“Do not marry idolatresses (al mushrikāt) till they believe; and certainly a believing maid is better than an idolatress even though she would please you; and do not marry idolaters (al Mushrikīn) till they believe (hatayūminū), and certainly a believing slave is better than an idolater, even though he would please you. These invite to the Fire, and Allah invites to the Garden and to forgiveness by His grace,.”Qur’an 2:221.

At the beginning most often, some Muslim men, will say ‘she has agreed to accept me with my faith and she only wants me to accept her with her faith and the children would be Muslims’. But in subsequent years when both become more devout as life circumstances change, this initial assertion might not be it. The truth is that, interfaith marriages often come with a heavy price. They are more likely than same-faith unions to be unhappy and in some circumstances, to end in divorce. They also tend to diminish the strength of religious communities, as the devout are pulled away from bonds of tradition and orthodoxy by their non-member spouses.

Children of interfaith couples are more than twice as likely to adopt the faith of their mother. This is not surprising when one thinks about it. Anyway, mothers are typically the ones in charge of family religious practice – they are more likely to attend church, read the Bible and shuttle children to religious school. An Islamic Center in the Southern California, United States blamed interfaith marriage in part for declines in mosque attendance. As well as the diminishment of religious institutions and a rise in marital instability as among the long-term effects of interfaith marriages.

Going into interfaith union, one may be making some critical mistakes that could harm one’s marriage. These missteps will have you setting yourselves up for festering bitterness, for conflict, misunderstanding, nagging tensions, and continuing arguments about  religious differences  with damaging and long-lasting consequences for these relationships because  the couple’s cultural differences  can run deep and resurface at the most inconvenient times. Even those who share the same religious affiliation do not necessarily share the same opinions on important issues, such as raising children or other contending issues.

Raising children in a cross-cultural marriage has its challenges. Both partners sacrifice to accommodate the other’s preferences and expectations. The Bible instructs Christian parents to raise children in the training and instruction of the Lord (Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:4). For a woman married to a Muslim man, this scripture becomes impossible according to both Christian and Islamic doctrines. Interfaith marriage inhibits Biblical partnership in parenting, while in Islam; children born to a Muslim father are automatically born Muslim.

Therefore, it is better for Muslim men and women, to get married to those who believe, like them, in one God symbolizing a monotheism purified from all other divinities and injustice, because It is true that marriages called “mixed” can be more exposed to misunderstanding because down the road when the couple realizes that they have a difference in core values that even love cannot reconcile the whole relationship crumbles.

Marriage is like a plant.  It needs a lot of care, attention, and nurturing in order to thrive and grow and the fertilizer for a healthy growth is Religion and as Muslims, the safest passage is to marry into Islam and not interfaith. Anything contrary, the marriage may head towards “Splits Ville” with the following as precursors; you are both talking but not communicating, end up no longer respect each others’ opinions and ideas, spending less time with each other, starts to have doubts as to whether you married the “right one” and neither of you are willing to put in extra effort to make the marriage work.

A man may become a kafir, following his wife, and enter the Fire of Hell forever. You must look for one who is religiously committed, if you want a sound marriage. Forget about the people of kufr and beware of marrying them, for that will lead to a lot of evil. The children of such a marriage will not be guided; they will swell the ranks of evil-doers.