Conversion for marriage is against Shariat

Hardly a month after Darool-Uloom Deoband, 150-year-old India based ultra-conservative Islamic seminary, issued fatwa condemning terrorism as the “most inhumane crime” has once again now come with another fatwa related to a social cause.

The fatwa issued on Wednesday has condemned the practice of conversion of non-Muslim women to Islam for the sole purpose of innumerable matrimony, which is against the ethics and principle of Shariat. The institution also issued an edict to check the practice.

“Conversion to Islam must be in good faith and not for achieving material gains or something else even a relationship,” said Mufti Ahsan Kasmi, the deputy-in-charge of Darool-Uloom's fatwa unit. This is one of the reasons of augmenting Muslim population.

The cause of conversion should be in good cause in respect of the religion. Particularly, women from other religion when go for conversion to Islam only for marrying a Muslim man must be checked. Conversion should be brought in effect if a person believes in the teaching of Islam.

Fatwa in this effect was issued after a hot debate among Muslim clerics which divided them in favour and against.

Whereas, the president of Uttar Pradesh Imam Organisation, Mufti Zulfikar has come out in its vehement support, on the contrary Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Maheli, the Naib Imam of Eidgah Aishbagh and also member of the executive committee of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) have come out with just opposite thought.

He questions the intention of a person involved in marriage. Who will decide her intention and how? How can we decide on someone's intention, which is completely a veiled issue between two persons and God? We can preach as a whole instead, but can not force them from doing so, if one adopts Islam for marriage rather than its teaching. The purpose of the conversion buries if the intention is not good. The basic reason behind conversion is defeated naturally in such cases, he added.

Religious conversion from one religion to another is adopted for a new religious identity, or is done if one influences with other religion, but if it is done to meet some other purpose, such as marriage, the basic reason behind conversion gets defeated naturally.