Aslam

Praise be to Allah.Firstly:

You have done a number of

things that are clearly and obviously contrary to sharee’ah, hence we are

surprised at the end of your letter where you say “I do not want to anger

Allaah or commit sins”! Whatever the case, this is the bad consequences and

effect of sin, which is loss of reason and dimming of its light that would

lead to the straight path.

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah

have mercy on him) said, describing the effects of sin:

… Sin corrupts reason, for

reason is light, and sin inevitably extinguishes the light of reason. If its

light is extinguished it becomes weak and imperfect. One of the salaf said:

No one disobeys Allaah but his reason is lost. This is obvious, because if

his reason was present, it would have prevented him from committing sin when

he is under the full control of Allaah, may He be exalted, or how could he

commit sin openly when He is watching him, and he is enjoying His blessings

and His angels are bearing witness over him and watching him, and the

teachings of the Qur’aan forbid that and the implication of faith and the

remembrance of death and the Fire should restrain him. The good of this

world and the Hereafter that he misses out on because of sin is many times

greater than the pleasure he may get from it. Can anyone who takes lightly

all that we have mentioned above still have sound reason?

… If sins accumulate, then

a seal is placed on the sinner’s heart and he becomes one of the heedless,

as one of the salaf said concerning the words of Allaah (interpretation of

the meaning): “Nay! But on their hearts is the Raan (covering of sins and

evil deeds) which they used to earn” [al-Mutaffifeen 83:14] – he said:

This is sin after sin. Al-Hasan said: It is sin upon sin, until the heart

becomes blind. And someone else said: When their sins and acts of

disobedience become many, they encircle their hearts.

The basic principle

concerning that is that the heart is corroded (lit. rusts) by sin, so if sin

increases, the corrosion prevails until it becomes raan, then it prevails

until it becomes a seal, and the heart becomes covered and enveloped. If

that happens after he has been guided and had insight, then he will be

reversed and turned upside down. At that point his enemy takes over and

leads him wherever he wants.

Al-Jawaab al-Kaafi li

man sa’ala ‘an al-Dawa al-Shaafi (p. 39).

We are sorry to tell you

that each of the sins that you have committed led to another; they affected

your reason and your heart, and extinguished their light.

Secondly:

The things that you did

which go against sharee’ah are:

1.

The haraam relationship

which you formed with your first husband, before you married him. This is

clear from your saying that it was a love marriage, and from your going

against your family who refused to give you in marriage to him, and now you

are doing the same thing with another man when you are still married to the

first husband!

We have explained the

ruling on correspondence between the sexes in the answer to question no.

34841,

26890 and

23349.

With regard to haraam

relationships, please see the answer to questions no.

1114,

9465,

21933 and

10532.

2.

It seems that your job

involves mixing with strange men. If what we think is correct, then it is a

sin. If it is not mixed, or it is not in a haraam field such as banking or

insurance – then there is no sin on you.

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah

have mercy on him) said:

There is no doubt that

enabling women to mix with men is the basis of all calamities and evils, and

it is one of the greatest causes of calamity that affects everybody, as well

as being one of the causes of corruption in public and private affairs.

Mixing of men with women is the cause of a great deal of immoral actions and

zina, and it is one of the causes of widespread death and ongoing plagues.

Al-Turuq al-Hukmiyyah

(p. 407).

See also the answer to

question no. 1200.

For information on women

working and the conditions of it being permissible, please see the answer to

question no. 22397.

In the answer to question

no. 6666 there is important advice

to do with women working in a mixed environment.

3.

You left the marital home

without your husband’s permission, and this was based on something that you

heard from his mother and his complaints to her. This does not make it

permissible for you to leave the marital home without your husband’s

permission. You have the right to a separate home with your husband, but it

seems that you waived this right when you first married him and agreed to

stay with him in his mother’s house. It would have been better for you to

work out the agreement with him when you agreed to help him to bear his

living expenses and pay off his debt, and to oblige him to do so via the

shar’i court or good and knowledgeable people whom you appointed as

arbitrators between you. As for your actions and your leaving without his

permission, this is not permissible. Allaah forbade women who are revocably

divorced (first or second talaaq) to leave their houses after the divorce,

so how about married women? Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“O Prophet (صلى

الله عليه وسلم)! When you divorce women, divorce them at their ‘Iddah

(prescribed periods) and count (accurately) their ‘Iddah (periods). And fear

Allaah your Lord (O Muslims). And turn them not out of their (husband’s)

homes nor shall they (themselves) leave, except in case they are guilty of

some open illegal sexual intercourse. And those are the set limits of

Allaah. And whosoever transgresses the set limits of Allaah, then indeed he

has wronged himself. You (the one who divorces his wife) know not it may be

that Allaah will afterward bring some new thing to pass (i.e. to return her

back to you if that was the first or second divorce)”

[al-Talaaq 65:1]

4.

The worst and most

reprehensible of these actions that go against sharee’ah is your sinful

relationship with that evildoer who pretended that he was saving you from

worldly problems and presented himself in the guise of a wise advisor, but

in fact he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

How could this evildoer

agree to meet you and talk with you, and sit with you and discuss with you,

and worst of all, he audaciously asked you to marry him when you were still

married to another man?! What is very strange is that you yourself say that

your husband himself was presenting himself falsely as a good man, and that

you were blind when you accepted him as a husband. Do you think that now you

are able to see? By Allaah, you are not able to see, and your blindness with

regard to your first husband was less serious than your blindness now. You

were not married when you formed a relationship with him, but now you are

married and you have formed a haraam relationship with that evildoer, who is

not content only to come between you and your husband, turn your heart

against him and make you hate the idea of going back to him, rather he has

added to that his request for you to marry him when you are still married to

another man.

What you have done is

haraam, beyond any shadow of a doubt. It is revolting and reprehensible even

to non-Muslims. No husband would want his wife to be in the situation you

are in. No wise person – let alone a Muslim who knows the rulings of

sharee’ah – would approve of your marrying this evildoer who has shown his

true colours and evil attitude before marriage. That will save you from

going though another bitter experience with him. Do you think that he will

forget how you betrayed your husband with him? Do you think that he will

trust you not to repeat what you did with him? Do not hesitate to cut off

all ties with him, for it is a haraam relationship on the one hand, and on

the other hand he is not fit to be a trusted husband when he has done such

haraam, abhorrent actions.

For information on the

qualities of a righteous husband, please see the answers to questions no.

5202 and

6942.

Thirdly:

We hope that your regret

and taking stock of yourself are a good sign that you have come back to the

truth and that your conscience which criticizes you for abhorrent actions

and for falling short in acts of obedience to Allaah has come back to life.

Beware of following the

footsteps of the shaytaan, for they lead to doom. Allaah says

(interpretation of the meaning):

“O you who believe!

Follow not the footsteps of Shaytaan (Satan). And whosoever follows the

footsteps of Shaytaan (Satan), then, verily, he commands Al‑Fahsha’ [i.e. to

commit indecency (illegal sexual intercourse)], and Al‑Munkar [disbelief and

polytheism (i.e. to do evil and wicked deeds; and to speak or to do what is

forbidden in Islam)]. And had it not been for the Grace of Allaah and His

Mercy on you, not one of you would ever have been pure from sins”

[al-Noor 24:21].

Do not ignore the

opportunity to regret and repent before there comes a Day when neither

dirhams nor dinars, neither close friends nor intercessors will benefit a

man, and he will bite at his hands in anguish, as Allaah says

(interpretation of the meaning):

“And (remember) the Day

when the Zaalim (wrongdoer, oppressor, polytheist) will bite at his hands,

he will say: ‘Oh! Would that I had taken a path with the Messenger (Muhammad

صلى الله عليه وسلم).

28. ‘Ah! Woe to me!

Would that I had never taken so‑and‑so as a Khalîl (an intimate friend)!

29. ‘He indeed led me

astray from the Reminder (this Qur’aan) after it had come to me. And

Shaytaan (Satan) is to man ever a deserter in the hour of need’”

[al-Furqaan 25:27-29].

In order to cleanse

yourself of sin and protect your religious commitment, faith and chastity,

strive to do the following:

1.

Pray regularly on time with

proper focus and humility before Allaah:

It was narrated from Abu

Hurayrah that he heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of

Allaah be upon him) say: “What do you think, if there was a river by the

door of one of you and he bathed in it five times a day, would any speck of

dirt be left on him?” They said: Not a speck of dirt would be left on him.

He said: “That is the likeness of the five prayers, by means of which Allaah

erases sins.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari

(505) and Muslim (667).

2.

Keeping company with

righteous women who adhere to obedience to Allaah.

It was narrated that Abu

Moosa al-Ash’ari (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of

Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The likeness

of a good companion and a bad companion is that of one who carries musk and

one who works the bellows. With the carrier of musk, either he will give you

some or you will buy some from him, or you will notice a good smell from

him; as for the one who works the bellows, either he will burn your clothes

or you will notice a bad smell from him.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari

(1995) and Muslim (2628).

Imam al-Nawawi (may Allaah

have mercy on him) said: It points to the virtue of sitting with righteous,

good and honourable people, people of good attitude, awareness, knowledge

and manners, and indicates that it is not allowed to sit with evil people

and followers of innovation, those who backbite about people or who are

foul-mouthed and have nothing better to do, and other blameworthy things.

End quote.

Sharh Muslim,

16/178

3.

Not listening to songs,

music and haraam entertainment.

Allaah says (interpretation

of the meaning):

“And of mankind is he

who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing) to mislead (men) from the

path of Allaah without knowledge, and takes it (the path of Allaah, or the

Verses of the Qur’aan) by way of mockery. For such there will be a

humiliating torment (in the Hell‑fire).

7. And when Our Verses

(of the Qur’aan) are recited to such a one, he turns away in pride, as if he

heard them not — as if there were deafness in his ear. So announce to him a

painful torment”

[Luqmaan 31:6-7]

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah

have mercy on him) said:

Singers and those who

listen to them have a share of blame commensurate with the degree to which

they are distracted by songs from the Qur’aan. … This is made clear by the

fact that you will not find anyone who has an interest in songs and

listening to music but he will be somewhat misguided from the path of

guidance in terms of knowledge or action, and he is less eager to listen to

Qur’aan rather than songs, such that if he has the opportunity to listen

either to songs or to the Qur’aan, he will turn away from the latter to the

former, and listening to Qur’aan will be burdensome for him, and he may go

so far as to tell the reciter to be quiet and tell the singer to carry on,

and never have his fill of listening to songs.

Ighaathat al-Lahfaan

(1/240, 241).

Finally:

Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan

(may Allaah preserve him) said:

The Muslim must repent from

sin and hasten to do so, in obedience to the command of Allaah, so as to

save himself from the punishment and wrath of Allaah. It is not permissible

for him to continue in sin or to delay repentance in order to obey his nafs

(self) or the shaytaan, or to wait until people criticize him. Rather he

must fear Allaah and not fear people. Even if they are committing sin it is

not permissible for him to follow their example, and he must also oblige his

family to repent, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“O you who believe! Ward

off yourselves and your families against a Fire (Hell) whose fuel is men and

stones”

[al-Tahreem 66:6].

He should not be kind to

them with regard to matters that anger Allaah.

Al-Muntaqa min Fataawa

al-Fawzaan (2/p. 293).

And Allaah knows best.