A question from an agnostic DUer

[Colobo]

My girlfriend is the daughter of a Muslim man of Syrian descent and a Catholic woman (she doesn't have a religion although she likes Islam more than Christianity). According to her, her dad was a devout Muslim, but he never impossed his religion on his kids, and was open enough to encourage them to go to any place they could worship God, because "God is in all worship houses".

She has been telling me about the Arab community in Argentina (her country) and she tells me how those who decide to embrace Islam (men or women) normally marry outside their religion- one of her aunts (a Muslim) married a Jewish man, and many of her friends who have embraced the Islamic faith date outside the religion frequently and she says it's not a big deal for anyone over there.

So, my question for Muslim DUers is: Is my girlfriend's life experience common among American Muslims?

[harun]

1. It is common in my experience

I am a convert to Islam who married a Christian girl. My friend who is also American (born here) is a Muslim and his wife is Buddhist.

If one is trying to live according to Islamic law, and is a practicing Muslim, normally a Muslim girl will not marry anyone but a Muslim man. A Muslim man is encouraged to marry a Muslim woman but it is said they can marry Jewish or Christian women. Of course the cultural practices in all the different countries where Islam is the majority religion will be all over the map (literally and figuratively :-).

There is no central Islamic "authority" anymore, so it comes down to ones own implementation of their belief. Marriage in Islam is a contract with responsibilities for both parties and a witness should be present when they testify to this contract. Beyond that I am sure you could find about every end of the spectrum of practice. Divorce is allowed so it seems like that is why they are less concerned with all the details. When getting married the guy puts up the dowry of money, and in a divorce the rules are clear on how much he has to give the women to make sure she is taken care of and kids are taken care of.