He is in love with a girl and wants to marry her

People keep coming up with false justification for wrong
deeds and the Shaytaan encourages them to do that and makes people’s deeds
appear attractive to them, approaching each person in the manner that is
appropriate to him. So he pushes the lazy person further into negligence,
and with one who is resolved and ambitious he pushes him towards
exaggeration and extremism. He is always causing trouble to people. This
is what Allaah has decreed in this world. 

The same applies to relationships between people, especially
a relationship between a man and a non-mahram woman. The accursed one (the
Shaytaan) tempts the one who seeks beauty and makes a particular woman seem
beautiful to him until he is trapped and in his eyes she becomes the most
beautiful of women, although she may be one of the least beautiful.
Similarly in the case of one who prays or has memorized the Qur’aan, if the
Shaytaan is not able to make him fall into the trap of forbidden
relationships with women because his religious commitment protects him and
makes him reluctant to behave like the immoral people, then the Shaytaan
uses the idea of love for the sake of Allaah and brotherly/sisterly
relationships among Muslims, and calling people to Allaah with wisdom and
beautiful preaching.  

We do not know whether
you need us to tell you that you have ignored the doors which the laws of
Allaah have opened for you to meet your needs and have entered the houses
from the back. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“It is not Al‑Birr (piety, righteousness) that you enter
the houses from the back” [al-Baqarah 2:189]

You should not need to be told this. 

Do you need us to tell you that a mere meeting between a man
and a non-mahram woman is an evil action of which Allaah and His Messenger
do not approve, because it involves being alone with a member of the
opposite sex, which is haraam, and entering upon women, and looking at them
in haraam ways. 

Even if it did not involve the evil action to which you
refer, then just as there are degrees of righteous deeds, so too following
the footsteps of the Shaytaan of the Shaytaan varies in wickedness.  

You – since you pray and have memorized the Qur’aan – should
not need to be told this. 

If you had asked us before you went ahead and followed in
those footsteps, as you should have done, we would have said to you: What do
you have to do with undisciplined girl? No one would accept a girl who is
astray except one who is himself astray. Forget about her, and if you cannot
keep the wolves away from her then do not be a wolf yourself, until her Lord
bestows His kindness upon her and enables her to repent to Him and helps her
by means of her mahrams or other women who can guide her to the right way. 

But what has happened has happened, and praise be to Allaah
Who has concealed you both and that nothing has happened between you of what
usually happens in such relationships. Praise be to Allaah that He has
enabled you to end this relationship, but you should complete that by
repenting to Allaah from what you have done and foiling the traps of the
Shaytaan that he has set up to ensnare you and stir up the flames of desire
and sin in your hearts. We ask Allaah bless us and you with acceptance. 

If you do that, and take measures to set things straight
between you, and you give up the evil actions that you did before, then pray
istikhaarah to Allaah concerning the marriage that you seek. Perhaps this
step may be a confirmation of following the path of success. 

“So enter houses through their proper doors, and fear
Allaah that you may be successful”

[al-Baqarah 2:189]

But you – and she –
should both try to find out about each other’s lives – before this mistake –
find out about each party’s behaviour and attitude and the way the families
live, as is usually done by anyone who wishes to propose marriage. If it
turns out that what happened between you of meeting and getting to know one
another in a manner that is not approved of in sharee’ah, and Allaah
protected you from it being any worse than that, then go ahead and get
married as soon as possible. 

Yes, the beginning was a mistake, but it is not wise, nor is
it prescribed in sharee’ah, to forsake a drowning man when we are able to
save him, on the grounds that he is the one who took the risk and set out to
travel by sea. 

Warning against evil and telling people not to do it is one
thing, and dealing with mistakes and those who have deviated from the path
is something else. The people of the Sunnah, as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah
(may Allaah have mercy on him) said, know what is right and what is wrong,
but at the same time they are compassionate towards people. 

What we advise you to do is to marry his girl with whom you
are in love, after praying istikhaarah and asking Allaah for guidance. Pray
to Allaah and beseech Him to help you both to do that which Allaah loves and
is pleased with. It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased
with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) said: “We do not think that there is anything better for two
who love one another than marriage.” Narrated by Ibn Maajah, 1847.
al-Busayri said: Its men are thiqaat and its isnaad is saheeh.  

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 

If Allaah has decreed that you should get married after that,
this is good, in sha Allaah. If He has not decreed that then that is also
good, in sha Allaah. 

We also advise you to read question no.
36618. 

We ask Allaah to make our affairs and yours easy, and to
guide us all and grant us success.