He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked:

A woman married a man who then fled and left her for six years without providing her with maintenance. She subsequently married another man, who consummated the marriage with her. When the judge learned of her situation, he annulled their marriage contract. Is the husband obliged to pay the dower?

He replied:

If the first marriage had been annulled because maintenance could not be obtained from the husband, and her waiting period had ended before she married the second man, then her marriage to him is valid. But if she married the second man before the first marriage was annulled, her marriage to him is invalid.

If the husband and wife both knew that the first marriage remained in force and that they were forbidden to marry one another, the prescribed punishment must be imposed on them both.

If, however, the husband was unaware of the first marriage, denied its existence, or did not know that marrying her before its annulment was forbidden, then his marriage is one contracted under a presumption of lawfulness: he must pay the dower, any resulting child’s paternity is legally established, and no prescribed punishment applies.

If the woman or her guardian deceived him by telling him that she was not married to anyone, he is entitled to recover the dower he paid from whoever deceived him, according to the more correct of the two scholarly views.