Nikaah & Marriage Issues

Q: I embraced Islam a few years ago. My brothers aren't Muslims. Will it still be permissible for me to hug them, talk to them, etc.?

Q: Is it possible to give a house bonded by the bank and a used vehicle with no idea on what the monetary value is as mahr? E.g. Maher is my house that I am living in (with a bond of 500 000.00) and my car but no mention of the value. 

Q: My husband has decided to separate from me for two months. I am staying with my mum. What are the rules of separation. I have tried calling my husband to speak to him. Is this permissible? He doesn’t want to answer. I think he is under the impression that we’re not allowed to have any contact with one another.

Q: I got a proposal from a good, religious man. Ten years ago he once touched my mothers hand with a sinful/lustful intention not more than that. And my mom did not get to know about his intentions. He immediately repented and did not do that again. At that time he didn't know that he will be proposing to me.

If I marry this person, will our marriage be valid or not. It happened ten years ago. Also, now everyone knows that I'm getting married to him and it's so hard to leave each other and to convince our families. 

Q: One of my friend proposed me 2 years back. I liked him from the beginning but I had a firm mindset that if my parents agree then we'll get married otherwise not. During the summer holidays I went back home and told my parents about him and they both said no. I thought that if they meet him once, they might change their mind. I told my brothers about him, they met him and they both said that he is a pious person with good character but if dad has said no then its a NO. Then I told my friend that my parents refused.

We had a few fights but we again became friends. 2 months back I started spending more time with him as I lost almost all my other friends but we always tried our best to maintain a halal distance. He started mentioning about the secret nikah here and there. Everytime he did, I got annoyed at him and told him not to think about it.

One day he said that either we do nikah or our friendship will be over forever. I said that if you want to finish the freindship then go ahead... bear in mind that at that time I was going through a tough time and depression and loneiness.

After a couple of days I went to him and said to him that I'm ready for the nikah. We did nikah in the presence of 2 witnesses who were both Muslim and mature.

My question is, according to the Hanafi fatwa "a mature girl can give herself in marriage without walis consent in the presence of 2 witnesses but the both boy and girl should be of same "social status".

That boy is African and I'm Pakistani. Do you think that the 2nd part of the fatwa in anyway nullifies the nikah or makes it invalid?

Q: My husband is not giving proper time to me or my kids. I think he did a second marriage but whenever I ask him he always lies. He goes out every evening and I know everything about this girl but only nikah is not confirmed, whether he did it or not.

If he did nikah then he is hiding it from me (first wife). He gives us money, food, shelter but he does not spend any time time with me or the kids. Is he sinful for not giving time and love to us?

Q: If a family phones the house of a girl to see the girl for marriage - Is it permissible to read Istikharah to gain insight on whether the boy should be called home to see the girl? Especially since the girl finds these 'samoosa runs' difficult.

Q: I need to find out if it's permissible to terminate a fetus due to down syndrome, turner syndrome and certain sex chromosome abnormalities. So the child will be mentally and physically challenged. I am 10 weeks now and I have heard that it is permissible to terminate a fetus upto 120 days. My husband is feeling difficult to terminate the fetus as he feels that Allah has given us this situation. Please advise.

Q: I recently married my cousin on request of my parents and so that our families stay connected and to obey my mother. But before that I sent a rishta/proposal to a girl that I liked but her family didn’t agreed.

Now after my marriage, that girl is asking me to marry her but I fear my that family and wife won’t agree to it. What should I do? What is the Islamic way to proceed in this matter? If I marry her and keep that a secret is it justified?

Q: I am 32 years old. I am married with 2 kids. I want to marry a girl who is 17 years old but she is young so she can't tell her parents. To avoid sin we have accepted each other in front of two Muslims that we are husband and wife. I asked her "do you accept me as your husband" and she said "yes". Are we husband and wife now?