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Allah says in the Qu'ran:

الزَّانِي لَا يَنكِحُ إِلَّا زَانِيَةً أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً وَالزَّانِيَةُ لَا يَنكِحُهَا إِلَّا زَانٍ أَوْ مُشْرِكٌ ۚ وَحُرِّمَ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
The fornicator does not marry except a [female] fornicator or polytheist, and none marries her except a fornicator or a polytheist, and that has been made unlawful to the believers.

[Verse 24:3]

In this answer, user 2350 stated (based on the above verse):

Basically Muslim are not permitted to marry a polytheist nor an adulterer, otherwise he/she will be considered as the same.

That means that you cannot get married to a polytheist.

Nowadays, most Christians believe in Trinity, which we say is polytheism. Does that mean marrying Christians is haram even though the Quran allows marriage to Christians?

This is not a duplicate of this because the question is about marrying non-chaste people of the book while my question is about marrying any Christian, be she chaste or not.

UmH
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1 Answers1

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Verse 5:5 permits marriage with people who have been " given the book before you ":

والمحصنات من المؤمنات والمحصنات من الذين أوتوا الكتاب من قبلكم

And [lawful in marriage are] chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from among those who were given the Scripture before you ...

Quran 5:5

And it is understood by the majority of the scholars that it includes Christians: trinitatians or otherwise.

This is because the Christians had similar beliefs in the time of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the Quran itself mentioned that Christians consider Jesus to be divine [5:72], and that they believe in trinity [5:73] and having that in mind it still did not exclude them in 5:5.

A group has opposed the above, because of the following verse:

And do not marry mushrikati (polytheistic women) until they believe. And a believing slave woman is better than a polytheist, even though she might please you. And do not marry mushrikeena ( polytheistic men) [to your women] until they believe. And a believing slave is better than a polytheist, even though he might please you. Those invite [you] to the Fire, but Allah invites to Paradise and to forgiveness, by His permission. And He makes clear His verses to the people that perhaps they may remember.

Quran 2:221

They claim that 2:221 abrogates 5:5 and cited the view of Ibn Umar:

Whenever Ibn `Umar was asked about marrying a Christian lady or a Jewess, he would say: "Allah has made it unlawful for the believers to marry ladies who ascribe partners in worship to Allah, and I do not know of a greater thing, as regards to ascribing partners in worship, etc. to Allah, than that a lady should say that Jesus is her Lord although he is just one of Allah's slaves."

Bukhari

The majority however disagrees and their arguments include:

  • 2:221 is only about polytheist idolators and does not extend to Christians, since the Quran normally uses mushriqeen to only refer to the idolaters and the Christians are usually separately mentioned as Nasara or as Ahle Kitab (people of the book) ... for example consider:

    إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَادُوا وَالصَّابِئِينَ وَالنَّصَارَىٰ وَالْمَجُوسَ وَالَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَفْصِلُ بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ

    Indeed, those who have believed and those who were Jews and the Sabeans and the Christians and the Magians and those who associated with Allah - Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed Allah is, over all things, Witness.

    Quran 22:17

    مَّا يَوَدُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَلَا الْمُشْرِكِينَ أَن يُنَزَّلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْ خَيْرٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَخْتَصُّ بِرَحْمَتِهِ مَن يَشَاءُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ

    Neither those who disbelieve from the People of the Scripture nor the polytheists wish that any good should be sent down to you from your Lord. But Allah selects for His mercy whom He wills, and Allah is the possessor of great bounty.

    Quran 2:105

    لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ مُنفَكِّينَ حَتَّىٰ تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةُ

    Those who disbelieved among the People of the Scripture and the polytheists were not to be parted [from misbelief] until there came to them clear evidence -

    Quran 98:1

  • The scope of the words is different. ahl al-kitab is more specific than mushrikeen which is general, so 5:5 makes an exception in the general ruling of 2:221. The complete command is to not marry polytheists except people of the book. This is an example of تخصيص in عموم and there are several other examples of this.

  • 5:5 abrogated 2:221 it in their regard, since al-Maidah was revealed after al-Baqarah.

  • Marriage with people of the book is cited from some of the Sahaba including the caliph Uthman ibn Affan who married Na'ila bint al-Furafisa while she was a Christian.

There is a detailed discussion of this and the arguments and counter-arguments in:

Tafsir Al Jassas on 2:221 and 5:5
Tafsir Al Qurtubi on 2:221 and 5:5

UmH
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    As verse 5:5 is a clear continuation of verse 5:4 which declars that the religion (shari'a) is complete anybody pretending it is abrogated is saying the quran is self-contradoctory. As there can't be any verse including a new ruling after the revelation of 5:4! Quran also quotes the different types if christians so i clearly disagree with this opinion as it disagrees with the quran. – Medi1Saif May 27 '17 at 13:36
  • @Medi1Saif verse 5:4 doesn't seem to talk about the fact as u mentioned: "the religion (shari'a) is complete." And also if you don't mind explaining which opinion you clearly disagree with that contradicts the Quran? – EPIC Tube HD Jun 08 '20 at 07:07
  • @UmH Would you say, Muslims women can marry male people of the book? From what I know ( I might be wrong) that there's no clear ruling against Muslim women not being able to marry non-muslim men, who are the people of the book? What ure opinion on that? – EPIC Tube HD Jun 08 '20 at 07:08
  • @EPICTubeHD I originally mentioned my personal opinion in the answer that Christians should not be married, Medi1Saif was referring to that, I've retracted my opinion from the answer. Also the verse he is referring to is 5:3. As for your question, Muslim women can not marry any Kafir because of e.g. 60:10 فلا ترجعوهن إلى الكفار لا هن حل لهم ولا هم يحلون لهن is general and there is no evidence of an exception being made for them for the people of the book. – UmH Jun 08 '20 at 07:12
  • @UmH I wasn't referring to Kafirs...but rather the people of the book, for example the jews and the Christians. Are Muslims women allowed to marry say Christians or jews? If no, are u saying it's unlawful only becuz there's no evidence for it in the Quran or sunnah? – EPIC Tube HD Jun 08 '20 at 07:16
  • According to 60:10 Marriage to a Kafir husband is forbidden ... people of the book are Kafir so marrriage to them is disallowed. There are also other evidences for it and there is no disagreement that it is forbidden. – UmH Jun 08 '20 at 07:18
  • If people of the book are Kafir...then according to 60:10 "...then do not return them to the disbelievers; they are not lawful [wives] for them, nor are they lawful [husbands]..." Even Muslim men can't marry them becuz according to you they are kafirs/disbelievers. But clearly as given in the Quran men can non-muslim women. So are u saying there's a contradiction? And u say there are other evidences, can u kindly provide who other evidences? – EPIC Tube HD Jun 08 '20 at 09:41
  • People of the book are Kafir, there are no two opinions on this. By default, marriage is forbidden to a Kafir for both men and women. An exception is made for some of the Kafirs (people of the book) for muslim men alone. No such exception exists for women. Hence the ruling for muslim women will revert to its original general state, while for muslim men it is permitted because of the explicit specific exception that has been made for them in 5:5. That is all, I am not sure what is wrong if I can't make you understand this simple concept which is also the essence of my answer to this question. – UmH Jun 08 '20 at 09:52
  • Lets say there is a class in which there are four students named A-D. The teacher says: "Class stand up" and then says "B sit down". What is the instruction for any other members of the class? The whole class will stand, except B who may sit down. A,C and D will stand because they are in the class (general rule) but are not B (specific rule), so the earlier general instruction applies to them. C can not argue that it is permitted to sit down because B was told to and there is no contradiction in the instructions. – UmH Jun 08 '20 at 10:04
  • @UmH Thanks for the explanation. I understand it now! – EPIC Tube HD Jun 12 '20 at 08:37