Marriage in Islam and Christianity

Islam:

A Muslim man can marry more than one wife. Some suggest that he can have 4 wives at one time.

Shia’ Muslims believe in a temporary marriage also. Such a marriage may last as less as a day. It is known as Muta’.

A Muslim should not marry an unbeliever nor allow his daughters to be married to unbelievers (Sura 2:221).

A Muslim man can marry a Jewish or Christian woman (Sura 5:5).
Muslim scholars advise that children from such a marriage should be brought up as Muslims.

A Muslim woman can marry a man from another faith only after His conversion to Islam (Basis on Sura 5:5 and Sura 2:221).
A husband has permission to exert a lot of Patriarchal authority. Sura 4:34 permits men to hit their wives.

If a Muslim married man converts to another faith, his marriage dissolves. He is an apostate and worthy of capital punishment (Muslim laws).

If a Muslim married woman converts to another faith, marriage still remains intact. She should be punished, scourged, until she repents or in that situation she dies (Muslim laws).

Christianity:

A Christian woman is free to marry anyone she wishes but the advise is that he must belong to the Lord (1 Cor. 7:39).
‘Don’t be yoked with unbelievers’ (2 Cor. 6:14-18).

If the couple has been already married and one becomes a believer in Christ, the marriage still remains in tact. A Christian is encouraged to be Christ like in all manners and pray for the other.
If however, the non-Christian partner leaves then there is no restriction on her or him.

No capital punishment of apostasy. The matter is left to the Lord to deal with.

A husband has to love his wife as Christ has loved the church (Eph 5:25-26).

Similarly a wife has to submit herself to him (Eph 5:22).

Side Effects of ‘Muslim – Christian Marriage’

In Christ, there is family harmony. In Islam there are family differences and potential strife.

Some ‘liberal minded Muslim men’ married to Christian women are very open and tolerant of their wives beliefs and even allow their children to go to church. However, the majority of Muslims follow the Islamic order that children be brought up as Muslims.

The Biblical view is that a man and a woman must have a deep, spiritual relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit before they become one flesh. This will be absent in a Muslim-Christian marriage.

Islamic theology reduces the Holy Spirit to the angel Gabriel.
On the other hand the promise about the Holy Spirit in John 14, 15 and 16 is taken by Muslims to be the prophecy about Muhammad.