Some scholars of Islam, sociology and education have warned against the high rates of marriage to foreign non-Muslim women in Arab and Islamic countries. They have stated that this phenomenon has dangerous social, educational and religious consequences as it exacerbates the problem of spinsterhood in the Arab countries. It also yields generations of Muslims who have a weak sense of belonging to their religion, country, and language in addition to other cultural factors and social characteristics of the Muslim community. Recent studies and statistics confirmed that the interest of young Muslim men in marrying foreign women is increasing; the studies also revealed many problems that result from such marriages.

Dr. Naadiyah Ridhwaan, head of the Department of Sociology at the Suez CanalUniversity believes that young Muslim men resort to this kind of marriage because of the disorder in the concepts of values, morals and principles that has occurred in the Arab and Islamic community. Unlike before, marriage is no longer built on the bases and choices that are governed by social customs, traditions and religious values. The opportunity and the desire to immigrate to a foreign country and acquire a foreign nationality are from the paramount factors that drive young men to marry foreign women. This is not the only reason; the negative effects that result from the demand of excessive dowries and the complications which a young man encounters when he intends to marry a young woman from his country and religion represent another reason that makes him marry a foreign woman, who has no list of complications like that of an Arab Muslim woman. This is not only because of her upbringing and customs, but also because of her desire to have a permanent residency permit in a particular country.

Dr. Naadiyah Ridhwaan adds,

Such marriages result in many social problems in addition to numerous familial problems among the family of the groom himself. The degree of understanding and the social relationship that connects the family of the groom with the foreign wife are limited, if they exist in the first place, due to differences in customs and traditions. Then, when they have children, they will certainly acquire their "foreign" mother’s traits, and will thus be strangers to the society of their father and his family. Moreover, the ongoing comparison that the foreign mother or the children themselves draw between the father's society and the mother's original community will create psychological disruption and disturbance in the children; whether in terms of belonging, be it national, social, psychological or otherwise. Things worsen because this rupture remains with them throughout their life to the extent that they do not know to which of the two societies they belong.

Psychological Formation

Dr. Musheerah ‘Abdul-Hameed Al-Yoosufi, professor of Psychological Health in Az-Zaqaazeeq University, agrees with her and adds that among the reasons that make young Muslim men resort to that kind of marriage are their weakness and the absence of their confidence in their civilization and culture due to their ignorance and unawareness of the essence of this great civilization, which lit the darkness of ignorance that was prevailing in the West in the medieval ages. These young men are dazzled by the civilizational and technological progress of the countries of these girls. Added to this is the “freedom”, which they enjoy in their clothing and mentality, which attracts the young men to them, especially in light of the mental and intellectual void, in which they live because of their being far from or obliged to keep away from their religious and civilizational roots.

Dr. Musheerah adds that there is no doubt that the upbringing, the surrounding environment and the social customs and traditions form the individual’s psychology, which is consequently reflected on his actions and behavior. Therefore, if the husband was brought up in an environment or society that is totally different from that of his foreign wife, the consequences and negative effects would appear when the veils and barriers between them are removed through marriage and when the differences in thought and behavior appear. Here, marital disagreements will arise even though each of them may be keen on hiding them to achieve the goal of that marriage, which is based on the personal interest of each of the spouses.

Dr. Musheerah warns of this kind of marriage which creates psychologically disturbed generations that experience a violent conflict between the civilization, customs, and values of the father and those of the mother. Hence, young men who are about to marry foreign non-Muslim women have to be warned against the negative effects of such a marriage, whether on the marital life itself or the children who are the fruit of that marriage. At the same time, we have to qualify those who have already married foreigners and inform them of the religious, social and psychological differences in order to avoid any of the consequences which might be reflected on the society in general and the children who come from this marriage in particular.

A Source of Anxiety

As this marriage may result in certain judicial problems, especially in relation to the issue of guardianship and the wife kidnapping the children and fleeing with them outside the country, it was necessary to seek a legal opinion here: Dr. Anwar Raslaan, Dean of the Faculty of Law at Cairo University, confirms that marrying foreign women is a constitutional right that is guaranteed by the constitution in most Islamic countries, but nearly all of its experiences have proved to be a failure and its victims are the children who become prey to loss and vagrancy. Foreign mothers sometimes flee with the children abroad without prior warning, despite the fact that preventing the wife from traveling is a preventive measure and a right of the husband as long as the child has not reached the age of maturity. However, the husband has to have the logical proof and the decisive documents to persuade the court that the decision of preventing the wife from traveling is in the interests of the children. Also, making a passport for the child or adding him in the passport of his mother cannot be done except with the express approval of the husband.

Dr. Anwar Raslaan adds, “The problems that result from this kind of marriage make us warn people about it as it is surrounded with dangers and problems as well as other issues which render it a source of anxiety, disturbance and dispute in courts instead of being a source of tranquility, affection, and mercy as described by Allah The Almighty in the verse (what means): {And of His signs is that He Created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He Placed between you affection and mercy.} [Quran 30:21]”

Marrying Non-Muslim Women - Problems and Dangers - II