Minor Zina acts between engaged persons

Question:

I am married to my cousin for the last 8 years. While we were engaged (before nikah) we used to engage in some sextual acts, like kissing, kissing her breasts, once she masturbated me with her hands, but we never had an intercourse. So I want to know the opinion of all school of thoughts about the validity of our marriage.

I am confused after I read the tafsir for the Ayat in surah al-Noor. 1) Are our acts equivalent to Zina, making the Ayah of surah al-Noor applicable? 2) Is our marriage valid? 3) Is marriage between a man and a woman who had an intercourse with each other before marriage permissible? Please give me specific answers. Do we need to remarry again after making repentence? We are very much repentant for our acts . But I want to know if we have to marry again? Were we in sin during all these 8 years? Please answer my questions as soon as possible. I am very much disturbed.

Answer:

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

First of all, we ask Allah, the Almighty to grant you success in what He has ordered. We, also, would like to thank you for your reading the explanation of the verses of the Holy Qur'an and your meditating on their meaning not to mention your consciousness of the fast that these verses are addressed to you and to all mankind. Finally, we ask Allah the Oft-Forgiving to accept your repentance and to help you stick to the truth.

You should know then that it is forbidden for the man to have any enjoyment with a woman except after getting married to her in a legal way. As a rule, she is an alien woman to him and it is prohibited for him to get any kind of pleasure from her, be that before getting engaged or after it. Getting engaged to her does not mean any thing as far as your relation to that woman is concerned, it is nothing but a promise that you have chosen this woman to become your wife in the future. As a result, any deeds that you undertook with this woman after getting engaged to her and before getting married to her are considered as minor Zina acts. We ask Allah to forgive us and you.

Imam Muslim narrated from Abu Hurairah that the Prophet (Blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: " Allah has written for Adam's son his share of Zina ( fornication & adultery) which he commits inevitably. The Zina of the eyes is the sight (to gaze at a forbidden thing), the Zina of the tongue is the talk, and the inner self wishes and desires and the private parts testify all this or deny it ". As for your marriage, it is valid and you do not have to make the act of marriage again. A man who commits Zina (fornication or adultery) with a woman is allowed to get married to her provided that he waits until she has one menstruation period and purifies herself, because the semen of Zina should not get mixed with the semen of legal marriage. After that, he can marry her. But both of them should return in repentance to Allah.

Allah knows best.