My Sister's Keeper 2007

"The hymen is a thin membrane that partially covers the vaginal opening. If the hymen is extensive and is still present at first intercourse, it may be broken or stretched as the penis enters the vagina and some bleeding and pain may occur, although more typically its presence is unnoticed. The presence or absence of a hymen is not a reliable indicator of virginity, although historically it was viewed as such."

Second, here is a Q & A from IslamQA.com regarding the hymen being a sign of virginity.

Question :

I am a Muslim woman, and I fear Allaah in all my deeds. I got married – praise be to Allaah – to a man who is good in all ways; he treats me well and I treat him well, our relationship was excellent in all ways, love, respect, harmony and love for one another’s families. But then things started to go wrong. These days my husband and I found out that I was not a virgin, but I am certain that I am innocent because no one ever touched me before him.

Answer :

Praise be to Allaah.
If your husband is wise and religiously committed, and he trusts you a great deal, then what he should do is to believe you when you say that you are innocent of any wrongdoing, especially since the breaking of the hymen may be caused by many things, not necessarily by committing the sin of fornication.

This is if we accept what you have discovered about your not being a virgin. It may be that intercourse has taken place between you but the hymen was not broken, and so there was no bleeding, because of the nature of the hymen. It may be that the hymen is flexible and cannot be broken by intercourse, and requires medical intervention, as is well known to the experts in this field.

The hymen is simply a physical sign which cannot be considered proof of whether the woman is a virgin or not or whether she has committed an immoral act or not. Hence we find that in court, usually the absence of the hymen is not regarded as grounds for making accusations against the woman, because it may be broken for many reasons.

So the fact that the hymen is present is not a positive indication that a woman is a virgin, and its absence is not a positive sign of the opposite.

We advise you to refer to a female doctor to make the matter clear, because there may be many reasons why the hymen is broken.

We hope that your husband will understand this matter and will not be hasty in judging you. You should be aware that one of the aims of the Shaytaan is to cause division between husbands and wives, because of the great evil that results from that affecting families and individuals, as we see in the hadeeth of Jaabir who said: The Messenger of Allaah [an error occurred while processing this directive] (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Iblees placed his throne on water then he sends out his emissaries, and the closest of them to him in status is the one who causes the most fitnah (tribulation). One of them comes and says, ‘I did such and such,’ and he says, ‘You have not done much.’ Then another of them comes and says, ‘I did not leave him alone until I caused division between him and his wife,’ and he draws him close to him and says, ‘How good you are.’” Muslim, 5023.

So he should close this door to the Shaytaan and avoid thinking about this matter, so long as this matter is not definitive and you are certain that nothing bad happened.

We ask Allaah to guide him and to reconcile between you.

And Allaah is the Source of strength.

Islam Q&A (www.islam-qa.com)