13. Confusion about mixed marriages between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Marriage is such a very important issue with so many important consequences to it, and Muslims should be aware of this and should make their decisions about Marriage accordingly. Unfortunately, some Muslims fall victim to their emotions and make big mistakes with their lives by marrying the wrong person.

The results are often devastating on the Muslims life. Marriage issues not only affect the person, but they also directly affect the children. Therefore, before making a decision about marriage, a Muslim should be aware of all the consequences on their own life, and on their children's life.

a) Is a Muslim man permitted to marry a non-Muslim woman?

All scholars of Islam have agreed that Allah (swt) prohibited marriage between Muslims and polytheists (those who believe in more than one God, or who associate partners with God). This is clearly stated in the holy Qur'an, and there is no doubt about it. This means that a Muslim man is not permitted to marry anyone except from among the people of the book (Christians and Jews).

However, some scholars, including Abdullah ibn Omar, have stated that although Christianity originally called for Tawheed (monotheism), it was later altered and modified and the idea of trinity was adopted. This idea of trinity clearly makes modern day Christianity a polytheistic religion, since it believes in three Gods or three entities that form God. Therefore, some scholars have said that since modern day Christians are polytheists, Muslims should not marry them because of the clear prohibition in the holy Qur'an.

However, since there is another verse in the holy Qur'an in which Allah (swt) explicitly permitted Muslim men to marry from the people of the book, the majority of Muslim scholars have stated that it is permitted for a Muslim man to marry a Christian or Jewish woman, with some conditions.

The most important condition is mentioned in the same verse permitting this type of marriage (Surah Al-Maidah 5:5), which is that the woman must be a modest, virtuous woman with high moral character. It is not permitted to marry a promiscuous woman (having relations with men outside of marriage), nor a woman that has had a boyfriend etc.

In addition to all this, all scholars of Islam have agreed that the most important factor a Muslim man should look for when searching for a wife is that she be religious. This is in fact from a saying of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). Therefore, this clearly means that any Muslim woman has a higher priority and should be preferred to a non-Muslim woman.

b) Is a Muslim woman permitted to marry a non-Muslim man?

All scholars of Islam have agreed that it is not permitted under any circumstances for a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim man. In fact, Muslim scholars have ruled that if a Muslim man openly rejects Islam and becomes a non-believer, that his Muslim wife must leave him as he is no longer permitted for her to marry.

In fact, the holy Qur'an instructed Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) when he immigrated to Al-Madinah that if a Muslim woman comes to you from Makkah, do not return her to the non-believers because they are not permitted for her for marriage.

The verse in Surah Al-Maidah (5:5) is exclusively for Muslim men and does not indicate that this is permitted for Muslim women. However, the verses prohibiting marriage to non-Muslims explicitly mention that is it not permitted for both men and women. Therefore, there is no way to interpret verse 5:5 as applying to women.

c) What if a Muslim woman does get married to a non-Muslim man?

Today, especially in the west and in non-Muslim countries, some Muslim woman do go ahead and marry a non-Muslim man. Some of them claim that Islam does not prohibit it, and that they have not seen proof prohibiting it, while they have barely read the holy Qur'an once or twice. They claim that the scholars of Islam are ignorant and backward minded, and they go ahead and follow their desires and marry a non-Muslim.

They ignore 1400 years worth of Islamic scholars and dismiss them all as ignorant, and they place themselves higher in knowledge about Islam than all those scholars! How arrogant can someone get? When they have a desire they want to fulfill, people can use any logic and make any arguments in order to fulfill it.

In fact, no Muslim scholar will agree to such a marriage, and the woman resorts to a legal marriage in court, and will not be able to get an Islamic marriage contract. So what is the opinion of Islam about such a case?

It is clear that since there is no Islamic marriage contract, there is no marriage. Therefore, this woman will be living as a fornicator every day of her life. If only those women appreciated the magnitude of this crime, they would never have committed it. But their blind following of their desires led them to this situation.