# Muslims, Christians, Jews and Atheists- Marriage **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 3, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370 "2005-11-03T23:25:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/1 "2005-11-03T23:25:29Z")
I personally know of quite a few Christian-Jewish-Atheist marriages so lets put that aside. Can anyone attest knowledge of or provide a cite showing that a marriage between a practising Muslim and a Jew or Christian or Atheist has occured either historically or at present? I’m sure to get positive answers, but I’m from Mizura. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/2 "2005-11-03T23:31:32Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > I personally know of quite a few Christian-Jewish-Atheist marriages so lets put that aside. > > Can anyone attest knowledge of or provide a cite showing that a marriage between a practising Muslim and a Jew or Christian or Atheist has occured either historically or at present? > > I’m sure to get positive answers, but I’m from Mizura. A lot of this will really depend on how you define “practicing.” Different people practice their religions in different ways with different levels of observence. For some such people, they may be able to have a spouse of a different faith and nonetheless effectively practice their religion. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/3 "2005-11-03T23:32:34Z")
Uh, not quite sure what you are asking for, but I myself am an atheist married to a Catholic. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/4 "2005-11-03T23:36:26Z")
One obvious current political example is George Galloway, who married & was divorced by a Palestinian Muslim, Amineh Abu-Zayyad. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/5 "2005-11-03T23:41:05Z")
Okay. To be clearer I’m inquiring for muslim-jew, muslim christian or muslim atheist marriages. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/6 "2005-11-03T23:41:14Z")
> [@cher3](#): > > Uh, not quite sure what you are asking for, but I myself am an atheist married to a Catholic. I think the OP is looking for marriages where one of the spouses is a practising Muslim. One of my work colleagues has just informed me that her neighbours are a married couple (Muslim husband, Catholic wife). My colleague sees the wife at mass at the local Catholic church. The husband has recently been fasting for Ramadan. I suppose that makes them both “practising”. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/7 "2005-11-03T23:54:47Z")
I see now. Time to go home. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/8 "2005-11-04T02:38:02Z")
Islam permits men to marry outside of Islam, although IIRC requires the spouse to be one of the People of the Book. Islam, contrary to Middle East politics, is a rather tolerant religion, and considered Christians and Jews to be People of the Book. This tolerance does not extend to atheists\*. However, Muslim women may not marry outside of their faith and still be considered Muslim, technically. (I suppose there may have been Muslim women who married outside their faith and continued to practice Islam but by the most rigorous standards they would not be considered Muslim.) So there are probably countless Muslim men who have married Christians and Jews, though I can’t give you any cites. And, by the strictest definition, no Muslim women who have. * * * \*BTW this word is not capitalized. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/9 "2005-11-04T03:03:23Z")
I used to have a boss who was a Christian woman married to a Muslim man. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/10 "2005-11-04T03:05:56Z")
My daughter’s best friend in school has a muslim father married to a Catholic mother, though she converted after the marriage. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/11 "2005-11-04T03:18:52Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > However, Muslim women may not marry outside of their faith and still be considered Muslim, technically. (I suppose there may have been Muslim women who married outside their faith and continued to practice Islam but by the most rigorous standards they would not be considered Muslim.) > > And, by the strictest definition, no Muslim women who have. This is the common interpretation, but isn’t quite universal. As with everything involving religion, there seems to be some debate on this one. For example see here: [http://www.understanding-islam.com/rs/s-053.htm](http://www.understanding-islam.com/rs/s-053.htm) - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/12 "2005-11-04T03:21:25Z")
Or more specifically, this one: [http://www.understanding-islam.com/related/text.asp?type=discussion&did=151](http://www.understanding-islam.com/related/text.asp?type=discussion&did=151) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/13 "2005-11-04T03:44:25Z")
I’d like to see Azizah Al-Hibri’s take on that. ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/14 "2005-11-04T05:37:03Z")
A good friend of mine is an atheist UU woman married to a practicing Muslim man. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/15 "2005-11-04T06:24:24Z")
For recall value: [Imran Khan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imran_Khan), a Muslim, married [Jemima Goldsmith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jemima_Goldsmith), a Christian. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/16 "2005-11-04T07:09:29Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > I personally know of quite a few Christian-Jewish-Atheist marriages so lets put that aside. > > Can anyone attest knowledge of or provide a cite showing that a marriage between a practising Muslim and a Jew or Christian or Atheist has occured either historically or at present? > > I’m sure to get positive answers, but I’m from Mizura. My BIL is married to a Muslim woman. He is Christian. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2005, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muslims-christians-jews-and-atheists-marriage/329370/17 "2005-11-04T08:10:35Z")
My cousin is married to a Pakistani girl from a very religious family. I guess he’s an atheist or something, she’s a muslim - to some extend. The girl’s father didn’t like it one bit, but there it is. I know another guy married to a Pakistani girl. He’s a gode, a priest in the nordic asa-religion (odinist). The girl’s father didn’t like it one bit, but there it is - the father has grudingly accepted an invitation to come and visit them, but won’t see the husband set foot in his own home.