MARRIAGE

marriage

Can Muslims marry non- Muslims?

Answer:

All praise is due to Allah. We seek His Blessings on Muhammad.

The question can be seen from two angles. The first angle is if the person is a female, then it is not permissible at all for her to marry somebody who is a non- Muslim. And it does not matter if the person that she wishes to get married to belongs to the people that Allah refers to as the people of the Book. (i.e. the Christians and the Jews) or not.

There is no difference of opinion among the scholars as far as this issue is concerned. Allah says, “... They (the Muslim women) are not lawful (wives) for the disbelievers nor are the disbelievers lawful (husbands) for them…” (Q 60: 10). This verse shows that the Muslim women cannot marry people who are non- Muslims.

There is yet another angle to this question for the Muslim woman: a Muslim woman gets married to a man who was a Muslim from the beginning but later became a disbeliever; can the woman continue with such a marriage?

The scholars have said that it is not permissible for the woman to continue to be married to such a person and one of the evidence they use in arriving at this judgment is the same evidence verse that has been stated above. Apart from this, we saw in the lives of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that they actually put this into practice.

In the case of men, it is equally not permissible for them to marry non- Muslim women except the chaste women of those that are called the people of the Book (i.e. Jews and Christians). The proof of this is the saying of Allah that, “(that lawful to you in marriage) are chaste women from among the believers and those who were given the scriptures (Jews and Christians) before your time…” (Q 5:5).

From the verse quoted above, scholars of the religion have said that it is permissible for Muslim males to marry women from the People of the Book only but not the women of the idol worshippers or other than them.

Three conditions are attached to this:

1.       The women (non- Muslim) must be chaste.

2.       They must not be taken as girlfriends or prior to the marriage (even between Muslims too).

3.       They must be paid there Mahr (bride price).

Having said this, we must however note that it is still preferable for a Muslim male to go for a Muslim male to go for a Muslim female. There are several Muslim women that are not married who will fit your requirements. It is better for us to go for them rather than going for non- Muslims.

Other from this, one may be taking a very big risk by doing that. This is because the person may end up turning your children to non- Muslims because the mother spends more time with the children than the father.

In conclusion, it is not permissible for a Muslim woman to marry a non- Muslim no matter by what name they may be known; while for the Muslim male it is permissible for them to marry chaste from the People of the Book.

And Allah knows best.