| Answer: Answer: Faith and religion is a very important matter for
all the individuals. Therefore, commonly people marry into their respective
faiths. However, the Islamic Sharī‘ah has allowed Muslims to marry women of the
People of the Book. This it should be noted is also a conditional allowance. The
Holy Qur’ān only allowed the Muslims to marry into adherents of these faiths
when the supremacy of Islam was established in the Arabian Peninsula. The People
of the Book were living the life of subjugation. The Holy Qur’ān made subtle
allusion to the fact. The related verse of the Holy Qur’ān reads:
This day are [all] good things made lawful for you. The
food of those who have received the Scripture is lawful for you, and your food
is lawful for them. And so are the virtuous women of the believers and the
virtuous women of those who received the Scripture before you (lawful for you)
when ye give them their marriage portions and live with them in honor, not in
fornication, nor taking them as secret concubines. Whoso denies the faith, his
work is vain and he will be among the losers in the Hereafter. (5:5)
The Qur’ānic words ‘now you can marry’ clearly allude to
the fact that the circumstances and position of Muslims is considered in this
regard. We cannot marry in any circumstances among the followers of other
religious barring the People of the Book. |