A question about interfaith marriages.
When a muslim and a non-muslim marry (especially in Indian culture), is the non-muslim required to convert to Islam? Or is that something that only happens in places like Malaysia and Singapore?
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MovieChat Forums > My Name Is Khan (2010) Discussion > A question about interfaith marriages.
In India there is no hard and fast rule which requires the conversion of bride/groom in inter-faith marriages. its totally up to the couple if they want to have a conversion. Only requirement being, when the couple have to register the marriage, they have to fill out a separate form (under Special Marriages Act).
In spite of their not being any law/rule, some extremist political parties/groups like Shiv Sena, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shri Ram Sene, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, etc., do sometimes employ force to make people convert.
I totally disagree with mr-mash. In the village near where I grew up, a Hindu guy married a Muslim girl. A week later we found out that the guy was MURDERED by a mob of Muslim youths because in the Quran, it is illegal for a non-muslim man to marry a muslim girl. The famous singer AR Rehman is a Hindu turned Muslim, but if there is any news of a single famous muslim converting to Hinduism, the muslims start rioting because this is blasphemous. It os much more likely that the Hindu spouse would have to convert. In the 5 cases that I know of, the Hindu converted to Islam 4 out of the 5 times.
sharethats what i have mentioned in my reply.
anti-social elements do apply force to make the couple convert.
but still, by law, it is not required for the bride/groom to convert.
Isn't Shahrukh Khan (a muslim) married with Gauri Chibba (a hindu) and they lived happily ever after?
aren't more famous people intermarried?
and, if I am not mistaken, Shahrukh professes himself as being an atheist, which is even more blasphemous to any religious person (let alone islam).
"What if there is no tomorrow? there wasn't one today...!"
In general how people behave depends more on culture, that colors interpretation, than the religion itself from a purely theological point of view.
The fact is that Islam, Christianity and Judaism belong to the category of "Ambrahamic religions". They have great similarity because they all take from the old testament.
While Christianity does not recognize Judaism or Islam, and Christians may not agree, Islam does recognize Christianity and Judaism and believes they all serve the same God, and where Jesus is believe to be the son of God, Islam believes he's merely one of the many prophets (as most biblical figures are).
Since Islam does recognize the other 2 Abrahamic religions, they do consider them akin, as such Islam does not object to marriage between a muslim and christian or jew.
Any other religion is not recognized, and so may need conversion. But conversion is never allowed under pressure or by force. So the question is perhaps if it is possible to love someone dearly but not accept their religion.
In reality, most religious people have their own individual interpretation and pick and choose what to live by and what not, what elements to emphasize or not, what to take literally or not, and so whether interfaith marriages are accepted by the community or not depends on culture more than religion.
After all, in Islam religion is between you and your God, and thus is nobody else's business. The fact that communities exercize pressure, is in that sense completely against the religion. In Islam, nobody has the right to exercize Gods will but God, as such, anyone who would hurt someone because they don't abide by whatever they believe is Gods will, is in fact committing the worst sins of all.
So, this intolerance of some people in some backward village has in fact little to do with religion itself, and is more similar to intolerance to interracial marriages in the US. Religion is just the excuse. Communities are more concerned about identity, other people's opinions, culture, heritage, status quo, and religion is just part of that culture, but not the source of the problem. So by Islam, marriage between a palestinian and israelite would be no issue, but in practice it probably would be because of the before mentioned issue.
All religions have an element of respecting and loving others, and all religions have ambiguity and contradictions and intolerance. It's people who decide what to focus on, and frankly most religious people don't have a clue about their own religion, let alone that of others. Most people in the world, religious or not, are sheep who's beliefs depend on which family or community they are born into and who they socialize with, more than actual understanding. And for most religious people, the term "Muslim", "Jew", "Christian", "Atheist" or "Hindu" is more a term of identity than actual religious practice.
People with prejudices against "the others" are usually not able to uphold them once they socialize with "the other". Then they start to see the nuances and similarities. None of our beliefs are truly our own. We just make a collage of what we are fed.
While I can offer no definitive answer, I believe such a marriage between a Muslim and Hindu would be likely to involve a tug-of-war between the two. There is a fine short story by Saadat Hassan Manto about such a couple who end by separating because each one assumes the other will take their religion. There are remarkably few Indian films that feature Hindu-Muslim marriages. The only one I can think of (out of hundreds that I have seen) where there this occurs without there being exceptional circumstances (mistaken identity, for instance, or bandit-and-captive) is Mani Ratnam's Bombay. There neither partner takes the other's religion and they attempt to bring their children up half-and-half but I think this is a rather improbable solution in real life.
Both SRK and Aimir Khan are Muslims married to Hindus (the latter for the second time) but I do not know if any conversions were involved. Of other current Bollywood stars who are the products of mixed Hindu-Muslim marriages, Sanjay Dutt (son of Sunil Dutt and Nargis) and brother and sister Saif and Soha Ali Khan (children of the Nawab of Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore), it appears to have been the religion of the father that has decided the religion in which the children were brought up. Sunil Dutt and Nargis were certainly married according to Hindu rites. Going back further in time, however, conversion to Islam (at least in form) seems to have been usual. Nargis's own father was a Brahman Hindu who took a Muslim name (Abdul Rashid) when he married her mother as did Kishore Kumar when he married the actress Madhubala. Neither man on the other hand seems ever to have taken their "conversion" very seriously. Madhubala died childless but Nargis (real name Fatima) was brought up in her mother's faith.
But if ayone has more information concerning either cinematic portrayals of such mixed marriages or about such marriages in real life, I should be most interested in knowing.
The romance in VEER-ZAARA is a mixed marriage and courtship. I'm not absolutely sure whether we have sufficient evidence to be sure that Veer is supposed to be Hindu rather than Sikh (though it looks that way to me). But he is certainly not Muslim.
JODHAA AKBAR is a mixed marriage--though one of the major criticisms of the historicity of the movie involves the idea that as a Muslim, Akbar would surely not have married a wife without requiring her conversion.
In KABHI KHUSI KABHIE GHAM, the older sister of the girl that Shahrukh marries marries a Muslim, in a Muslim ceremony. But the family is Hindu, from everything else that we see.
In PINJAR, a Muslim man abducts and marries a Hindu woman. I'm not sure we ever see her worshiping, but it's also not specific that she converts, at least not that I recall.
In FIRAAQ there is a mixed marriage. It's a fairly secular couple, but I do not see that there is a strong suggestion that the woman is a convert.
In MISSION KASHMIR, Sanjay Dutt's character is a Muslim man with a Hindu wife. I believe that the wife is shown still worshiping at a temple. Memory says that in the final fight scene Sanjay Dutt also reminds Hrithik that his mother used to take him to the mosque, but I could have that wrong.
In DELHI 6 the parents of the protagonist left India partially because the father was from a Hindu family and the mother was Muslim.
I'm sure there are others. These are the ones that spring to mind.
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Thanks for the correction on K3G. I knew no one in Anjali's family was Muslim, I just misunderstood the relationship between her and the women I thought were her mother and older sister.
"A Muslim woman cannot marry a non-Muslim man..." Perhaps not, while they are remaining faithful to the teachings of Islam. Or perhaps, in your understanding, should they do so, they should no longer be consider a Muslim woman. However, it remains a fact that such marriages do take place, despite disapproval from many.
As for Muslim men marrying Hindu women, I do not dispute that this is not permitted by Islam. And again, it may be that in your view, when this happens, the men should not be considered Muslims. But it is definitely the case that these marriages do occur (I am not saying that they are common), and that at least some of the time, the man continues to consider himself a Muslim, and the woman continues to consider herself a Hindu. And that these sorts of marriages are shown from time to time, in the movies.
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If i remember correctly, in Salaam E Ishq John Abraham and Vidya Balan were a mixed marriage.
shareA muslim is only allowed to marry a muslim, but he/she can marry followers of other Abrahamic faiths (faiths that believe in the prophet Abraham, only 2 other religions: Christianity and Judaism) but he/she must convert them first to Islam. In other words, Shahrukh Khans marriage to his wife is blasphemy. Its not allowed, i believe that this is the case even if he converted her.
So yes, the non muslim is required to convert.
@scarlet_pyro...
u r close, but not on the money.
A Muslim woman is permitted only to marry a Muslim man
A Muslim man is able to marry a Muslim or follower or any Abrahamic faith, with no requirement for the wife to convert. It's stated very clearly that the man should respect the wife's faith and not keep her from going to church, etc.
In the film MNIK, under Islamic law the marriage wouldn't have been accepted. But like somebody else pointed out, SRK is married to a Hindu woman in real life :D
Such marriages can work with respect for one another
ya should add I am only talking about according to the laws of the Islamic religion... of course there is no law in India that restricts people from marrying based on religion...
in a country that is under Sharia law though (like Iran) i'm sure the marriage would not be allowed though
My name is Khan... and I am not a terrorist!!!
IMO I am on the money, as there are many different interpretations to this, will not enter into a war of words, but that is what i have been taught by my mosque, so im sorry but i wont be changing that. if there is one problem in Islam today, then it is this, that people have different interpretations. Im sure you too are right as that is what you have been taught.
shareI apologize brother, I didn't realize u were Muslim and this was your point of view on the matter. I had never heard that view before. I am curious where does the interpretation come from, or where in the Qu'ran that point of views stems from, or does it come from hadith?
"This day are all things good and pure made lawful to you.... Lawful to you in marriage are not only chaste women who are believers, but chaste women among the People of the Book, revealed before your time, when you give them their due dowers, and desire chastity not lewdness. If any one rejects faith, fruitless is his work, and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost" (Qur'an 5:5).
I'm not debating you i'm just honestly curious where is the interpretation that Jewish and Christian women must convert? As I had always taken this verse in the Qu'ran to show against that
I'm really just interested in an interpretation here so that I might understand your point of view better. I just didn't realize this point of view existed, that's all! I actually wasn't aware ther e was any disagreement on this issue and am curious now
I truly agree as well a problem (if nto the biggest problem) in Islam is the fact of different interpretations and people always thinking theirs is right! That's why I always want to know how do others feel on the subject matter!
My name is Khan... and I am not a terrorist!!!
See, youve got a quote from the Quran to back it up, me...ive got nothing other than a maulvis word. After reading that quote though, i will now have to question my beliefs...yet again, ive done this before on other aspects of Islam. I've heard from certain places that a muslim woman is forbidden to marry a non-muslim man, but the maulvi in my local mosque assured me that that this was not the case, it only stregthens my point that Islam suffers becuase of different interpretations, glad you agree!
We attain the tennets of Islam from the Quran, but rather than further our knowledge through Maulvis, we should just further study the Quran!
scarlet pyro I completely agree
to be honest I rarely even look at hadith now just because that's where the majority of fighting and arguments come over!!! I try just to look at the Qu'ran as there are so many different opinions on other things that I never know what to believe!!! But the Qu'ran is unchanged so I always have that to depend on. And the problem is that too many people get inflamed over their opinion being "right"!
My name is Khan... and I am not a terrorist!!!
Islam suffers becuase of different interpretations, glad you agree!
So who is authorised to give an interpretation which you'll consider genuine?
We attain the tennets of Islam from the Quran, but rather than further our knowledge through Maulvis, we should just further study the Quran!
Which Quran? The 'Sahih Bukhari' interpretation which was later translated in English by Yusuf Ali, Pickthall etc.? Well, Taliban follows the same version and I am glad that other interpretations exist.
@Nazia1987
A common misconception you have got there, both Muslim Man and Woman are allowed to marry people of Abrahamic Faiths (Christians and Jews)! that is believers of the Divine Books, though it is not preferred but acceptable unlike marrying into other religions like Hinduism,Buddhism etc which are considered infidels by the Islamic Law. Marraiges to only Muslims are the ones favoured!
The other version is that even Christians and Jews should now be counted among non-believers since the books they follow are no longer in their original form and are the corrupted versions of the same, therefore marriages with even them is forbidden and Muslims are allowed to marry only Muslims !!
I can not believe there are so many miss-information in this thread.
According to the Special Marriage Act, 1954, a person of any religion can marry a person of any other religion without having to convert to that religion. Simple as that. There is no law in India that forces a non-Muslim to convert to Muslim after marriage, and it is same for any religion.
exactly!
and thats what i have stated above. but sadly in todays world people evolve, religion doesnt.
if you look at it from the practical point of view (in India) - the hindu side of the marriage will oppose the marriage because of a general feeling of mistrust that hindus have towards muslims and risk of a boycott from the (hindu) society. the muslim side will oppose the marriage because their religion would not allow it and they would be stronger on getting conversion to islam.
shareit's all one big mess!!!
There's no way it would happen without at least somebody from someone's family throwing a fit... that's for sure! (just like SRK's brother in the movie!)
The question is whether the couple is strong enough to withstand the pressure from their families and have faith in each other!
My name is Khan... and I am not a terrorist!!!
Hi there
Woman:
If a Muslim woman wants to get married, then she can ONLY marry a Muslim man....if she meets a non muslim then he only has one choice if he wanna marry her, and that is revert to islam.
Man:
A muslim man can marry a cristian or jew woman....BUT only if they believe in the real scripture of that time...in jew case it has to be the Torah and the Christian case its the Bible....But as we know both the Torah and the Bible has been altered, so he can only marry a muslim woman...or a non muslim if she reverts to islam.
(I know some have a different wiew with the Jew/Christian)
There is no need for a non muslim guy to convert to islam if he wants to marry a muslim women..its only women who should convert to hindu or christian
share[deleted]
Well the same rules apply for non muslims also.why should they convert to islam if they want to marry a muslim men/women?..i just said tat as one the muslim poster said non muslim women/men should convert to islam to marry a muslim
share@ bk_connection
I believe this is the right way to do it according to Islam.. good post!
Both SRK and Aimir Khan are Muslims married to Hindus (the latter for the second time) but I do not know if any conversions were involved.
There wasn't any conversions involved. Aamir Khan has always been more secular than religious. He doesn't ever talk about religion or God, I think he's really an agnostic. SRK's wedding pictures were on TV and you can see he had a Hindu wedding ceremony around the fire. He said he was raised in a very secular way by his parents and that is how he intends to bring his kids up. In the documentary "The Inner/Outer world of Shahrukh Khan" they showed that Shahrukh keeps his koran by the Hindu alter - that scene outraged a few muslims I knew *LOL*. They also showed him praying at a sufi shrine, which I know orthodox muslims don't like.
There's quite a few interfaith marriages in bollywood. Hrithik Roshan is married to a muslim as is Sunil Shetty. Arbaaz Khan and Arshad Warsi are both married to Catholics.
share
According to Islam,A muslim man can marry a non-muslim woman,but she has to convert to Islam.
On the other hand a muslim woman is not allowed to marry any non-muslim.I would like to see some scriptural proof if any one thinks I am wrong.
Fortunately in India there are secular muslims(along with orthodox,outnumbering seculars) who don't live their life according to holy books.So,there are interfaith marriages where conversion doesn't take place.
yeah that's why i don't like this movie. in my country, there's a similar movie about interfaith marriages, and the man is always muslim, the woman is the other religion.
according to what i read, it has something to do with the past in the era of wars. where the woman prisoner from the conquered place are taken as wife/concubine and to be converted.
i would give a high rating if there's a movie where the woman is muslim and the man is another religion.
Bollywood does often try to portray that interfaith marriages are hip and cool, but the obvious fact is that they are plainly not, and showing them on film should be restricted at all costs. The same way Bollywood movies show a family that is obviously Hindu, a song appears and the girl is suddenly in a church bowing to Jesus or in a Mosque with her head covered, forget being Politically Correct in movies just stick to reality!! I mean c'mon how many Hindus go to church, and how many Muslims go to Gurudwara?? NONE!!
shareI mean c'mon how many Hindus go to church, and how many Muslims go to Gurudwara?? NONE!!
Not on purpose, but it is possible that if ever they went to a church for some reason, they might pray.
We went on a little day trip to this town, my family and two other families- all hindu*, and there was an old 'historic' church, so we went in just to check it out, and most actually sat and prayed.
*Well I personally I'm not really hindu, but I'm definitely not christian. share
"Not on purpose, but it is possible that if ever they went to a church for some reason, they might pray."
What on earth could that purpose be.
Not trying to come off as rude, but Mandirs are open to all, even the curious, but I have never seen a gorah wonder into our Mandir, and im sure casual curiosity would be frowned upon at a mosque. These silly Karan Johar films are bluring the lines between religions. Its good to see Hindus and Muslims co-existing but we should also aknowledge the fact there are fundamental differences in our faiths as their are in all and inter-faith marriages certainly are not the norm as we are constantly being fed on screen.
Bollywood does often try to portray that interfaith marriages are hip and cool, but the obvious fact is that they are plainly not, and showing them on film should be restricted at all costs.
"At all costs"? That's a little too much control of speech by government, isn't it? I think respect for differences should be encouraged at all costs. Look at Asia where it isn't. People try to flee elsewhere because of all the explosions that make life very tenuous and frightening. I can't speak for every religion, but I think most of them, at least, believe that treating others as you yourself wish to be treated is the most central moral concept. Marriage to "your own kind" is far more marginal.
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Lynch all trolls. share
I can't speak for every religion, but I think most of them, at least, believe that treating others as you yourself wish to be treated is the most central moral concept.If only people who consider themselves religious would keep this in mind.
last 2 dvds: Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983 (2009) & Moon (2009)
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i would give a high rating if there's a movie where the woman is muslim and the man is another religion.
Veer Zaara share
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