Q:

After my arranged marriage my wife revealed to me that she has been depressed and an anxiety patient all her life. Trying to dig through the reason she revealed to me that she committed sexual acts secretly from a very young age with her cousin who was also of her age. This happened with her consent as she claims she was attracted to her cousin too.

According to her they repeated the sexual acts many a times between the age 6 to 11. This eventually stopped as she somehow didn’t feel right about it. She says that it stopped many months before she first experienced her menstruation but she claims that her puberty had started because her breasts had begun to appear in small shape.

The worst of the acts was when her cousin rubbed his private part against hers but they weren’t aware of the vaginal opening so complete penetration never happened. It was limited to the clitoral section.

Is this a case of zina because both the people involved were too young. How can she correct the situation for her to experience a closure? Is hadd applicable on her? She has repented all her life after she gained maturity to understand what they had done was a major sin.

A:

This is not regarded a case of zina in its technical sense. Moreover, they were not at the age of puberty. ‘Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Prophet said, “There are three people whose actions are not recorded, a sleeping person till he awakes, a child till he is a grown up, and an insane person till he is restored to reason or recovers his sense.” [Reported by Ahmad and al-Arba’a, except at-Tirmidhi. al-Hakim graded it Sahih (authentic)].

I suggest you do not obsess yourself with this matter which may affect your marital life. Once Allah kept it hidden and forgiven, do not try to reveal it to people.

Almighty Allah Knows best.