Q. I intend to marry a widow who is studying Islam with the intention of converting to it. She has two children aged 8 and 4. Should they also convert to Islam? What will be their position? Should the woman and her children change their names? Who will act as guardian of the woman when we get married?
The lady and her children inherited a house built by her late husband. Now the mother of her late husband and his brothers are demanding that she should sell them the house at cost price. Could you tell me who has rights of inheritance to that house?
P.S. J, Riyadh
A. As the lady concerned chooses to convert to Islam, she is perfectly entitled to do so. May God guide her to what is best. There is no problem with a Muslim man marrying her, because when she has become a Muslim, she is perfectly entitled to marry a Muslim and she cannot marry a follower of any other faith. She need not change her name, unless her present name is specifically associated with a belief other than Islam. The Prophet did not change the name of any of his companions on their acceptance of Islam, unless the name had a very bad meaning or was associated with a pagan belief. When people of areas and lands stretching far and wide accepted Islam, the Prophet’s companions did not ask any one of those new Muslims to change their names.
The woman’s children will not need to "convert", because as they are young, they have not chosen their faith. They should be brought up in the Islamic faith, which is to be their mother’s faith. Thus, they are considered Muslim by the fact that they are the children of a Muslim mother.
If the woman’s family do not approve of her conversion to Islam, then they would not be willing to attend her marriage. She should put her case to a judge of an Islamic court, who will either act for her himself or deputize this task to someone of good standing in the area where the marriage is to be done. In the Hanafi school of thought, the woman may act for herself in her marriage.
The family of the woman’s late husband cannot demand that she should sell the house to them at cost price. She and her children have rights in that house, and these rights do not freeze its value at cost. They may sell it if they wish, but they should sell at its current value. If the lady agrees to sell it at cost price, then she would be squandering the rights of her two children. No guardian may do such a thing with the property belonging to orphans. She should resist any attempt to take the ownership away from her children except at the right value.
I cannot tell who is entitled to inherit her late husband. That inheritance is determined on the basis of either the religion of the husband, which is most probably the past religion of the lady, or the law of the land they live in.
If the man’s mother had a share, then she should have her share. Had this been a Muslim family, the man’s mother would have had a share of one-sixth, his widow would have had one-eighth. The remainder would go to the two children if one of them at least is a boy. They would share it on the basis of the boy inheriting twice as much as the girl. If both were daughters then they would have one-third each. That would leave one portion out of 24, which would be shared out among the man’s brothers and sisters.
