her religous festivals? even though she is married to a muslim she still
remains a catholic. shouldnt she be able to worship what she belives?.
Praise be to Allaah.
If a Christian girl agrees to marry a Muslim man, then she should be
aware of a number of things:
1 – The wife is commanded to obey her husband, so long as it does not
involve sin. No differentiation is made between a Muslim wife and a
non-Muslim wife with regard to that. If her husband tells her to do
something that is not a sin, then she is obligedto obey him. Allaah has
given this right to men, because they are in charge of the family and
are responsible for it, and family life cannot run smoothly unless one
of its members is in charge and is listened to and obeyed. But this does
not mean that the man is allowed to dominate or exploit this right in
order to mistreathis wife and children, rather he must strive hard to do
a good job, to offer sincere advice and consult with them.
But life is not free of matters that need to be settled in a decisive
manner. The Christian girl needs to understandthis principle before she
goes ahead and marries a Muslim.
2 – Islam allows marriage to a Christian or Jewish woman, i.e., it
permits a man to marry such a woman whilst shecontinues to follow her
religion. The husband does not have the right to force her to become
Muslim, or to stop her worshipping in her own way. But he does have the
right to forbid her togo out of the house, even if she is going to go
out to go to church, because she is commanded to obey him. He also has
the right to forbid her to commit evil openly in the house, such as
setting up statues or ringing bells.
That also includes celebrating innovated festivals, such as Easter,
because that is an evil action according to Islam, in two ways. It is an
innovation for which there is no basis, like celebrating the birthday of
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and Mother's
Day, and it also includes false beliefs, namely the belief that the
Messiah was killed and crucified, then placed in the grave, thenrose
from it.
The truth is that 'Eesa (Jesus – peace be upon him) was not killed or
crucified, rather that he was taken up to heaven alive.
See questions no. 10277 and 43148 .
The husband does not have the right to force his Christian wife to
giveup these beliefs, but he may denounce her open profession of
falsehood. We have to differentiate between her right to continue
following her religion and her manifesting evil deeds openly in his
house. An example of that is if the wife is a Muslim but she believes
that something is permissible, whereas her husband believes it is
haraam. He has the right to stop her doing it, because he is in charge
of the family, andhe is obliged to denounce whatever he believes is
wrong.
3 – The view of the majority of scholars is that the minor issues of
sharee'ah are addressed to the kaafirs, as well as the command to
believe.This means that things that are forbidden to Muslims are also
forbidden to them, such as drinking alcohol, eating pork,
introducinginnovations or celebrating them. The husband should stop his
wife committing any of these actions, because ofthe general meaning of
the verse in which Allaahsays (interpretation of the meaning):
"O you who believe! Ward off yourselves and your families against a Fire (Hell) whose fuel is men and stones"
[al-Tahreem 66:6]
Nothing is exempted from that except the beliefs and acts of worship
that are prescribed in her religion, such as obligatory prayers and
fasts. The husband should not raise any objections to that. Drinking
alcohol, eating pork, and celebrating innovated festivals that have been
invented by rabbis and priests, are not part of her religion.
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The husband has the
right to stop her going out to the church. This was stated by Imam Ahmad
with regard to a man who had a Christianwife. He said: He should not
give her permission to go out to Christian festivals or churches.
And he said concerning a man who had a Christian slave woman who asked
him to let hergo out to attend their festivals and churches and
gatherings: He should not give her permission to do that.
Ibn al-Qayyim said: The reason for that is that heshould not help her
withregard to the means of kufr or give her permission to do that. And
he said: He does not have the right to forbid her to observe fasts which
she believes are obligatory, even if that means that he misses outon
intimacy with her at that time, or to forbid her to pray towards the
east in his house. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) allowed the Christians of Najraan to pray in his mosque, facing
towards their "qiblah" (direction of prayer). End quote from Ahkaam Ahl
al-Dhimmah,2/819-823.
The fact that the delegation of Christians from Najraan prayed in the
mosque of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was
also mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) in Zaad
al-Ma'aad, 3/629. The commentator said: its men are thiqaat
(trustworthy), but it is munqati' (interrupted) – i.e., its isnaad is
da'eef (weak).
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