| MUSLIM WOMAN AND NON-MUSLIM MAN:
..... And give not (your daughters) in marriage to
Al-Mushrikun** till they
believe in Allah alone and verily a believing slave is better
than a (free) Mushrik, even though he pleases you....[2:221] **
Al-Mushrikun=>Pagans, idolators, polytheist and disbelievers in
the Oneness of Allah and in His messanger Prophet Muhammad SAW)
- [[6]]
Islam considers the husband head-of-the-family and therefore
requires that a Muslima cannot marry a non-Muslim because she
will be under the authority of a non-muslim husband. He may
prevent her from carrying out her religious obligations by
either pressuring her or physically abusing her. But it is not
the sole reason for imposing the restriction. The situation is
considered very damaging for the woman to practise Islam
afterwards and even worse for the kids in such marriages. There
are NO conditions mentioned under which a Muslim woman IS
allowed to get married or remain married to a non-Muslim husband
after she has accepted Islam. Therefore, even if she has freedom
to practise Islam after marriage, she is NOT allowed to enter
into an inter-faith marriage.
MUSLIM MAN AND NON-MUSLIM WOMAN:
MARRIAGE WITH CHRISTIANS AND JEWS: The marriages between Muslim
men and CERTAIN non-Muslim women is allowed. However, certain
restricitions exist on such marriages, especially if they occur
in non-Muslim lands where Islamic law and religion is not
prevailing.
Here I am translating the "fatwaa" from Maulana Muhammad Yousuf
Ludhianvi, a well-known Muslim scholar from Pakistan, answering
a question regarding the shar'aii position of marriages in the
US with non-Muslim women. This question was asked by a Pakistani
Muslim, living in the US, and it appeared in Maulana's column
that is published every Friday in a daily newspaper, "Jang". He
interprets the Islamic law as following:
/******* 1- Non-Muslim women, to whom Muslim men can marry, are
the women from Christian and Jewish religions who are residents
of "Daar-ul-Islam****" nations where Islamic law prevails) and
who are thereby called, "Dhi'mmi" (those who give Jazzia instead
of Zakaat in an Islamic state??), but NOT the residents of "dar
al-kufr" (where the kuffar or non-Islamic rule exist). To these
women, marriage is allowed but is "mukrooh tanzihi." (I can't
translate it properly)
2- With Christian or Jewish women, who are resident of "dar
a-harb"****, the nikah (the marriage contract) will be valid,
but will be a "mukrooh Tahrimi" (worse than tanzihi) situation.
The act which is "mukrooh tarhimi" is so close to "haraam" (not
permissible at all) that it is ALMOST "haraam" and is "na'jaiz"
ie. not legal. The man involved will be responsible for
committing an act which is so close to a state of "sin".
**** Victor Danner describes "Dar al-Islam" as : the
House of Islam, or the Islamic world; the Islamic
community, where submission to the Divine Will reigns;
Opposed to dar- al-harb ( the non-Islamic community)
3- It is required that the women should be practising their
religion at the time of marriage and they are not practically
"Mulhid" (atheist). To any women, who doesn't believe in God,
religion, God's message and doesn't practise any religion at
all, the "nikaah" (marriage) will be INVALID and according to
"shari'ah" (Islamic Law), such a couple is involved in sin.
4- If any Muslim marries a woman from "People of the Books", the
children, by shar'iah (Islamic law) are considered to be Muslim.
For instance, often, in "dar al-harb," the kids adopt the
religion of their mother; and, sometimes, a marriage is arranged
upon agreements between the couples that half of kids will adopt
mother's and the other half will follow father's religion. If a
Muslim man agrees to ANY of such terms accepting the kids to be
raised non-Muslims, the person will be regarded as a "Murtid"
(the one who has denied Islam) because he has allowed his kids
to become "kaafir" who may have been brought up in Islamic
religion. Anyone who willingly and knowingly allows/agrees for
his kids to become "kaafir" is regarded as "kaafir." He is out
of the Islamic circle. If he had any Muslim woman in his
"nikaah" before this marriage, the Muslim woman is free from his
bond (because a Muslim woman can't remain married a
non-Muslim).
5- Since some of our naive Muslim youngmen, living in the West,
get married to the christian women in their countries. And
since, usually, the local courts allow the women to get the
custody of kids and the divorce settlement in their favor, our
youngmen are "khusar al-duniyaa wal'-aakhiraah", means the
wanderer or lost in this world and the Hereafter. Since,
according to sharia'ah, the "al-maa'roof ka'almashrrot", meaning
whatever is prevailing or common practise in the society is
being accepted in a marriage contract. It means a Muslim man,
by getting married under these circumstances in these countries,
is knowingly agreeing that the woman may, in case of divorce,
gets the custody of the kids and is free to raise them
afterwards as she pleases.
6- For all the above stated reasons, in non-Muslim countries, it
is not allowed for Muslim youngmen to marry Christian women. For
the reason #3 (woman not practising a religion), the "nikaah"
isn't even valid. Since the reason #4, leads to "kufr" and he
becomes "murtid", the marriage to any Muslim wife becomes
invalid. The reason #5 is not apllicable, if the local laws do
not usually grant custody to woman or if Muslim man hasn't
agreed to any "kufriaah" terms (such as accepting some kids to
be raised as non-Muslims). "Haaza ma' indee, wal'Allah ilm
bis'swaab." *******/
As it is clear, that Maulana Yousuf's position is extremely
strict on the issue of getting married to non-Muslim women in
the West. But so is the seriousness of such situations. A
scholar at Dar ul-Noor hifz school and Al-Farooq Masjid,
Atlanta, Dr. Abdul Ghaffar, recommends that if a Muslim is
already married to a non-Muslima, he should REMAIN married to
her. He should be kind and passionate to her and facilitate her
understand of true Islam. He should reflect Islam in his
character and encourage her to become Muslim voluntarily before
kids are born into such marriage. At that time, I found out the
Al-Farooq Masjid doesn't even administer ANY inter-faith
marriages.
The best option under these circumstances is to introduce the
woman to Islam and WAIT for her to accept Islam before getting
married. Imposing any firm conditions of her accepting Islam
before marriage will NOT do any good. Because, if a woman is
willing to accept Islam merely to get married to a Muslim man
that she likes, she will be most likely to leave Islam if the
marriage ends up in a divorce or even if the marriage becomes
unpleasant for her.
It should be desireable that a woman accepts Islam solely for
the reason that she likes Islam. Any forceful acceptance of
Islam is not likely to be permanent nor very suitable for a
happy marriage. If the woman is not a Muslim by her own choice,
then in case of divorce, she may leave Islam and be free to date
and marry a non-Muslim. Her new family may ultimately decide how
to raise the Muslim man's children. This situation should never
be acceptable to any Muslim man.
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