dealing with muslim women marrying non-muslims

[janab-e-ali]

@Mamaof3

If the Koran does not forbid Muslim women to marry a man “of the book” AND the man agrees to raise the children as Muslims then it shouldnt be an issue yeah?

The problem is that the Quran does forbid it pretty clearly.

Nor marry (your girls) to unbelievers until they believe: A man slave who believes is better than an unbeliever…(Quran 2:221)

@emaanW

i came across a study that revealed 79% of the kids from an inter-faith marriage where the mother is a muslim, will be muslim, while only 57% are muslim in case the father is muslim. this is from 1990. and then in 2000: 61.9% of the kids were muslim where the mother was muslim, and only 13% muslim where the father was muslim.

Could you please post a link to this study? I’d like to see sample sizes, methodology, how “being a Muslim” was objectively ascertained, etc. If the numbers you’re giving are indeed accurate, I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that, in like (fairly likely) event of a divorce, in most Western nations the mother will generally retain custody of the children.

@emaanW

what i would like people to talk about though is … how do you treat someone (a woman) who has married outside of religion or has a committed relationship with a non-muslim man? is her action really so bad that she should face physical abuse from her parents, have the community talk ill of her? is she really not a muslim anymore, and does this really break all relationships?

To answer your question:

• Physical abuse is never justified, no matter what the reasoning
• As for the “community speaking ill”…the community will speak ill of people for far less than marrying outside the faith. I suppose in an ideal world, no one would gossip about others, but in reality its just a fact of life.
• Personally (and I’m hardly a religious scholar), I don’t think she ceases to be a Muslim as long as she herself still believes in the tenants of the Islamic faith. However, there’s no way around the fact that her marriage is completely invalid from a religious perspective and her children are essentially illegitimate.