Postby The Law26 » Sat Apr 22, 2006 5:17 pm
I agree with Hassan Turabi. Why would this convert abandon her marriage, kids and husband? Can anyone present an ayah prohibiting Muslim women from marriage with men of the Book, no, you can’t produce it because it doesn't exist. What Allah SWT does not prohibit is not a sin. That is a fact.
Muslim men have been given the green light if they wish so to marry people of the book, but the Qura'an is silent about Muslim women marrying people of the book. It is valid to say that an omission does not equal to a prohibition.
Chapter : 5 (Al-Ma'idah) Verse : 5
"...And lawful for you are chaste believing women and chaste women from among those who were given the Book before you, when you give them their dowries, contracting valid marriage and not committing fornication, nor taking secret paramours..."
However Saladin has presented an ayah directed to all Muslims (males & females) not to marry those without tawhid like the Pagans, but Christians and Jews are considered People of the Book (Ahlu Kitaab) and are exempted. There was no command to stop Muslim women from marrying Christians or Jews, and that is what they did exactly during our prophet's pbuh time. The early women converts to Islam also did not divorce their spouses in the wake of the revelations, and why will this convert abandon her family? A simple study of this history reveals that a vast number of the famous male companions of our prophet pbuh only converted some considerable time after their wives. In some cases, it was many years later. One of our Prophet pbuh daughters remained married to a non-Muslim man after the revelations of the Qura’an.
This prohibition actually derives from a pre-Islamic custom called kaafa, whereby an Arab woman was expected to marry at or above her station or level. The Arab Gulf nations still follow this tradition, requiring permission from the government even to marry non-Arab Muslims, as they consider Arabs to be the highest of all humans. It was considered a disgrace to her father and family for an Arab tribes-woman to marry a non-Arab man, I think this rings a bell with Somalis too. It wasn't considered a sin, and it did happen, but it was greatly discouraged. The reasoning for this is, in that tribal society, a woman's worth, or her husband determined her social status. Just like today, "Marrying up" or marrying an equal was far preferable to "marrying down".
This custom is still practiced and codified in law in Saudi Arabia today where it is illegal for a Saudi Arab woman to marry a non-Arab man, even if he is Muslim. Our Prophet pbuh warned against such arrogance in his final address when he declared that an Arab is no better than a non-Arab, etc. While there is nothing in the Qura’an or ahadith to forbid marriage between Muslim woman and Christian or Jewish men, tradition has discouraged it.
Are you aware that the wives of Umar, Hamzah and Abbas (ra). Umar's ra wife Zaynab was the sister of Uthman b. Maz'un, both Muslims. Hamzah's wife was Salmah and Abbas' wife was Lubabah (Umm Fadl), two daughters of Hind Bint Awf by different husbands. In Abbas' case, Umm Fadl claimed to have been the second woman to have converted to Islam, the same day as her close friend Khadijah ra. Officially, Abbas did not accept Islam until just before the fall of Mecca, twenty years later! And few Muslims know that Aisha (ra), our Prophet's pbuh second wife was first promised by her father, Companion, Abu Bakr, the first Caliph r.a, to Jubayr ibn Mut'im, a Christian man, the son of one of the Muslim's.
Why?
Allah SWT has not created a sin that invalidates such unions. Marriage between Muslim women and men of the Book is not prohibited in the Qura'an. No one can provide a legitimate verse prohibiting it. Only Allah SWT creates sin categories, not Muslims. Muslim men and women are equal before Allah SWT. This where free will comes in. It's a tenet of Islam, because we (individually) are all ultimately answerable to Allah SWT and not to other Muslims.
