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Fatwa CenterOnce a wife becomes an apostate, her marriage becomes void
Question
Assalamu Alaykom.
there is a man who claim that he was a madinah university student. He gave a Fatwah that a husband can still be married to A Murtad wife who commits many major sins like disobedient to husband, drinking alcohol,smoking, no hijab, no salah, as long as this wife still believe in God? Also the same man said that there is no more Mufti or scholar at this time that is why this husband don't anymore accept other fatwas except his, are these true? pls explain, Jazaakom Allahu Khayr.
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.
A Muslim is not ruled to be an apostate just for committing grave major sins without believing that they are lawful; for more benefit on the nullifiers of Islam, please refer to Fatwa 88067.
Therefore, if a Muslim wife commits some grave major sins, like consuming intoxicants and not wearing Hijab in front of non-Mahram men, without believing that this is lawful, then she is not ruled to be an apostate and her marriage contract is not invalidated just because she committed these grave major sins.
As for abandoning the prayer (without denying that it is an obligation), then it is a controversial issue among the scholars 
as some of them are of the view that it is major disbelief that takes a person out of the fold of Islam, while the majority of them are of the view that it minor disbelief that does not take a person out of the fold of Islam; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 85264.
In any case, a husband is obliged to compel his wife to perform the religious obligations and prevent her from committing prohibitions. He should do this since Allaah made him as her protector and provider. Then if she obeys him, this is what is required, otherwise it is more appropriate for him to divorce her.
However, if a wife apostates from Islam, her marriage contract becomes void by her apostasy. Nonetheless, in our view, her marriage depends on her waiting period, meaning that if she re-embraces Islam before the expiry of her waiting period, then the marriage is still valid, otherwise no; for more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 127188 and 106948.
As regards the statement that there are no Muftis in this era, then this is not correct, because the scholars stated that there is no era in which there is no scholar who establishes the evidence (of the truth of the Religion of Allaah) to people as the Prophet said: "A group of my nation will continue to be prevalent on the Truth (until the Day of Judgment).” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
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