Can one marry Christians of Today
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:
Accoding to
sharia,Allah has given permission for a believer to marry a chris or jew
without them having to convert to islam.
Does this apply to the christians of today whom I believe worship Jesus
as the son of God Or does surah bakrah v221 apply
(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
Can one marry
Christians of Today
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.
Allah says in the
Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse
5:
Likewise you are
permitted to marry believing chaste women,
and chaste women from among the people of the Book (Jews and
Christians), provided that you give
them their due ‘mahr’ and desire chastity,
not lewdness, nor secret
intrigues.
The verse 221 of the Holy
Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah does not apply to the Jews and the Christians
women, but to the ‘mushriks’ like
Hindus, Buddhists, etc.
Your Question: Does this apply to the christians of today
whom I believe worship Jesus as the son of God.
Allah Subhanah gave special
allowance to the People of the Book (Jews and Christians), and gave permission, and made it legal and
valid for a believer to marry a chaste woman from among the People of the
Book.
When the above aayah giving
the permission for the believers to marry the women from the People of the Book
was revealed in the Glorious Quran, the
Christians of the time, used to believe
in Prophet Jesus (a.s.) as the son of God,
and in the Doctrine of Trinity.
Allah Subhanah admonished them for their this dis-belief and shirk in
the Glorious Quran itself! But
still, the permission to marry their
chaste women was given to the believers.
Thus, to say that the above
verse of Surah Maidah, whereby Allah
gives explicit permission for the believers to marry the chaste women of the
People of the Book, does not apply in
today’s time; is incorrect.
Allah says in the
Holy Quran Chapter 19 Surah Maryam verses 88-92:
They say that the
Merciful has begotten a son! What an
absurd thing that you have invented!
It is well near that the skies
are ready to burst, and the earth to
split asunder, and the mountains to
crumble down in utter ruin at this hideous thing that they should ascribe a son
to the Most Merciful! For it is not
consonant with the Majesty of (Allah) the Most Merciful that He should beget a
son!
Allah says in the
Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 72:
Most certainly they
committed blasphemy who said,
“Allah, He is indeed the
Messiah, son of Mary!”, whereas the Messiah (Jesus) had said, “O children
of
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 73:
Most certainly they
committed blasphemy, who said, “God is
one of the three”; whereas, there is no deity other than the One Deity. And if these people do not desist from
uttering such words, a painful chastisement
shall be inflicted on all those from among them who have been guilty of
blasphemy. Will they not, then,
turn to Allah and ask His Pardon?
Allah is very Forgiving and Compassionate.
Even though Allah has severely admonished the Christians for their
shirk of ascribing a son to the Majestic Lord,
and their doctrine of Trinity;
Allah has still allowed the believers to marry the women from the People
of the Book. It is not like the
Christians started believing in Jesus as the son of God, or in the doctrine of Trinity after the
Quran was revealed! They used to
believe in it, even as the Quran was
being revealed.
All the scholars of Islam are
unanimous in their opinion, that if a
believer marries a woman from among the People of the Book; the marriage will be deemed legal and valid
in Islamic Law and Shariah.
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
Wister