In Shafafi Islam, marriage is viewed as a religious pact between a man and a woman, and it is not necessarily tied to legal marriage as recognized by the state. Couples who enter into a marital pact are considered married in the eyes of God, and sexual relations become permissible within the relationship. However, couples are also expected to follow the laws of their country regarding legal marriage if they choose to solidify their marital pact in the eyes of the state.

Most countries do not allow a man to legally be married to more than one woman simultaneously, but they allow men to have unlimited romantic relations with women. Shafafi Muslim men are allowed up to a maximum of four such marital pacts at any given time, considering they do not do so without violating their country’s laws or without the knowledge and permission of their partner(s).

Women are empowered in Shafafi Islam. Like men, they have the right to unanimously end a marital pact at any time for any reason. Men and women need not remain in a marital pact in which they are unhappy, uninterested, or mistreated.

Cheating is a sin, similar to lying. Cheating is defined as betraying the trust of one’s partner when it comes to involving, romantically, people outside of the relationship. However, wrongly accusing somebody is a greater sin.

Those who accuse chaste women of adultery and fail to produce four witnesses, give them eighty lashes each.

Quran 24:4