Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah,
Hello all,
I am new to this board, but have been reading for a while in the last few days. I have a question to ask the members on here and i wondered if you can offer your help and advice and even your support. I will provide a little bit of a background, so please forgive me for the length of this.
I have been divorced for almost a year now due to an abusive marriage from not only my ex husband but his family too. It was the most terrible 4 months of my life. Alhumdulilah, i am happy to be free. However, i became pregnant early and so i am raising a baby all on my own. It has been hard but i am getting by with the Grace of Allah (swt). Since then i have had space and time for myself and now i feel i am ready to meet someone to marry again. However, as you all can imagine it has been an even harder struggle to meet a good Muslim who would not judge me as they don't even make an effort to know my personality but only see this baby, let alone that i am divorced. What happened to looking at my Deen and Personality as the Hadith had suggested? I don't want to run the risk of saying anything bad to offend anyone, but it is made me become very disappointed in Muslim men in general, as i find it appalling. I have found it easier to meet non-Muslim men who do not mind a child, but i do not want that, Allah (swt) comes first for me. Some even marry someone with 2 or 3 children, but when it comes to a Muslim, he doesn't want to know you. It is no wonder non-Muslim societies think they see that this is Islam, treating a woman as second class citizen when it is culture and ignorance.
My question is this, does the Sunnah forbid this? As i recall, the Prophet (pbuh) married a number of divorced women and widows. Even his beloved Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, the love of his life, was a divorcee, but i believe it is not clear whether she had children before marrying him. However, many seem to forget this and often let culture come first and not the Islam. Some often feel they are better than this, or deserve better.
Secondly, can anyone provide any Quranic teaching or Hadith to show that it is highly pleasing or okay to marry a divorced woman with a child?
Like i said i find too often that culture, of especially the family, get in the way. Many people seem to follow a 'request' to not marry a divorcee, let alone someone with a child. This is a question for especially men, why can't they stand up and correct their parents and do the honourably thing when you meet a woman you like? Doesn't the Sunnah state that you should correct a dislikeable/wrong thing with your tongue?
Yes, i understand some men have this problem too, even though the children live away from home. I find the female, not surprisingly, has to bare the brunt and sigma of consequences that were not all her fault. As an Ummah we should be looking after, taking care and protecting our females in society, especially those of us in such a position, not judging us and pushing us to the side. But many seem to pick their own rules.
Sorry for blabbing on, but this is a topic that has really got me upset as i have felt like an old used toy and i was unfortunately married for only 4 months to a badly brought up manchild and i have a child for the rest of my life. However do not think, i see my child as a burden in any way, it has made me very happy and i feel very blessed in so many ways, Alhumdulilah.
Thanks for your time and please i love to here your explanations and advice.
Asalaamu Alaikum, jazakallahu khayr for sharing your issues with us as i know it could not have been easy.
There are many Muslim sisters out there in your position and it is a difficult position to be in especially when there is a child involved. But you must think to yourself that those men who reject you are simply not meant for you. Surely Allah has someone better in store for you.
I know of a case just recently where a divorced sister who went through similar experiences which caused her to have a divorce and she also had a child. After a while of looking for a partner she ended up finding a single man who accepted her child as her own.
So you must continue to be patient and persevere in trying to find a partner and those that reject you then do not think bad of them or think that they are "not good" because we should never judge and a single and unmarried man or women does have a right to marry similar to them. I myself have seen that many sisters also have had the same requirements that the man be single and never married with no children.
So it is a right that a single and unmarried person has to choose whether or not they would prefer to marry a single or previously married person. So this is something which you should respect and not look down on those people.
There are also many cultural hurdles that stop brothers and sisters being able to marry whoever they want but unless you are not from those cultures then you would never understand it from their perspective. It is not as easy as you may think to go against cultural restraints but it does differ from one family to another aswell as one culture to another. But soon as the new generations of Muslims continue to grow in the western world then these cultural restraints will also begin to dissapear.
So my sister look at it as whoever comes your way and it does not proceed to marriage then they were simply not meant for you but know that Allah has someone better in store for you as long as you go about marriage in the permissable way.
You must NEVER lose hope as that is what shaythan wants but you must continue to strive and persevere and explore all of the permissable avenues of looking for a marriage partner and at the same time make sincere dua and put your FULL hope, trust and faith in Allah that he will do what is best for you.
Beg of Allah in dua to help you fulfill your requests especially during Tahajjud time in the third portion of the night.
Also do the following to help you find a marriage partner:
1. Pray 2 rakat salaatul Hajaat:
The hadith regarding it: Abullah ibn Abi Awfa (Allah be pleased with him) relates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,
“Whoever has a need with Allah, or with any human being, then let them perform ritual ablutions well and then pray two rakats. After that, let them praise Allah and send blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). After this, let them say,
لا إِلَهَ إِلا اللَّهُ الْحَلِيمُ الْكَرِيمُ
سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيمِ
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِين
أَسْأَلُكَ مُوجِبَاتِ رَحْمَتِكَ وَعَزَائِمَ مَغْفِرَتِكَ وَالْغَنِيمَةَ مِنْ كُلِّ بِرٍّ وَالسَّلامَةَ مِنْ كُلّإِثْمٍ
لا تَدَعْ لِي ذَنْبًا إِلا غَفَرْتَهُ وَلا هَمًّا إِلا فَرَّجْتَهُ وَلا حَاجَةً هِيَ لَكَ رِضًا إِلا قَضَيْتَهَا يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ
There there no god but Allah the Clement and Wise.
There is no god but Allah the High and Mighty.
Glory be to Allah, Lord of the Tremendous Throne.
All praise is to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
I ask you (O Allah) everything that leads to your mercy, and your tremendous forgiveness, enrichment in all good, and freedom from all sin.
Do not leave a sin of mine (O Allah), except that you forgive it, nor any concern except that you create for it an opening, nor any need in which there is your good pleasure except that you fulfill it, O Most Merciful!”
[Related by Tirmidhi and Ibn Maja)
Here is the dua after praying 2 rakat salaatul hajaat:
http://www.central-mosque.com/Dua/11. Salat al-hajah - dua at the time of need.htm
2. Give as much Sadaqa as possible for the pleasure of Allah
3. Make much strong dua to Allah particularly in the latter portuion of the night after praying Tahajjud prayer. Cry to Allah if you can for Allah tends the slave who cries and weeps faster than a mother tends its baby.
4. Leave major sins for this gets in the way of duas being accepted.
5. Thank Allah as much as possible for how happy would Allah be with his slave who is thankful to him even though they may be going through difficult trials.
6. Make dua as much as possible in the following situations where dua is more likely to be accepted:
- After every fardh salaat and before going to bed, and after making wudhu(after the wudhu dua), while raining, while azzan is in progress(time when the muezzin pauses during the azaan), after azaan, between azaan and iqmah, when the cock crows, in a religious gathering, while travelling to masjid or on the way to meet a sick person etc
There is also an hour on Jumma where duas are definatley accepted so do as much dua as possible during Jumma.
7. Do plenty of durood before and after dua.
Increase the avenues you are currently exploring in order to find a suitable marriage partner like:
9. Ask around for those who have contacts for marriage because in most areas where there are Muslims there are usually 8omen who have contacts which they pass on to people and if it gets to marriage then you just pay them a small fee.
9. Goto proper Islamic marriage events where the girls are accompanied by their mahrams
10. Join some Muslim marriage sites where a mahram is involved like purematrimony.com
11. Ask around your local area in al of your local masjids. You can phone them and they will be more than willing to put you in ouch with the right person who sets up local marriages.
12. Ask close friends or relatives.
13.
Recite the following:
Rabbi innee limaa anzalta ilayya min khayrin faqeer
136x's everyday
[My lord, I am in absolute need of the good You send me]
Source: http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=1&ID=1908&CATE=10
14. a) Be in the state of Tahaarah (Wudhu)
b) Praise and glorify Allah
c) Have faith that Allah Ta'ala is All-Hearing and your Du'aas will be
accepted.
d)Read durood shareef upto 500 times a day. (Read the Duroode-Ibrahimi, which we read in Salaah, at least 500 times a day, the great Hadhrat Sheikh Zakariyya has written this in his letters).
Source: http://www.islam.tc/cgi-bin/askimam/ask.pl?q=8597&act=view
So my sister NEVER give up hope because whatever is best will happen for you because with hardship comes ease. When you finally find the one who is destined for you then you will appreciate him so much more.
Remember: YOU WILL GET WHAT IS DESTINED TO YOU BUT WHEN YOU WILL GET IT ONLY ALLAH KNOWS BEST.
So please act upon the advice i have given you and continue to be strong, strive and persevere and in the end you will be victorious!
May Allah find you the best and most pious person who will benefit you in this world and the next. Ameen
And Allah knows best in all matters