Faskh

Q: My brother in laws daughter was married for the last 2 years. Her husband started ill treating her, demanding money from her parents and beating her. He also drinks and misbehaves. We tried to conceal him and send our daughter back twice. They started living separate for more than one year but again he started the same thing. Now his brother and parents are also involved in torturing her. We went to a local mufti saheb and asked for a fasak nikah. They have a saharia council. They tried calling the boy for reconcilation and they even sent the letters. They called him on the phone but he never attended and avoided to meet with them. After three attempts of sending letters, they called the girl and questioned her for the reason for asking for the divorce/fasak, and they pronounced their view and decided to issue the fasak nikah. The question is, other muftis are saying that this is not valid, because they do not accept these people as muftis. They are telling/forcing us to go to their known muftis for this purpose. If every mufti goes on telling that he does not recognise the other mufti then how can a normal Muslim live with this type of Islamic leaders. Please issue a fatwa for what is right or wrong.

What is shirk?

Q: Please clarify what is shirk for me. I know Allah is alone he has no partners. Whatever happenes to us comes from Allah. He is alone worthy of worship Allah has no partners. When I do a sin I feel bad and I know it is a sin and I do taubah. Looking at the phone at pictures I do taubah. I know its a sin. Is it shirk to look at pictures?

Written talaaq

Q: Me and my husband spend almost nine days after marriage together but we didn't have any relations. After this he went back abroad and for two years we were in contact. My family asked for a divorce and I didn't want it. He wrote three times on a paper and sent it to my family who forwarded it to me. We both want reconciliation. Iddah period is over. I heard divorce at one time is one divorce. Can we do nikah again?

Repentance and tawbah

Q: From my childhood I was disobedient to Allah Ta'ala. I have committed so many major sins. I feel no regrets for the sins I have committed. I have spent all my life in committing sins and I never cared about Allah Ta'ala. But now I want to change for the better. Will Allah accept me? Can I become a good slave keeping in mind my dark past?

Rennet

Q: Recently, I found out that it is likely that most cheeses in fritolay snacks contain rennet from animals slaughtered in a haram manner. Does that make the cheese haram too? I'm confused about this because I used to get those snacks in the masjid when I was younger.