Three questions about a non-muslim woman married with a muslim man

[umar_italy]

There is this christian woman who married a muslim man; and recently wrote on our italian forum asking about some point on which she had discussions with her husband.

Basically, the points are:

1. Does the rules about she having a job are more "lax" than the ones that apply on a muslim wife, or she can work only if there is economical necessity?

2. Can she eat non-halal meat at home? Only for herself, not for children..

3. Can she keep praying and having her christian rites? Can she also attend Sunday functions in the church?

[Rifai]

Assalamu Alaykum,

Basically, as she does not live in an Islamic state, and is therefore not a dhimmi, she doesn't have to follow any Islamic legislation whatsoever. So if she wants to work, she doesn't have a reason to let him stop her, while he may or may not have a reason to forbid her.

And yes, he may allow her to pray and have her rites, aswell as attend Church.

and Allah knows best.

[umar_italy]

Assalamu Alaykum,

Basically, as she does not live in an Islamic state, and is therefore not a dhimmi, she doesn't have to follow any Islamic legislation whatsoever. So if she wants to work, she doesn't have a reason to let him stop her, while he may or may not have a reason to forbid her.

And yes, he may allow her to pray and have her rites, aswell as attend Church.

and Allah knows best.

Sidi Rifai, it's always a pleasure reading your posts.

Do you by any chance know anything about the issue of her eating non-halal meat? Not from the view of following Shari`ah (to which she's not subject), rather maybe for fear of "contamination" of the husband or anything like this..

[saar]

That is not legal marriage in Islam if one person self call he is Muslim and other partner non Muslim both in this case must be none Muslims and live together because the Muslim person accepted none Muslim believes and he or she don’t care Islam they follow his or her nufs. Allah strictly say to Muslims stops the marriages with none Muslims.

Al-Baqarah 2 : Verse 221

And do not marry Al-Mushrikât (idolatresses, etc.) till they believe (worship Allâh Alone). And indeed a slave woman who believes is better than a (free) Mushrikah (idolatress, etc.), even though she pleases you. And give not (your daughters) in marriage to Al-Mushrikûn till they believe (in Allâh Alone) and verily, a believing slave is better than a (free) Mushrik (idolater, etc.), even though he pleases you. Those (Al-Mushrikûn) invite you to the Fire, but Allâh invites (you) to Paradise and Forgiveness by His Leave, and makes His Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) clear to mankind that they may remember.

[cakeNbarfee]

That is not legal marriage in Islam if one person self call he is Muslim and other partner non Muslim both in this case must be none Muslims and live together because the Muslim person accepted none Muslim believes and he or she don’t care Islam they follow his or her nufs. Allah strictly say to Muslims stops the marriages with none Muslims.

Al-Baqarah 2 : Verse 221

And do not marry Al-Mushrikât (idolatresses, etc.) till they believe (worship Allâh Alone). And indeed a slave woman who believes is better than a (free) Mushrikah (idolatress, etc.), even though she pleases you. And give not (your daughters) in marriage to Al-Mushrikûn till they believe (in Allâh Alone) and verily, a believing slave is better than a (free) Mushrik (idolater, etc.), even though he pleases you. Those (Al-Mushrikûn) invite you to the Fire, but Allâh invites (you) to Paradise and Forgiveness by His Leave, and makes His Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) clear to mankind that they may remember.

AOA,

I completely agree with the above. The lady in question has not accepted islam so why is she asking muslims what she can and can't do. She should take this up with her husband.

Even though she is not a muslim or living in a muslim country, Islam is a way of life that applies to all mankind anywhere. Therefore I would only encourage her to avoid haraam even outside the home, not visit places of shirk and try to learn about islam if she wants a long and happy marriage. If her conscience is making her sensitive to these issues then we should further encourage her to pursue her curiosity of islam by avoiding places and rites of shirk.

I hope it is not the case that she is having contention with her husband over these issues and want other muslims to back her up. In that case her husband should stop trying to force her to become something she is not (he knew the woman he was marrying), rather bring her to islam with love.

[Junaid Ibn Ahmed]

That is not legal marriage in Islam if one person self call he is Muslim and other partner non Muslim both in this case must be none Muslims and live together because the Muslim person accepted none Muslim believes and he or she don’t care Islam they follow his or her nufs. Allah strictly say to Muslims stops the marriages with none Muslims.

Al-Baqarah 2 : Verse 221

And do not marry Al-Mushrikât (idolatresses, etc.) till they believe (worship Allâh Alone). And indeed a slave woman who believes is better than a (free) Mushrikah (idolatress, etc.), even though she pleases you. And give not (your daughters) in marriage to Al-Mushrikûn till they believe (in Allâh Alone) and verily, a believing slave is better than a (free) Mushrik (idolater, etc.), even though he pleases you. Those (Al-Mushrikûn) invite you to the Fire, but Allâh invites (you) to Paradise and Forgiveness by His Leave, and makes His Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) clear to mankind that they may remember.

The consensus amongst the muslims is that a muslim man can marry any female Person of the Book.

[Colonel_Hardstone]

There is this christian woman who married a muslim man; and recently wrote on our italian forum asking about some point on which she had discussions with her husband.

Basically, the points are:

1. Does the rules about she having a job are more "lax" than the ones that apply on a muslim wife, or she can work only if there is economical necessity?

2. Can she eat non-halal meat at home? Only for herself, not for children..

3. Can she keep praying and having her christian rites? Can she also attend Sunday functions in the church?

I agree...

Since she isn't a Muslim, Islamic Shariah rules are not applicable to her and the husband when he made the decision to marry her should have thought about this (very seriously).

To the best of my knowledge, she is free to do whatever is permissable according to her religion.

If she decides to follow some rules from Islamic Shariah etc., that would be kind of her but thats about it...But if she did some sort of contract with the husband that I will do this and this then she should stick to it (as well).

In South America generations of Arabs are destroyed because of marrying Non-Muslim (Christian) women and you have people with Muslim names who are Christians.

All in all, a very very bad situation to be married to a practising Christian.

[marco100]

The consensus amongst the muslims is that a muslim man can marry any female Person of the Book.

With all due respect, a Christian is not regarded as a person of the book if they are catholics as this is polytheism. People of the book is a term for unitarian christians not those we see in the majority as they practice polytheism to varying degrees.

EVEN if you were to class jewish and christian women as women of the book, they still need to fulfill criteria set for them, such as they have to be pure before marriage, and bring children up in the religion of the father i.e muslim. How many such marriages have this in all fairness?

In a non muslim country the mother gets the children in event of divorce so scholars seriously advise against this for obvious reasons.

It's never worked and never will. I myself have seen the devastating effects such a union has.

Then again, when we go against the clear wisdom of the Quraan and Sunnah this is what happens.

The number of muslims who don't even know what the stance of Islam is on this muslim men/non muslim women is shocking.

[umar_italy]

That is not legal marriage in Islam if one person self call he is Muslim and other partner non Muslim both in this case must be none Muslims and live together because the Muslim person accepted none Muslim believes and he or she don’t care Islam they follow his or her nufs. Allah strictly say to Muslims stops the marriages with none Muslims.

Al-Baqarah 2 : Verse 221

And do not marry Al-Mushrikât (idolatresses, etc.) till they believe (worship Allâh Alone). And indeed a slave woman who believes is better than a (free) Mushrikah (idolatress, etc.), even though she pleases you. And give not (your daughters) in marriage to Al-Mushrikûn till they believe (in Allâh Alone) and verily, a believing slave is better than a (free) Mushrik (idolater, etc.), even though he pleases you. Those (Al-Mushrikûn) invite you to the Fire, but Allâh invites (you) to Paradise and Forgiveness by His Leave, and makes His Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) clear to mankind that they may remember.

Ya "mufassir", it would be better you be silent about what you don't know; in another verse Allah declared permissible the marriage with Ahl al-Kitab women.

I completely agree with the above. The lady in question has not accepted islam so why is she asking muslims what she can and can't do. She should take this up with her husband.

The lady in question is being abuse and mistrated by her husband about these issues; she just asked if she did anything wrong and if the husband reprimended her starting from Sacred Law or from his own interest.

Even though she is not a muslim or living in a muslim country, Islam is a way of life that applies to all mankind anywhere.

Come on, where did you take this, from a apologetic pamplhet about Islam?
Sacred Law doesn't apply on non-muslims: it's not a "tyrannical" law that applies to whom don't have reason to refer to it (she is not even a dhimmiyyah).

Therefore I would only encourage her to avoid haraam even outside the home, not visit places of shirk and try to learn about islam if she wants a long and happy marriage. If her conscience is making her sensitive to these issues then we should further encourage her to pursue her curiosity of islam by avoiding places and rites of shirk.

Be realistic and sensible, she is not muslim, why should she avoid "haram" if it's not "haram" for her..

I hope it is not the case that she is having contention with her husband over these issues and want other muslims to back her up. In that case her husband should stop trying to force her to become something she is not (he knew the woman he was marrying), rather bring her to islam with love.

Her husband is making mess on these issues, here she is only a "victim" and an oppressed, if we could use these terms.

And Allah answers to the du`a' of the oppressed, also if they are kuffar.

I agree...

Since she isn't a Muslim, Islamic Shariah rules are not applicable to her and the husband when he made the decision to marry her should have thought about this (very seriously).

To the best of my knowledge, she is free to do whatever is permissable according to her religion.

If she decides to follow some rules from Islamic Shariah etc., that would be kind of her but thats about it...But if she did some sort of contract with the husband that I will do this and this then she should stick to it (as well).

In South America generations of Arabs are destroyed because of marrying Non-Muslim (Christian) women and you have people with Muslim names who are Christians.

All in all, a very very bad situation to be married to a practising Christian.

Completely agreed, that's a very dangerous issue and I dislike even the idea of marrying a non-practising muslim woman, let alone a non-muslim one!

Nonetheless, I feel we have to help her and her husband having clear these issues, insha'Llah.

With all due respect, a Christian is not regarded as a person of the book if they are catholics as this is polytheism. People of the book is a term for unitarian christians not those we see in the majority as they practice polytheism to varying degrees.

Source?

What I have always read is the opposite: is considered kitabi Christian whoever believes in God, Injil and Jesus :as:, irregard of the corruption of their beliefs:
At the time of RasuluLlah the precedent Books were just been manipulated: in fact the Qur'an abrogated all them, but still in the very Qur'an there is the permission to marry women of Ahl al-Kitab, even if their beliefs were corrupted.

See what Mufti Taqi Usmani has to say about this issue:

In order for the animals slaughtered by the people of the book to become lawful, it is necessary that the slaughterer be a follower of either the Christian or Jewish religion and that he believe in the fundamental teachings of that religion, even if these teachings are contrary to the teachings of Islam, e.g. their belief in trinity, atonement, and the distorted versions of the Gospel and Torah. Allah has called them 'people of the book' despite the fact that they used to have these false beliefs at the time the Qur'an was revealed. Allah has clearly said in the Qur'an,

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Translation: "The Christians say 'The Messiah is the son of Allah .

In another verse, He says,

#########

"They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allah is the third of
three (in a trinity)".

Allah also says,

#########

"And the Jews say, 'Uzair (Ezra) is the son of Allah".
He states in another place that 'they distort words from their [proper] places (i.e. usages).'"

########

Jassas writes in his book that Ubidat Ibn Nusayy narrates from Gadhayf Ibn Al-Harith that a governor of U'mar Ibn Al-Khattab wrote to him, "There are people from As-Samirah who read the Torah and observe the Sabbath, but they do not believe in the resurrection. What should we do?" Umar
wrote to him saying, "Indeed, they are a group of the people of the book."
This incident proves that it is not necessary for a person to believe in a pure monotheism similar to that of Islam in order for us to consider him to be from the people of the book. It is also not necessary that he believe that the Gospel and Torah are distorted and that the religion of Musa (Moses) and Isa (Jesus) has been abrogated. Rather, it is sufficient that he believes in those fundamental teachings of Jews and Christians which distinguish them from other religions.

From: Legal Rulings on Slaughtered Animals, by Mufti Taqi Usmani

And Allah SwT knows best

[Yahya]

And yes, he may allow her to pray and have her rites, aswell as attend Church.

wa'alaykumussalaam,

This is not true. The Muslim husband must forbid her from committing kufr. He has no authority to PREVENT her from doing those things, but he does have an obligation to TELL her not to do those things.