Marriage with Taxpayers and Pagans of Whom Certain Ones Become Muslims and other do not Become Muslims or all of them Become Muslims

“This is concerning my question before abu ‘ Abd Allah (a.s.), about the case of a man who migrates and leaves his wife with the pagans, then afterward she joins him; if he can keep her with first marriage or her safety is cut off. He (the Imam) said, ’He can keep her and she is his wife.’”

“Abu ’Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘If a woman becomes Muslim and she is married in a way that is an un-Islamic way, they must be separated.’ I then asked him (the Imam) about the case of a man who migrates and leaves his wife among the pagans, then she joins him; if he can keep her with the first marriage or that her safety is cut off. He (the Imam) said, ‘He can keep her; she is his wife.’”

“This is concerning my question before abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the case of a man who is a Majusiy (Zoroastrian) or a pagan, other than the people of the book, who had a woman, he becomes a Muslim or she become a Muslim. He (the Imam) said, ‘He waits for completion of waiting period if he is a Muslim or she becomes a Muslim before waiting period is complete then they remain with their first marriage; and if he does not become a Muslim when the waiting period is complete, she becomes stranger to him.’”

“About the case of a man who is a Christian and marries a Christian woman who then becomes a Muslim before his going to bed with her, abu al-Hassan (a.s.), has said, ‘The hindrance from him on her way is removed, she has no mahr (dower) and no waiting period because of him.’”

“A man once asked abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the case of two men of taxpayers or of those in the state of war who each married a woman and assigned a mahr (dower) in the form of wine and pigs; then they became Muslims. He (the Imam) said, ‘Marriage is permissible and lawful and it does not become unlawful because of wine and pigs.’ He (the Imam) then said, ‘If they both become Muslims he must pay her something, that is, he must pay her mahr (dower).”’

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that about the case of a Zoroastrian woman who became a Muslim before he went to bed with her ’Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s.), said to her husband to become a Muslim, but he refused so he (the Imam) judged in her favor half of the mahr (dower) and said, ‘Islam has not brought to her anything but honor.’”

“About the case of a Zoroastrian man who became a Muslim and he had seven wives who also became Muslims, abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘He could keep four and divorce three of them/”

“I once asked him (the Imam) (a.s.), about the case of a taxpayer man who had a taxpayer wife and she became a Muslim, he (the Imam) said, ‘She is his wife who stays with him during the day but not during the night.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘If the man becomes a Muslim he stays with her during the night as well as the day.’”

‘This is concerning my question before abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the case of a man who is a Christian and marries a Christian woman for thirty sacks of wine and thirty pigs; then they become Muslims and he has not yet gone to bed with her. He (the Imam) said, ‘He must find out how much the value of wine and pigs is. He must send them to her, then he can go to bed with her and they remain with their first marriage.’”