Muslim marrying a Catholic who doesn’t convert to Islam

 

Can a Muslim marry a Roman Catholic without the
person converting to Islam?

Praise be to Allaah.

If a Muslim wants to marry a Christian woman, she does not have to
become Muslim first, because of the general statement in the Qur’aan (interpretation
of the meaning):

“Made lawful to you this day are . . . chaste women from those
who were given the Scripture (Jews and Christians) before your time . . .” [al-Maa’idah
5:5].

The conditions for a non-Muslim woman to marry a Muslim man are that
she should be of the People of the Book (Jewish or Christian) and that she should be
chaste.

We remind the Muslims living outside the Muslim world that they
should not rush into taking such a step, and if they wish to do so, they should think long
and hard, even though marrying a woman of the People of the Book is permitted in
principle. There is a very real possibility of the children becoming Christian, especially
in countries where the law favours the non-Muslim mother. In fact many such tragedies have
occurred. We ask Allaah to guide us all and give us strength. May Allaah bless our Prophet
Muhammad.