"A Zāni doesn’t marry except a Zāniyah or Mushrikah..."

The Imām, Al-Hāfidh Shaykh Sulaymān Ibn Nāsir al-‘Alwān (فك الله أسره) says:

The brother asks about Allāh’s statement, “A zāni doesn’t marry except a zāniyah or mushrikah, and no one marries a zāniyah except a zānī or mushrik”.

And the scholars disputed over the meaning of this Āyah, because some people assume what’s apparent is that the zānī is permitted to marry a mushrikah if he hasn’t repented, and no one from the ‘ulamā’ says this, that a Muslim marries a mushrikah, this is impermissible by Ijmā’.

A Muslim is allowed to marry a girl from ahlul-kitāb, but he’s not permitted to marry a mushrikah, and this is agreed upon by the scholars.

Allāh’s statement, “No one marries a zāniyah except a zānī or mushrik”, a Muslimah is not to be married by a kāfir to begin with, whether he’s from ahlul-kitāb or not, and this is from the clear-cut matters in Islām.

So what’s meant by Allāh’s statement, “A zāni doesn’t marry except a zāniyah or mushrikah”.

The first opinion regarding that — The zānī is referring to the one who doesn’t care, so this is information about the situation of those who commit zinā, and that they don’t care, it doesn’t matter to him whether he marries a zāniyah or mushrikah. This opinion also has some weakness.

The second opinion — It’s referring to the zānī who declares zinā lawful, he doesn’t marry except a zāniyah who declares zinā lawful or a mushrikah, so the Āyah is indicative that a zānī doesn’t marry a muslimah in all cases. And this opinion is better than the previous one.

The third opinion in what the Āyah means — “A zānī doesn’t marry except a zāniyah” is held upon the meaning of the Prophet’s statement, “The zānī who has been lashed (100 times) should not marry except someone like him.”

Meaning: He marries a zāniyah if he doesn’t repent (from zinā), he doesn’t marry a chaste woman as a prohibition. And if he declares zinā lawful, he wouldn’t marry except a mushrikah (like him).

So the first situation would refer to the two Muslim fornicators, and if he declares that lawful, he would be a mushrik, hence he wouldn’t marry except a mushrikah.

And this is from the strong opinions regarding the meaning of this Āyah.

Student asks: I have a question on the same verse, but a different question, is “nikāh” here referring to intercourse or the marriage contract?

Shaykh replies: Nikāh in the Qur’ān has been mentioned in 2 ways, it has been mentioned in reference to intercourse, and it has been mentioned in reference to the marriage contract. But what’s intended here is intercourse, and intercourse isn’t fulfilled except in the beginning of the marriage.