To Marry or Not to Marry?

Qur'an Contradiction

To Marry or Not to Marry?

The Quran prohibits Muslim men from marrying unbelievers and associators, saying that it is better for them to marry believing women:

And do not marry the idolatresses until they believe, and certainly a believing maid is better than an idolatress woman, even though she should please you; and do not give (believing women) in marriage to idolaters until they believe, and certainly a believing servant is better than an idolater, even though he should please you; these invite to the fire, and Allah invites to the garden and to forgiveness by His will, and makes clear His communications to men, that they may be mindful. S. 2:221 Shakir

Response:

The arabic word for ‘idolatresses’ is almushrikati which in the quran is a specific name given to the pagans, which includes all who worship others besides allah swt, like stones , prophets etc. Like christians who worhsip jesus, hindus who worsip other gods, and fire worshippers and off course the Meccan Pagans.

The words rendered as idolatresses and idolaters are from the Arabic term mushrik, which comes from shirk, and more literally means one who associates or ascribes partners to Allah. This is how the late Muhammad Asad translated these words:

AND DO NOT many women who ascribe divinity to aught beside God ere they attain to [true] belief: for any believing bondwoman [of God] is certainly better than a woman who ascribes divinity to aught beside God, even though she please you greatly. And do not give your women in marriage to men who ascribe divinity to aught beside God ere they attain to [true] belief: for- any believing bondman [of God] is certainly better than a man who ascribes divinity to aught beside God, even though he please you greatly. [Such as] these invite unto the fire, whereas God invites unto paradise, and unto [the achievement of] forgiveness by His leave; and He makes clear His messages unto mankind, so that they might bear them in mind. Muhammad Asad

The next text commands Muslim men not to remain married to unbelievers:

Response:

I read something complete different, which we shall find out next.

O you who believe! when believing women come to you flying, then examine them; Allah knows best their faith; then if you find them to be believing women, do not send them back to the unbelievers, neither are these (women) lawful for them, nor are those (men) lawful for them, and give them what they have spent; and no blame attaches to you in marrying them when you give them their dowries; and hold not to the ties of marriage of unbelieving women, and ask for what you have spent, and let them ask for what they have spent. That is Allah's judgment; He judges between you, and Allah is Knowing, Wise. S. 60:10 Shakir

The word for unbeliever comes from the term kafir, which refers to one who makes kufr. According to the Quran, the Jews and Christians (specifically the latter) fall under these categories of mushrik and kafir:

Response:

The unbelievers mentioned in verse 60:10 refers to the pagan-husbands in makkah, from which the muslim women fled. Let us look also look at the commentary of this verse to proof my point:

The Meaning of the Holy Quran (Abdullah Yusuf Ali) Page 1455, Note 5422.

Under the treaty of Hubaydiyah , women under guardianship (included married women), who fled from Quraysh in Makkah to the Prophet’s protection at Madinah were to be sent back. But before this Ayah was issued, Qurash had already broken the treaty, and some instruction was neccessary as to what the madinah muslims should do in those circumstances. Muslim women married to Pagan husbands in Makkah were oppressed for their faith, and some of them came to Madinah as refugees. After this, they were not to be returned to the custody of their Pagan husbands at Makkah, as the marriage of believing women with non-Muslims was held to be dissolved if the husband dit not accept Islam. But in order to give no suspicion to the Pagans that they were badly treated as they lost the dower they had given on marriage, that dower was to be repaid to the husbands. Thus helpless women refugees were to be protected at the cost of the Muslims.

NOWHERE DOES THIS TEXT COMMANDS MUSLIM MEN TO REMAIN MARRIED TO UNBELIEVERS, THIS FALSE COMMENT ON THE VERSE OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES PROOFS THE LACK OF ISLAMIC KNOWLEDGE ANSWERING-ISLAM REPRESENTS.

Clearly the verse means that the muslim men were commanded to divorce their women who were pagans.

The Meaning of the Holy Quran (Abdullah Yusuf Ali) Page 1456, Note 5425.

Unbelieving women in a Muslim society would only be a clog and a handicap. There would be neither happiness fort hem, nor could they conduce in any way to the healthy life of the society in which they lived as aliens. They were to be sent away, as their marriage was held to be dissolved, and the dowers paid tot hem were to be demanded from the guardians to whom they were sent back, just as in the contrary scase the dower of believing women were to be paid back to their Pagan ex-husbands

O ye who believe! surely, the idolaters are unclean (al-mushrikoona najasun). So they shall not approach the Sacred Mosque after this year of theirs. And if you fear poverty, ALLAH will enrich you out of HIS bounty, if HE pleases. Surely, ALLAH is All-Knowing, Wise. Fight those from among the people of the Book, who believe not in ALLAH, nor in the Last Day, nor hold as unlawful what ALLAH and HIS Messenger have declared to be unlawful, nor follow the true religion, until they pay the tax considering it a favour and acknowledge their subjection. And the Jews say, ‘Ezra is the son of ALLAH,’ and the Christians say, ‘the Messiah is the son of ALLAH;’ that is what they say with their mouths. They only imitate the saying of those who disbelieved (kafaroo) before them. ALLAH's curse be on them! How they are turned away. They have taken their priest and their monks for lords besides ALLAH. And so have they taken the Messiah, son of Mary. And they were not commanded but to worship the One God. There is no God but HE. Holy is HE far above what they associate (yushrikoona) with Him! They seek to extinguish the light of ALLAH with their mouths; but ALLAH refuses but to perfect HIS light, though the disbelievers (al-kafiroona) may resent it. HE it is Who has sent HIS Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth, that HE may make it prevail over every other religion, even though the idolaters (al-mushrikoona) may resent it. S. 9:28-33 Sher Ali

The above passage claims that not only are Christians idolaters (or of those who associate partners with God) and blasphemers (or disbelievers), but the Jews are as well. It even classifies the Jews and Christians as unclean!

Response:

True, the christians are not pure and clean in their worship, since they worship a prophet ! The jews who worshipped Ezra as son of Allah had the same uncleaness. Unclean is a figure way of speech which refers to the untruth and falseness of their worship, it’s not pure but unclean.

They indeed have disbelieved (kafara) who say, `Surely ALLAH - He is the Messiah, son of Mary.' Say, `Who then has any power against ALLAH, if HE desired to destroy the Messiah, son of Mary, and his mother and all those that are in the earth?' And to ALLAH belongs the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is between them. HE creates what HE pleases and ALLAH has power over all things. S. 5:17 Sher Ali

They are unbelievers (kafara) who say, 'God is the Messiah, Mary's son.' For the Messiah said, 'Children of Israel, serve God, my Lord and your Lord. Verily whoso associates with God anything (innahu man yushrik biAllahi), God shall prohibit him entrance to Paradise, and his refuge shall be the Fire; and wrongdoers shall have no helpers.' S. 5:72 Arberry

Certainly they disbelieve (kafara) who say: Surely Allah is the third (person) of the three; and there is no god but the one God, and if they desist not from what they say, a painful chastisement shall befall those among them who disbelieve. S. 5:73 Shakir

The following sahih hadith confirms the view that Christians are both mushriks and kafirs:

Narrated Nafi’:
Whenever Ibn ‘Umar was asked about marrying a Christian lady or a Jewess, he would say: "Allah has made it unlawful for the believers to marry ladies who ascribe partners in worship to Allah, and I do not know of a greater thing, as regards to ascribing partners in worship, etc. to Allah, than that a lady should say that Jesus is her Lord although he is just one of Allah's slaves." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 63, Number 209)

Response:

True, ‘al-mushrikoona’ includes all those who worship other besides god, which are hindus, fire worshippers, budhistst, christians, meccan pagans etc.

This online Salafi site unapologetically calls Christians kafirs and says that:

This is something that is well known among the Muslims, and they are UNANIMOUSLY AGREED that the Christians are kaafirs, and even that those who do not regard them as kaafirs ARE ALSO KAAFIRS. Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhaab said concerning the things which are unanimously agreed to nullify Islam:

"Whoever does not regard the mushrikoon as kaafirs, or doubts that they are kaafirs, or thinks their religion is correct, is himself a kaafir." ... (Question #12713: Is the trinity that the Christians believe in mentioned in Islam?; underline and capital emphasis ours)

Response:

Do christians believe in Muhammed saw as the last prophet ? No ! , so can’t a muslim call him a believer ? No ! If someone rejects jesus (as) as a prophet, do you call them a believer my christian friends ? No ! . So the term kafir / disbeliever applies to christians too, however the quran adresses them as ‘people of the book’ , which is the term used fort hem mostly in the quran.

Yet the following verse says that Muslim men can marry women who are Jews and Christians!

Today the good things are permitted you, and the food of those who were given the Book is permitted to you, and permitted to them is your food; Likewise believing women in wedlock, and in wedlock women of them who were given the Book before you if you give them their wages, in wedlock and not in licence, or as taking lovers. Whoso disbelieves in the faith, his work has failed, and in the world to come he shall be among the losers. S. 5:5 Arberry

No true book of God would contradict itself like this. Hence, based on the confusion in the above passages the Quran definitely cannot be from God.

Response:

First the quran said:
k

S. 2:221 Shakir

And do not marry the idolatresses (almushrikati )until they believe, and certainly a believing maid is better than an idolatress woman, even though she should please you; and do not give (believing women) in marriage to idolaters until they believe, and certainly a believing servant is better than an idolater, even though he should please you; these invite to the fire, and Allah invites to the garden and to forgiveness by His will, and makes clear His communications to men, that they may be mindful.

So this verse tells us not to marry almushrikati , which refers to all those who worhsip others besides god, like christians, hindus, budhists, fire worshippers, stone worshippers etc.

Now later on the quran mentions, that there is one exception from the almushrikati that can me married , namely the peopke who had been given a book before, which refers to the jews and christians, since they are called the ‘people of the book’ in the qu’ran all over, all scholars agree about this.

S. 5:5 Arberry

Today the good things are permitted you, and the food of those who were given the Book is permitted to you, and permitted to them is your food; Likewise believing women in wedlock, and in wedlock women of them who were given the Book before you if you give them their wages, in wedlock and not in licence, or as taking lovers. Whoso disbelieves in the faith, his work has failed, and in the world to come he shall be among the losers.

Option 1:

So the quran here only explains which people from the mushrikoon as an exception can be married , in other words the quran only specifies which people of the ‘mushrikoon’ can be married as a final rule, this was the only exception given to muslims men in this verse, since the ‘people of the book’ are closests to the truth of islam. So the other females from the ‘al-mushrikoon’ like hindu , budhist, pagan-women etc. are forbidden to marry ! So the quran nowhere contradicts itself. There would have been only a contradiction in the quran if :

verse A had said: ‘you are forbidden to marry almushrikati ‘ and verse B had said: ‘you are allowed to marry almushrikati ‘

(but even if this was the case, then there only would have been a abrogation of a previous verse, and so there wouldn’t be neither a contradiction)

However the qu’ran uses in verse B a different word then almushrikati , it specificly only says ‘you are allowed to marry those who were given the book before you’

So the qu’ran only specifies and tells us that as a final rule only the jews and christians of ‘al-mushrikoon’ can be married, but the others are still forbidden to marry. So theres no contradiction at all.

Option 2:

The almushrikati in soerah 2:221 has always only been applied to the pagans, stone worshippers only , and not to the jews and christians. There are examples where the qu’ran seperates between the ‘people of the book’ and ‘Al-mushrikoon’.

Quran 98:6

Verily, those who disbelieve from among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) and Al-Mushrikoon will abide in the Fire of Hell. They are the worst of creatures.

The Quran makes a clear distinction between jews, christians and al-mushrikoon, this verse proofs that al-mushrikoon in certain verses can be a specific name that only applies to the idol and stone worshippers, but not the jews and chritsians. If jews and christians always were adressed as ‘mushrikoon’, then this verse could have easily only mention the word ‘al-mushrikoon’ , but the quran didn’t do this and made explicit a difference between the al-mushrikoon and people of the book (jews and christians) in this verse.

So the christian has even no proof to say that in soerah 2:221 jewish and christian women are included, since the soerah could very well only apply to the pagan meccan women, and stone & idol worshippers. However if soerah 2:221 indeed also did refer to the jewish and christian women, then there is still no contradiction in the qu’ran, since the quran later on only specificly states, that as a final rule only the jews and christians from the ‘mushrikoon’ can be married, however the other women from the ‘mushrikoon’ , like hindu women or budhist women or pagan women are still forbidden to marry. So i repeat ,there would have been only a contradiction in the quran if :

verse A had said: ‘you are forbidden to marry almushrikati ‘ and verse B had said: ‘you are allowed to marry almushrikati ‘

(but even if this was the case, then there only would have been a abrogation of a previous verse, and so there wouldn’t be neither a contradiction)

However the qu’ran uses in verse B a different word then almushrikati , it specificly only says ‘you are allowed to marry those who were given the book before you’