordance with their cultures and civilizations.
Every single civilization — without exception — has a ceremony that is deemed to be a public marriage. There is no civilization that lacks this. So what our fuqaha say is that if they have undertaken that ceremony, whatever it might be — whether by their priest or priestess, whether in their court, whatever it might be — there is something that happens that society recognizes as a formal marriage between a man and a woman.
Two Conditions — 20:55
There are two conditions for the marriage to be recognized:
First: they have undertaken the formal marriage ceremony according to their culture.
Second: the two people must be halal to be married in Islamic law. In some civilizations, they had incestuous marriages. Most famously — believe it or not — in the Zoroastrian civilization of pre-Islamic Iran, there were incestuous marriages among the nobility. If such a couple were to come before our courts, we cannot consider that a valid marriage. You cannot marry within the prohibited family degrees under any circumstances.
But other than that — if they have undertaken any type of vow or public contract that is recognized by their society — that is considered a valid marriage.
Cohabitation Is Not a Marriage — 21:42
Cohabitation — simply living together — is never deemed to be a marriage in any civilization. You might get some legal perks and protections in America: a common-law wife might get some money in a legal dispute. But a common-law wife is not deemed to be a legally wedded wife, even in American society. So in any civilization, if they have undertaken the appropriate ceremony — if they have done the vows, if they have done whatever needs to be done according to their culture — the Sharia considers that to be a valid marriage.
The Ruling on Converting — 22:08
If they are living in a non-Muslim state and they convert, they are deemed to be husband and wife. They do not need to redo their nikah. This is the position of all four madhabs.