The Canon of "for every nation is marriage"

Abstract

A "marriage" is one of the most important and effective status in Islamic law, which is the subject of many positive and obligatory rulings. Legal systems do not agree on the conditions of a valid marriage. The Islamic legal system, for example, recognizes a marriage that is essentially inconsistent with the standards of correct marriage in Christianity or the English legal system, and vice versa. This difference in law raises the question of what is the opinion of Islamic law regarding non-Muslim marriage? Does Islamic law merely consider a marriage to be valid only in accordance with Islamic norms, and does it consider that the marriage of non-Muslims, such as the People of the Book or the Buddhists, is void and ineffective? In this article, the author by relying on authentic narrations manners of wise men throughout history proves that in the doctrine of Islamic law, non-Muslim marriage is valid and has all the effects of marriage, provided that their marriage is valid in accordance with their own laws. In this regard, there is no difference between marriages of the People of the Book or marriages that are concluded in accordance with legal systems, such as the English legal system. The author presents this Shari'a ruling under the title of "the rule of all the people of marriage."

Keywords

• marriage
• non-muslims
• divorce
• islamic
• english law