Inter-faith marriage illegal as per Sharia law: Muslim law board

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has suggested the Muslim community not to enter into any matrimonial tie-up with non-Muslims. The Board has said that marriage between Muslims and non-Muslims is “invalid” and “regretful”.

Issuing a document in this regard, AIMPLB’s acting general secretary Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani underlined the steps parents, guardians, representatives of mosques, and madrassas across the country should take to stop inter-religious marriages.

Marriage between a Muslim and a non-Muslim was considered invalid even if it appeared to be valid by societal standards. “It is not considered legal as per the norms of Sharia,” said Maulana Rahmani while talking to media persons.

The factors like co-working spaces, parental nurturing and lack of religious teaching led to such relationships to take place wherein Muslims entered into a wedlock with non-muslims, said the board member.

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Giving a reason to issue the guidelines, Maulana claimed that it was imperative to take steps in that direction as a number of Muslim girls went away with non-Muslim boys but later had to face hardships or ended up losing their lives.

In the seven-point directive to the Muslim community, the board said that parents should be watchful of the use of mobile phones by their children and not admit their children, especially girls in co-education schools.

The Muslim parents are advised not to delay marriage of their children, especially girls since “late marriages give rise to more such problems.” It also asked for weddings to be solemnized with simplicity.

It further asked the religious leaders of the community to take Friday sermons on regular basis and clerics to hold gatherings on teachings of the religion on marriage within the Muslim community.

“Generally when such marriages take place, a notice is put up outside the marriage registry office with their names. It is an appeal to religious organisations, social workers, madrasa teachers, and other responsible citizens, to visit the homes of these youngsters to motivate them against falling into a fit of passion. Not just after death but in life, too, such marriages of momentary passions are falling apart,” the document read.