In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, and may Allah bless His chosen messenger and grant him abundant peace. To proceed:

May the peace, mercy, and blessing of Allah be upon you.

Dear sir:

I would like to present to you a story that may seem sort of strange at first, but it`s true and it really happened. That is why I hope you will open your heart to listen to the details; perhaps I will find from you the complete answer and a comprehensive ruling for this problem, in sha` Allah.

I am a young Moroccan man who was living in France. About four years ago, I got to know a Moroccan girl of about the same age. Then it occurred to me that she would not be right for me, but because of certain circumstances, I decided to marry her legally so that she could get residence papers, without me coming near her or her coming near me. The marriage took place in front of people and in front of my parents as though it were a real marriage, meaning that we would always be together and treat each other well. We went first to the French municipality to have a legal marriage. We got two witnesses as required, one Moroccan and the other French. We could not find another Muslim because my father was rushing the wedding along. We did not go to the Moroccan consulate at first because it is very far away from us and time was too short to make the trip…

I say the marriage took place legally as required. We held the wedding and the walima (banquet), and no one knew our secret but Allah Almighty…and the reason we did it—as Allah only knows—was purely good.

After two or three days, I was thinking to myself and I saw the temptations around me from which there is no protection except from Allah, and after thinking it over myself, then discussing it with the girl, I decided to change my intention from legal marriage just to get residence papers to real marriage, based on permanence and pious companionship and so on. She agreed to that, I gave her the mahr, etc., and I consummated the marriage with her.

Several months later, we traveled to where the consulate is and took the final steps necessary to have an Islamic Moroccan contract, with her maternal aunt`s husband in attendance.

Now I have two children from her and the question is: is this marriage valid according to Shari`ah or not, and if it is not, what is the solution?

I have tried to send a message to a number of institutions to inquire about the matter because I have started to feel uncomfortable about the situation, but I did not find the answer…

As such, I hope to get a good response from you, and may the peace, mercy, and blessing of Allah be upon you.

Fake marriages are prohibited by Islamic law, because it involves manipulation of the marriage contract and transgression of the objectives of Shari`ah. Wanting to be nice and help her get her papers could be a secondary objective and a consequence of a real, serious marriage contract.

Since this prohibited act has already occurred out of ignorance on your part and then the contract was validated several months afterward and you have brought it in line with Shari`ah, the matter is over and the children you have been blessed with—even if conception occurred before the contract was renewed—should bear your name due to the misconception inherent in the contract. This is because establishing paternity is something highly desirable in Shari`ah, such that it is proven with the weakest of evidence and is negated only by the strongest of evidence.

And Allah Almighty is more exalted and more knowledgeable.