divorced before reverting

[tenderheart201]

assalamu alaikum if someone went through a divorce before reverting to Islam because of a situation beyond their control.Then a few years later married again then reverted to islam what should they say to allah for forgiveness from the past.

[Imam]

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem,

Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,


Praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds, and may His numerous Blessings be upon His Last Messenger of Islam (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam).


Jazakallah for your question dear Sister in Islam. Before someone reverts to Islam, they would have been Muslims from the beginning. Accordingly they would have undergone an Islamic marriage, with witnesses, and testimony and so forth.


If they then went through a divorce, then they would have done so by giving three divorces according to the Islamic Shari'ah. At this stage they would have been seperate from the wife/husband to whom they were once married, and cannot re-marry the same man/woman, to whom they were once married, unless the wife marries a third person. If they do marry the same person, they will be committing one of the worst forms of sin, in which acceptance of the repentance is with the Almighty.


If however they did not marry the same person, but married someone else, and then reverted to Islam, then they would also have had an Islamic marriage, as in Islam, a marriage in a church synogogue, or temple does not constitute an Islamic marriage. Where couples have got married, and they begin to revert to Islam, by praying their five times salah, paying zakah, and fasting, then Allah the Almighty is the most Forgiving, and the Most Meciful.


There is no limit to His Infinite Mercy. Maybe Allah the Almighty shall forgive all their past sins, simply because of the fact that they had reverted back to Islam. It could be that once they had reverted back to Islam, they committed a deed, which was accepted, or are about to commit a deed which is Beloved to the Almighty, that because of that deed, there past sins would be forgiven.


The key to the answer is, that once you have started practising like proper Muslims, you do not hold any form of hatred against anyone, nor do you commit any form of major sin, then the key to repentance lies in your practice, just as you would pray Salah, keep the Fast, perform Hajj, pay Zakah, engage yourself in tilawah of the Qur'an, and recite the 'tasbihat', 'tahlilat', 'takbirat',
'tamhidat', and other forms of recitation. One of the famous recitations which have been recorded in the ahadith-e-mubarikah, which one should recite, after committing sin, is:-

'astaghfirullaha rabbi min kulli zambiw wa atubu ilayh'.

Similarly:

'astaghfirullaha rabbi min jami'i ma karihallahu qawlann fi'lann sam'ann nazirann wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahil 'aliyil 'azim'

Alteratively:

'la ilaha illa anta subhana ka inni kuntu minaz zalimin'.

The last one is a verse from the Noble Qur'an, and will be more wieghtier, than the previous two forms of recitation, which are from the hadith. By reciting these, Insha'Allah, Allah will accept the repentance of those who ask.


May Allah accept the repentance of all our sins which we may commit from time to time, and may He keep us firm on the religion of Islam, until our dying day. (Amin).



Wallahu A'lamu Biththawaab



M. Waseem Ashrafi