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Fatwa CenterValidity of marriage of two spouses who apostated together
Question
If a muslim married couple change their religion,are their nikah terminated?"
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
If both spouses apostate, then their ruling is as if it is only one of them who apostates according to the three Imaams and according to Zufar from the Hanafi School of jurisprudence; for more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 88845 and 90497.
Ibn Qudaamah 
said: “If both spouses apostate together (at the same time), then their ruling is as if it is only one spouse who apostates; if this is before the consummation of marriage, then they must separate immediately, but in case it is after the consummation of marriage, must they separate immediately or does this depend on the expiry of the waiting period (of the wife)? Both opinions are narrated from Imaam Ahmad and this is the same in the Shaafi’i school of jurisprudence. However, Abu Haneefah said: “The marriage contract does not become void basing his opinion on Istihsaan (i.e. exercising personal opinion in order to be in accordance with broader rules of justice and avoid any rigidity and unfairness. It can also mean separating the ruling of a specific matter from the ruling of similar cases due to textual evidence which requires giving a different ruling to it) because, according to him, they (both spouses) are not of different religions.”
Allaah Knows best.
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