As I mentioned in an earlier comment, I myself am of the opinion that so-called “interfaith” marriages are not wise. If one spouse is in fact only a nominal “member” (or however you want to put it) of a religion / deen / way of life / faith community, then it is completely understandable that if there are children of the marriage, then the more “observant” / “practicing” spouse may try to raise the children in her/his faith, whether that faith be Islam or something else.

Also, kristen has a perfectly valid point that if many Muslim men marry women of the “Peoples of the Book,” there could be a shortage of available potential husbands for Muslim women, who according to settled law may only marry Muslim men. (Yes, I know very well that there are — at least nominal — Muslim women who marry non-Muslim men, but so far as I understand {I am not a scholar} these marriages are forbidden under Sharia.)

One unfortunate characteristic of the Islamic ummah in North America today is that many people have trouble finding suitable, compatible spouses. The problem is especially acute for converts when those in so many “ethnic” communities are prejudiced against converts (or even others) who are not members of their communities. If unmarried converts should preferentially (in my serious opinion) only marry other Muslims, and there are few available potential spouses, then there is a serious problem.

Also, although a muslim woman cannot marry muslim men, they do anyway, so it’s worth discussing. Also, in countries that do not allow polygamy, every muslim man marrying a non muslim woman means a Muslim woman never marrying. Is that really ideal Or fair? Perhaps muslim women weren’t allowed to marry outside of the faith because they were not educated as well in the time of Mohammed. Things have changed,

True. This Makes sense back in those days. In today’s times, woman are more prominent in their roles and have a bigger influence on the children then the father now.

It is not clear. Just because it does not say chaste men doesn’t automatically mean it’s prohibited. These are all made up assumptions from men. Scholars don’t argue it because THEY don’t want their women to marry other men but they can marry other women. Quran left it out can leave it to many reasons.

As for so-called “inter-cultural” marriages between Muslims, I would say that each case needs to be judged on its own merits and circumstances, so that a blanket rule might not be appropriate. At the same time, if one were to say that inter-cultural marriages should not be undertaken, that leaves a lot of single convert men in a real bind. There are so few, relatively speaking, single Muslim women of their own ethnic groups that the men’s prospects might be rather poor if they are discouraged from marrying Muslim women from other cultures or such women are discouraged (even prevented) from marrying such men.

And Allah swt knows best.

Sahih International

“O you who have believed, when the believing women come to you as emigrants, examine them. Allah is most knowing as to their faith. And if you know them to be believers, then do not return them to the disbelievers; they are not lawful [wives] for them, nor are they lawful [husbands] for them. But give the disbelievers what they have spent. And there is no blame upon you if you marry them when you have given them their due compensation. And hold not to marriage bonds with disbelieving women, but ask for what you have spent and let them ask for what they have spent. That is the judgement of Allah ; He judges between you. And Allah is Knowing and Wise.”

May Allah guide us all to Haq and Jannah.

Her comment would hardly be accepted by any mainstream Muslim from any school of thought.
Culture over religion.

thank you so much renee for that broad minded comments. this is the best positive comments ive read about interfaith marriages.. your principles help me a lot. and I would like to apply this principles to my love one(muslim)

Nice…boyfriends and girlfriends; not exactly Islamic to begin with but then you made it clear you abhor organized religion.
Under the guise of “love human beings”, liberals have capsulized many assaults on religion particularity Islam, which in days and age is not quite surprising.

But it is what it is; we shall see indeed what it is at the end.

My boyfriend and I have spent the past 2 years learning about each other’s cultures and religions. I feel very strongly about not wanting to raise my children Muslim and not necessarily wanting to raise them Catholic either. I will not convert for him and I would never ask him to convert for me. We are both well educated and have all the same morals and values and standards for our lives even though we were raised in different parts of the world and with different cultures and religions. We believe we can create a beautiful family and raise children to be open and knowledgable about the extraordinary diversity in the world.

It is sad to have experienced the close-mindedness and negativity from the older members of the Muslim community his family belongs to. The younger generation has been wonderful and open. Many of the younger generation is/has been in inter-racial relationships as well, and most of the youth are very Americanized and are interested in many aspects of our way of life. It is the duty of the husband and wife to set the standards for their life together. If those standards are different from their parents, well at the end of the day your parents are not living your life, you are. You are the one who comes home to your spouse and has to be that person’s partner in life.

There are wonderful aspects of both cultures that if shared could improve the lives and perspectives of populations of people. No one is right or wrong, each way is just different and we both have much to learn from each other. BUT… it all comes back to loving other human beings.