- EN (English)
Fatwa ID: | 80937 |
Title: | Marriage between a Muslim and a Christian? |
Category: | Family and Personal Affairs |
Scholar: | Dr. Hatem al-Haj |
Date: | 02/08/2010 |
Question
Does the Quran and Sunah allow or prohibit marriage between a Muslim woman and a Christian man?
Answer
All praise be to Allah and may His blessings and peace be on His last messenger, Muhammad,
The Quran categorically prohibits the marriage of a Muslim woman to a Christian man. This is a matter of consensus.
Allah says:
( يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَانِهِنَّ فَإِنْ عَلِمْتُمُوهُنَّ مُؤْمِنَاتٍ فَلا تَرْجِعُوهُنَّ إِلَى الْكُفَّار لا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ وَلا هُمْ يَحِلُّونَ لَهُنَّ )
“O you who believe! When believing women come to you as emigrants, examine them; Allah knows best as to their Faith, then if you ascertain that they are true believers send them not back to the disbelievers. They are not lawful (wives) for the disbelievers nor are the disbelievers lawful (husbands) for them”
[al-Mumtahanah 60:10]
Muslims live their life according to Islam, which guides their actions from the beginning of the day to the end, and makes for a very large component of their identity, and consequently practices. For example, a Muslim woman is prohibited from having intercourse during her period, and that may not be necessarily honored by her non-Muslim spouse. It will not be in the Muslim woman’s or the non-Muslim’s man interest to marry each other.
The spouses in Islam help one another on serving God by going to the mosque together, waking each other up for prayer, and supporting one another on long days of fasting…etc. based on all that, even Muslim men are discouraged from marrying non-Muslim women.
Allah knows best.