apostates before consummation, the author says: “The marriage is dissolved.”
Its apparent meaning is that this applies whether they both apostatize together or one of them apostatizes later. An example of both apostatizing together would be this: after they have entered into the marriage contract, an evil person comes to them and calls them to disbelief, saying, “Disbelieve in Allah.” They both reply, “We disbelieve in Allah.” The marriage is then dissolved, because they cannot be permitted to remain upon this religion at all. Likewise, if one of them apostatizes before the other, the marriage is also dissolved. This applies if it occurs before consummation.
If it occurs after consummation, however, the author says: “The matter is suspended until the waiting period expires.” We do not say here, “If he is Jewish, Christian, or the like,” because if the woman apostatizes and leaves Islam for Judaism, she is not to be permitted to remain upon it. It is therefore unlawful to marry her, because she is an apostate. Thus, if they both apostatize after consummation, or one of them does, the matter is suspended until the waiting period expires. The marriage is not immediately dissolved; rather, we wait until the waiting period ends. If the apostate returns to Islam, the marriage remains intact.
It states in al-Rawḍ (1): “If the one who apostatized repents before its expiry, they remain married; otherwise, we establish that the marriage was dissolved from the time of apostasy.” We do not say here, “If the other spouse apostatizes, the marriage remains intact.” Rather, we say: if the apostate repents of his or her apostasy, the marriage remains intact, since the other spouse is Muslim; but if he or she does not repent, they are separated.
Shaykh al-Islam holds in this issue the same view that he held in the first issue. He says that, before the waiting period expires, the woman is prevented from marrying; but after the waiting period has ended, she may marry. Yet if she wishes not to marry, hoping that her husband may accept Islam, she is entitled to do so. Thus, in the case of apostasy and disbelief, the ruling is like that in the case of Islam—except that in the matter of apostasy, we do not say, “If the other spouse apostatizes”; rather, we say: if the first apostate renounces his or her apostasy, we establish that the marriage remained intact.
This latter issue occurs frequently in our time with respect to abandoning the prayer. Many people do not pray—may Allah protect us. If we establish before consummation that he does not pray, then the contract was invalid from the outset; the marriage contract is void.