Ruling concerning a Christian man marrying a Muslim woman

Question: What is the Islaamic ruling concerning a Christian man marrying a Muslim woman? If they have children, what is the ruling concerning those children in Islaamic law?

Response: The marriage of a Christian man to a Muslim woman is an invalid marriage. Allaah says in the Qur.aan:

{And give not [Muslim women] in marriage to idolaters until they believe}, [Soorah al-Baqarah, Aayah 221].

Therefore, it is not allowed for a disbeliever to marry a Muslim woman. Allaah also says:

{They [Muslim women] are not lawful for them [the disbelievers] nor are they [the disbelievers] lawful for them}, [Soorah al-Mumtahana, Aayah 10].

If he does marry her, the marriage is invalid. The children are the children of fornication. They are to be given to their mother and ascribed to her alone - unless that was done out of ignorance concerning such law. For ignorant people, the matter is different. In their case, the marriage is still invalid. However, the children will be ascribed to the father since the act was done out of ignorance. That is, if he was ignorant of the law and she was also, the marriage is still invalid but the children will be ascribed to their parents due to their ignorance and there was some doubtful aspect to their intercourse.

But if he knew the Islaamic ruling and she knew the Islaamic ruling and they were being lax and disrespectful of the law of Allaah, then the children are children of fornication. They will be ascribed to their mother and will not be ascribed to their father at all. The couple should be reprimanded and the penal punishment should be enforced upon him for having intercourse with a Muslim woman when he did not have the legal right to do so. This is what must be done if the Islaamic state has the ability to do it. If he becomes Muslim after that and Allaah guides him, then he can marry her with a new contract.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz
Fataawa al-Mar.ah