Question:
asalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullaah wa barakatuh, my husband abandoned me and my son, then refused to pay child support. because of this, i filed for divorce from him and was granted the legal divorce. will i be punished for this on the day of judgement? he still refuses to divorce me islamically, though he has since left the country, remarried and has two new children from the second marriage. is this within his rights to do? he treats my son, his first-born child, as though he is an illegitimate child, though i am muslim and we were married in the masjid and the courthouse six years before the birth of my son. how can i explain this to my son? how can i raise him to be a man by myself when i am a woman? please make dua for us. jazak Allah khair
Answer:
Wa `alaykum salam,
Don’t say he is illegitimate. The best is in what happened as the Prophet (s) said. So, say khayr and proceed to a new life insha-Allah. If they legally divorced you and he has left you more than 9 months, there are many fatwas on these issues. Some scholars say legal divorce is accepted since you live in countries where muslims abuse their wives, and there are scholars with another opinion. But Allah(swt) will, insha-Allah, send to your heart the best decision.
Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani
