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Marrying the Ahle-Kitaab

Answered by 

Shaykh Muhammad Ashraf

Question:

Assalamualaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu,
Brother, thank you very much for your reply.
I have a few more questions regarding marrying a Christian girl.
Please put your answers below each of my questions and then kindly reply ASAP.
We have a Muslim brother who is marrying a Christian girl this weekend and I will appreciate if you can reply to this message before then so we can make sure that we cover every-thing needed to make the marriage valid.
I have numbered my questions for you to spot easily.
Now, I want to know all the answers so I can make sure that if more of us ever marry Christian girls then our marriages to them stays valid (according to Islam) in order for us to save ourselves from fornication unawares.
Please forward this message to as many Muftis you can manage.
Thank You
A Muslim Brother Can Only Marry A Practicing Christian/Jewish Girl And No Non-Practicing Christian/Jewish or Atheist Girl –
Issue.
You said that, the Christian girl must be a practicing Christian and not a Christian simply by name (like those are now-a days in the west) and also she must not be an Atheist.
Otherwise the marriage would be invalid for a Muslim brother to marry such an un-practicing Christian girl or an Atheist.
But,
1. how can we be sure if she is not an Atheist ?
What if she lies to us saying that, she believes in One God, when she really is an Atheist ?
We Muslims do not know what is in their hearts.
We do not know Ghaib.
Would a Muslim brother’ marriage be valid to such a girl ?
2. What if the girl says that she believes in One God but does not follow any religion because she does not know which one is the true religion ?
Would a Muslim brother’ marriage be valid to such a girl ?
In my opinion, this girl is more safer to marry than the people of the book because she is not part of Christianity Kufr beliefs and she is not part of Judaism Kufr beliefs.
In my opinion, all people of the book (Christians and Jews) are involved in Shirk and Kufr of some sort.
3. On the other hand, how can we be sure if she is a practicing Christian like she claims she is ?
We don’t know their religion and we don’t want to learn their religion for fear of Kufr and shirk creeping in-to our Muslim hearts.
Also, Christianity is Shirk, as Christians associate Isa (AS) or his mother Maryam (AS) to Allah.
4. So, if we marry Christian girls and (according to Islam) should make sure they practice Christianity then are we not making sure and encouraging our Christian wives to practice shirk while they are married to us Muslim brothers ?
I know that, it is best to convert them to Islam but what if they don’t and remain Christians and practice Christianity (still engage in shirk) while married to us Muslim brothers ?
What is the solution then ?
Should we still make sure that, they are practicing Christians (practicing Mushriks) ?
5. On the other hand, if we Muslim brothers are not allowed to marry such a practicing Christian girl (practicing Mushrik) then what is meant by when the Qur’aan allows us to marry people of the book ?
All people of the book (Christians) are engaged in Kufr and shirk when they practice Christianity.
All people of the book (Jews) are engaged in Kufr if not shirk when they practice Judaism since they denounce Muhammad (SAW) as a Prophet and Messenger of Allah.
Are we still allowed to marry such Jews too ?
All Jews are like this.
But, if we are not allowed to marry such Christians and Jews, then we are not allowed to marry any people of the book as all people of the book are either Kaafirs or Mushriks or both.
What is the answer to this ?
Christian Girl Secretly Marries A Muslim Brother
If a Christian girl gets married to a Muslim brother according to Islamic way (regardless of whether she has converted to Islam or not) will the marriage be valid if she does not tell her guardians (parents) for fear of her parents refusing the marriage ?
Is it really necessary for the bride’ guardians to know about the marriage and approve it ?
Bride is 20 years old.
If the Muslim bride-groom is living with his older brother and his older brother does not accept the marriage because he does not want his brother to marry a Christian girl then will the marriage be valid bearing in mind that the Muslim bride-groom’ father is not aware of the marriage but his mother is aware of it but disapproves the marriage but is only accepting it because she fears her son will commit fornication with her if she refuses ?
Christian Girl Converts To Islam Before A Muslim Brother Marries Her
But She Cannot Practice Islam Straight-Away For
Natural Reasons –
Issue.
Assume that, I a Muslim brother is marrying a Christian girl to save myself from fornicating with her or with any other girl as I cannot resist the temptation any longer.
And, I am in no position to marry a Muslim girl.
1. Now, what if the Christian girl reads Kalimah and becomes a Muslim before marriage ?
Does she have to be a practicing Muslim immediately ?
I mean, she is a new-comer to Islam.
It will take many years for her to learn how to read Arabic before she can even manage to read Arabic in order to memorize Qur’anic Surahs for her to recite them in Salaat.
In another words, she cannot practice Salaat straight after she converts to Islam and gets married to a Muslim brother.
It will take a few years for her to learn.
2. Does Islam prescribe a given period that she must learn to read Arabic with-in this period and she must memorize Qur’anic Surahs and start praying 5 times a day with-in that period ?
Christian Girl Converts To Islam Before Muslim Brother Marries Her
But She Cannot Practice Islam Straight-Away For Burdening Reasons –
Issue.
Say, if the Christian girl is a university student and she will graduate next year and she promises to become a practicing Muslim only after she graduates because she is in no position to learn Islam or practice Islam right now while she is a student as this will be too much a burden for her but she wishes to read Kalimah and become a Muslim and get married to Muslim brother immediately ?
3. Can she only read Kalimah before marriage but not practice Islam while she is a student (1 year left) because she does not have the time to do it while she is a student ?
If we refuse her now as a bride then there is a chance that she will lose interest in Islam as she will think Islam is rejecting her.
We do not want to help Shaitaan drive her away from the folds of Islam, can we ?
If we pressure her to practice Islam such as 5 times a day prayer straight after she becomes a Muslim and straight after marriage to a Muslim brother then it will be too burden for her and she is likely to ask for a divorce and revert back to Christianity.
If the Prophet (SAW) did not pressure the male Islam convert to pray 5 times a day immediately after he converted to Islam then what right do we have ourselves to pressure our wives who convert to Islam from Christianity ?
If Islam did not immediately, forbid/ban drinking alcohol or gambling, after the first Qur’anic Aayat was revealed in order not to burden the new Muslims then what right do we have to burden our newly converted Muslim wives and drive them crazy ?
We do not want to burden her too much which would lead her to leave us.
I thought, it is written in the Qur’aan that, Allah does not burden a soul.
I read in hadith some-where that, the Prophet (SAW) did not burden a new-comer (male) to Islam with 5 times a day Salaat straight-away after he converted to Islam but advised him to start practicing Salaat once a day for a few days and then slowly twice a day for a few days and then slowly …..until he reaches 5 times a day.
Now, in what order was this done ?
I mean, does the new-comer have to read 1 times a day Salaat for 1 week or 1 month or 1 year before he can practice to read 2 times a day Salaat ?
And when he practices 2 times a day Salaat, then does he have to do this for for 1 week or 1 month or 1 year before he can practice to read 2 times a day Salaat ?
And so on.
 

Christian Girl Pretends To Convert To Islam

(Before Muslim Brother Marries Her) –
Issue
1. What if a Christian girl pretends to convert to Islam in order to convince the Muslim brother to accept her to marry her but deep in her heart she is still a Christian in faith (Kufr and shirk) ?
Will the marriage be valid (according to Islam) ?
Christian Girl Converts To Islam
(Before Muslim Brother Marries Her)
But Commits Kufr/Shirk By Mistake because Of Her Past Kufr/Shirk Habits That She Gained During her Christian Life –
Issue
What if a Christian girl after converting To Islam and getting married to a Muslim Brother mistakenly out of past habits commits Kufr/shirk which she used to commit while she was a Christian ?
Will the marriage be void even if she asks for Allah’ forgive-ness after-wards ?
Will she have to be re-married to the Muslim brother all over again ?
If so, then we Muslim couples out of mistake engage in all sorts of Kufr and shirk each day. Does that invalidate our marriages ?
Do our children (who are born after-wards) be counted as bastards/illegitimate children ?
Muslim Couples’ Marriages Validation –
Issue.
I have seen many Muslim married couples never read Salaat 5 times a day. In fact, they don’t read Salaat at-all apart from Jumu’ah (Friday congregation). And they never practice Islam.
So, how come these Muslim’ marriages are valid and our marriages to Christian girls invalid if our Christian wives do not pray 5 times a day or practice Islam ?
Is this fair ?
Marriage Termination –
Issue.
What breaks a marriage apart from Talaaq ?
I must know these so that we do not mistakenly do some-thing wrong which leads to breaking the marriage with-out our knowledge.
Otherwise, we will be engaged in fornication while we think we are still married.

Answer:

 

1 and 3.  If the girl claims to be a Christian and also practices on the Christian faith then

    it will be permissible to marry her.  We are not taken to task by the Almighty

   Allah for not having the knowledge of the Ghaib (unseen).  Indeed she is a

   threat to our Imaan that is why the Fuqahaa do not encourage such marriages.

2.If the girl is neither a Muslim nor Ahle Kitaab then it will not be permissible to marry her no matter what her reasons may be.  The answer to your analogy of the Shirk of the Ahle Kitaab and that girl who only believes in God but does not know which religion to follow is that in spite of having full knowledge of the Shirk of the Ahle Kitaab, Allah Ta’ala still too permitted the marrying of them and so did Rasoolullah (S.A.W.).  You should remember that every issue in Shari’ah is not according to our analogy.

4.  The Qur’an has made it permissible to marry the Ahle Kitaab therefore it will not

be regarded to be as if we are encouraging them to make Shirk.

5.You should remember that a Mushrik and the Ahle Kitaab are on one level as far

as Shirk is concerned but on the other hand the Ahle Kitaab is closer to Islam in many other aspects such as believing in Moosa (A.S.) and Isa (A.S.) and their respective books and all the Malaaikah (Angels).  They also bring faith in the Hereafter, etc.  Also as we have mentioned in answer 2, Allah Ta’ala made marriage to the Ahle Kitaab permissible so we have no right to question the permissibility of marrying them.

    6.  If a Muslim male marries an Ahle Kitaab or Muslim female without the knowledge

        or consent of their respective guardians, then too the Nikaah will be valid, although  

        it will not be encouraged.

Issue 1:  If a person accepts Islam then they must seek the knowledge of the basics of Islam as soon as possible so that they can start practicing upon the fundamentals of Islam such as the Shahaadah, Salaah, Fasting, Zakaat, Hajj, etc.  Although there is no fixed period set by the Shari’ah, they should not delay unnecessarily.  If she wants to recite the Shahaadah and only start practicing after a year due to the burden of her studies then you should convert her to Islam as soon as possible and then start encouraging her subtly to acquire Deeni knowledge according to her capabilities.  It is not necessary for her to start practicing all the laws of Islam immediately.

One should note that the five times prayers were made Fardh altogether but Nabi (S.A.W.) had prepared the minds of the Sahabah Kiraam prior to the Salaah becoming obligatory upon them, so that it was not burdensome on them, unlike the prohibition of wine.  As for a revert, he/she should not be burdened, rather they should begin practicing as much as they can without any force from anyone.

Issue 2:  If a Christian female states openly that she has accepted Islam at the time of marriage and then later states that she is a Christian, then she will be regarded as Murtad (one who renegades) and the Nikaah will become void as she cannot be forced to embrace Islam in a Darul Harb.

And Allah Ta’ala knows best

Ilyaas bin Hashim Limbada

Attested to as correct by:

Mufti Muhammad Ashraf

Darul Iftaa

Jameah Mahmoodiyah

Springs

01 April 2004

10 Safar 1425

This Q&A was indexed in 2012 from the website of Jameah Mahmoodiyah, South Africa. The original website no longer exists.
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