Can an ex-christian marry a muslim girl?
Mu' meneen Brothers
and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Assalamu`alaikum
Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh I am a single Moslem guy from A Christian background
( my family are christian). I`ve been a moslem for 2 years and Alhamdulillah
even though i still face problem with my family due to my decission to become a
moslem My faith is ( and insya allah will always be)stronger everyday. I
haven`t got a steady job and i`m still looking for one (Insya Allah i`ll get it
as soon as possible) I have a girlfriend, a moslem one, from a Moslem
background. I want to marry her.. and she wants me to marry her as well. But
her parents dissagree because they fear that i might go back to `being a
kaffir` again after we`re married, and they don`t want to have `family in law`
who are not moslem. Not to mention that my family is,naturally, dissagree with
my choosen lady because who she is. How can I convince her family (especially
her father and mother in this case?) Is it possible for us to get married with
a `Wali Hakim` (legal officer acting as the father replacement) Can we get
married?
(There may be some
grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not
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readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
Can an ex-christian marry a muslim girl?
In the name of Allah, We praise
Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can
misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We
bear witness that there is no one (no idol,
no person, no grave, no
prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
First and foremost brother, please accept our congratulations for
accepting the deen of Truth. May Allah
Subhanah accept your conversion,
increase your Faith, increase
your knowledge, help you, guide you,
and give you strength, wisdom
and courage to face all the trials that might befall you for taking this Path
of Truth. May Allah Subhanah make
yours and our Emaan strong, and keep us
all steadfast on the Path of Truth until we meet with our appointments of
death. Ameen.
Your Question: How can I convince her family (especially
her father and mother in this case?) Is it possible for us to get married with
a `Wali Hakim` (legal officer acting as the father replacement) Can we get
married?
In Islamic Law, a person who declares his testification of
faith in Islam, can get married to a
believing woman the next minute, if both
parties are in agreement!
It is indeed
unfortunate that due to ignorance or fear of society, some people are reluctant to give their daughters in marriage to
a person who has sincerely accepted Islam as his faith, whereas the believers must be the first to
welcome anyone who sincerely converts to Islam, as their brothers and sisters in faith. The first thing you should do is make sincere supplication to
Allah Subhanah, and ask Him to help and
guide you to the path that is good for you and the girl in this life and in the
Hereafter.
If you are finding it difficult
to convince the girl’s parents yourself,
maybe you should seek the help of the brothers at local Islamic Guidance
Centre, or the ‘Imaam’ of the local
mosque where you pray, or the muslim
brothers or elders whom you might be close to,
to talk to the girl’s parents and convince them that your conversion to
Islam is here to stay, whether you
marry their daughter or not!
If that does not work, then you may approach a Shariah Court and
tell them your condition in full. If
the Judge at the Shariah Court determines that the parents of the girl are
against the marriage of their daughter to you for no genuine reason, he is well within his rights to become a
‘wali’ himself, or appoint a ‘wali’ and
conduct your ‘Nikaah’ or marriage ceremony.
Whatever path you take
brother, please have patience, and do not fight, or abuse, or confront the
girl’s parents if they do not agree to your proposal; for you must realize that they only want their daughter to be
happy and parents always do things in the best interest of their children. The day they will realize and accept that
your conversion to Islam is here to stay,
and that your intentions in marrying their beloved daughter are nothing
but honorable, and that their daughter
too wants to marry you….they will regret their opposition and accept and honor
you, Insha Allah, as their son-in-law.
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He
is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,
Burhan