Marriage to Unbelievers QURAN AL FAJR: “Do not marry women who associate partners with God unless they embrace the true faith. Any believing bondwoman is certainly better than an idolatress, even though the latter may well please you. And do not give your women in marriage to men who associate partners with God unless they embrace the true faith. Any believing bondman is certainly better than an idolater, even though the latter may well please you. These invite to the fire; whereas God invites to paradise and to the achievement of forgiveness by His leave. He makes plain His revelations to mankind so that they may bear them in mind”. (Verse 221) THE QURAN ILLUSTRATED 9TH JULY 2014: “Marriage is the deepest and most enduring bond that can exist between two human beings. It calls for the widest possible range of mutual and intimate responses and, therefore, requires the most firm emotional commitment that can be made. For this to be achieved, a clear common objective must exist between the two parties, and what is better than religious faith to provide such affinity and unity of purpose. This profound influence of religion on human thought has often been ignored or overlooked and some societies have made the mistake of trying to replace religious faith with one social philosophy or another. During the early days of Islam in Makkah, although the Muslims had succeeded in detaching themselves spiritually and ideologically from the rest of society, it was not possible for them to totally disengage themselves socially. This transformation required time and a measured pace of change. In Madinah, however, where Muslims were to acquire an independent social as well as religious identity, the new social order rapidly began to take shape, with these Qur’ānic verses prohibiting any new marriage of Muslims and idol worshippers. Existing marriages remained valid,however, until the sixth year of the Islamic calendar when verses 9 and 10 of Sūrah 60 were revealed, annulling such marriages once and for all. From then on, marriages involving Muslims and pagans were prohibited, as such unions were considered devoid of spiritual meaning and non-deserving of God’s blessings or consecration, since the parties involved did not share the same beliefs and outlook on life. Having honoured mankind, God does not want marriage to be based on mere physical attraction. It is a bond that is closely related to the divine system for human life. Hence, we have a clear, definitive injunction: “Do not marry women who associate partners with God unless they embrace the true faith.” (Verse 221) Were the unbelieving woman to embrace the faith, the barrier would be removed and the hearts of the two people concerned would fall into harmony and could be united in marriage as they are united in belief. “Any believing bondwoman is certainly better than an idolatress, even though the latter may well please you.” (Verse 221) Such attraction would normally be physical, rather than spiritual, and therefore superficial. It is the attraction of the soul that really matters, even if the Muslim girl is a slave, because it would be infinitely more enduring and profound. “And do not give your women in marriage to men who associate partners with God unless they embrace the true faith. Any believing bondman is certainly better than an idolater, even though the latter may well please you.” (Verse 221) The same rule applies to Muslim women who wish to marry unbelieving men, and for the same underlying reason: “These invite to the fire; whereas God invites to paradise and to the achievement of forgiveness by His leave. He makes plain His revelations to mankind so that they may bear them in mind.” (Verse 221) Believers and unbelievers move along two different paths: how can they meet together in a unit that is the foundation of life? The unbelievers take the route that leads to the fire, while those who believe in God take the way leading to His forgiveness and to heaven. The gap between the two is an ever-widening one.The question arises here: do these people really call to the fire? Would anyone Knowingly take himself or others towards the fire? What is highlighted here is the outcome, shown to be the advocated objective. Hence, God warns against such advocacy that leads to perdition and makes plain His revelations so that people may bear them in mind. Whoever fails to take heed can blame none other than himself. It is noteworthy that Muslim men are not prohibited from marrying Christian or Jewish women, despite certain important differences in religious belief and practice. This is because Muslims, Christians and Jews share a fundamental belief in God’s oneness.As for marrying Christian women who believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, or in Jesus as the Lord, and Jewish women who believe Ezra was the son of God, Muslim jurists take various views. The question is whether such women should be considered idolaters, and therefore outlawed from marriage with Muslims, or whether they are covered by the general Qur’ānic ruling which says: “Today, all the good things of life have been made lawful to you. The food of those who were given revelations is lawful to you, and your food is lawful to them. And the virtuous women from among the believers and the virtuous women from among those who were given revelations before you [are also lawful to you] when you give them their dower.” (5: 5) The majority of jurists are of the opinion that they are lawful for Muslims to marry, but I am more inclined to support the view that they are not. Al-Bukhārī quotes `Abdullāh ibn `Umar, a scholar Companion of the Prophet Muĥammad, as saying: “To my mind, there could be no greater polytheism for a woman than to believe that Jesus is the Lord.” Muslim women, however, are forbidden from marrying Jewish or Christian men.The two cases are different, meriting different verdicts. Under Islamic law, children are called by their father’s names. It is the practice in all societies that, after marriage, a woman joins the household of her husband. If a Muslim man married a Christian or Jewish woman, she would move to the town or country where he lived, and join the rest of his family, and their children would take the father’s name and grow up in his religious and cultural environment. The situation would be reversed in the case of a Muslim woman marrying a Jewish or Christian man, where the children would be raised in a non-Muslim culture and most likely grow up to be non-Muslims. There are, however, other practical considerations that would discourage the marriage of a Muslim man to a Christian or Jewish woman, which is otherwise permissible. Some of these were pointed out by the second Caliph, `Umar ibn al-Khaţţāb. In his commentary on the Qur’ān, Ibn Kathīr quotes Ibn Jarīr al- Ţabarī as saying that despite unanimity over the marriage of Muslim men to Jewish or Christian women, `Umar ibn al-Khaţţāb was not in favour of it, lest Muslim men should turn away from marrying Muslim women. He also reports that when Ĥudhayfah married a Jewess, `Umar wrote ordering him to divorce her. Ĥudhayfah wrote back, asking: “Is it because you claim that she is forbidden for me to marry that I should divorce her?” `Umar replied: “No, I do not, but I fear that people may turn away from marrying Muslim women.” More recent experiences provide further evidence that such marriages undermine the faith and Muslim identity of the new generations of Islam, especially in view of the fact that our societies today are only nominally Muslim” (In the Shade of the Quran, vol .1, pp...296 – 297)
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 04:01:28 +0000
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