Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Enter Question
View By Subject
Fatwa Of The Week
Selected Fatwa
Fatwa CenterMarrying a Christian woman of weak faith
Question
Six years ago, I met a guy (Mahmoud) at my college who is Muslim and we fell in love. We dated for a few years until he confessed to me that being together without marriage hurt him. He made us sign a marriage contract called Orfi and he said that it was better than nothing. About 18 months ago, he asked to get married legally and I said yes. As we got closer to the wedding date, he started asking me a lot of questions about my faith. We had already established we are allowed to get married since I follow the Christian faith, and I was virgin before I met him...etc. However, as we talked more about religion he told me that my faith was not strong enough for our marriage to be "Halal". He said there is a good chance our marriage will fail and that we will end up being hurt just because I am not a full Christian. Honestly, I am not really a devout Christian and I have many doubts about religion. I do believe in a god - a super power out there that is all powerful and that has caused the creation of this universe. However, I am not sure how to believe in angels, books, prophets, judgment day...etc. I do hope that I will be rewarded for the good deeds I do, and that evil people will be punished, but we can't know that for sure! I have tried to talk to god many times and asked him to give me a sign so I can believe, but I didn't get a response. I find the Christian faith to be full of contradictions and lies, so I can't keep lying to Mahmoud and telling that I am Christian and we can get married. At the same time, I really do not want to lose him and I know he loves so much he doesn't want to leave either. Do you think my faith is enough for us to get married? If yes, we will be the happiest couple on Earth! Do you have any proof that there is a judgment day and that prophets actually received messages from god? I feel lost and confused. I wish religion did not stand between me and my man. I hope you will help me. Thank you so much
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Islam permits a Muslim man to marry a Christian woman provided that she is actually following the Christian religion and provided that she is chaste. If you doubt the Day of Judgment as you mentioned, the belief in the Last Day is one of the fundamental issues of Faith in all heavenly religions. Please refer to Fataawa 91725 and 19841.
Indeed, there are many contradictions in the Christian religion, and the Gospels may differ in the facts about a single issue. This is some of the strongest evidence that the Gospel has undergone many distortions, and this is what we believe as Muslims, as this is what the Quran has informed us. Please refer to Fataawa 8210, 10326 and 90449 about the Christian religion being false and the contradictions in the Gospels.
From some of the statements you made in your question, we infer that you have an intelligent mind, and this cannot lead you to anything but good. Indeed, the greatest good is to embrace Islam. Islam is the true religion and the last religion by which Allaah sealed all previous religions. Allaah will not accept any other religion than Islam. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 81979, 88906, 88051 and 38819.
Finally, we would like to alert you to the following:
1- Islam does not approve of any emotional ties outside a valid marriage to preserve people's honor and dignity and protect the Muslim community from vice. Please refer to Fatwa 81356.
2- Not all conventional (‘Urfi) marriages are permissible; this is clarified in Fatwa 81385. Also, for benefit on the conditions of a valid marriage, please refer to Fatwa 83629.
Allaah Knows best.
Search Fatwa
Fatwa Subject
