Salam alaikum

My advice to all our sisters and brothers is to be conscious of social and cultural practices in certain places that will affect the well-being of a person versus what could be a practice of Islam.

 

In many cases, introducing the proper Islamic practices against cultural ones need time and involvement from elderly and scholars. In your case, I wish you had thought of all that before initiating a relationship with a person that most likely you and him knew from the beginning it will go into a dead end.

 

I do not like to give Fatwas in personal cases away from the practiced schools of Fiqh in the region you are living in. So my intake on that is this:

 

If your parents contacted a scholar and asked him about the status of the marriage you had before with that man and the marriage was declared void by the scholar according to his school of Fiqh that he practices, then you are Islamically fine as the scholar and the parents take liability in such decision.

 

Now you are married and this is the reality you are in. I ask you to give this current husband of your which you were blessed to have children with him a chance to live with you in an honorable life. Maybe Allah will bring good in such marriage you are in and it will be a better life for you and your kids. Your current husband deserves that from you. If you feel he is not the right person to you and you need divorce, make that decision without any relativity to your past issues.

 

Finally, I ask you to clear your mind from the past and focus on the present and the future ahead of you and enjoy life as it is meant to be with your husband and kids.