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Fatwa CenterWants to marry a Catholic woman against the will of his parents
Question
i am a muslim man who has been in a relationship with a catholic woman (boyfriend/girlfriend) for a year, i have had zina with her on many occasions. i wish to repent and marry her, the problem is she is catholic, she does not drink nor eat pork,but does not wish to convert to islam, my parents will not accept her unless she converts and they think she is a virgin, i dont wish to pressure her into islam (tell her the only way to get married is her to become muslim)as this will not be comin from her heart. she has had 2 relationships before me and has had zina with one of the men(they were engaged to be married). I told her to tell my parents that she will convert even though i know she probably wont. we have agreed that children, if any, will be of muslim faith if we get married.what can i/she do for this marriage to be valid, she is very good to me and we are in love.she is 28 and i am 26. i have only mentioned negatives in this question but there are many positives in this relationship. thankyou
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
You are obligated to immediately take the initiative to repent and sever your relationship with this girl and you should not delay a minute in doing so. Zina (fornication or adultery) is a grave major sin and an abominable act.
Moreover, it is not permissible for a Muslim to marry a woman from the People of the Book unless she is chaste and you know that your fiancée is not chaste. In any case, we do not advise a Muslim man to marry a woman from the People of the Book even if she is chaste, because marrying her involves many disadvantages as we mentioned in Fataawa 88451 and 84159.
However, if this girl becomes a Muslim and abides by the Islamic rites, then it becomes permissible for you to marry her. There is no doubt that your parents want that she embraces Islam wholeheartedly, but if she just pretends to become a Muslim without really willing to do so, then you are not permitted to marry her in this case as we have already clarified. This is also because the obedience to parents comes in priority over marrying a specific woman as we clarified in Fatwa 118011.
Dear brother, we advise you to do what would be an act of kindness and dutifulness to your parents. Nonetheless, if you fear that you will be tempted by that woman and commit Zina with her, then it becomes permissible for you to marry her even if your parents do not agree to your marriage. This is, of course, provided that she repents from Zina and becomes chaste. Moreove, this marriage should be with the consent of her guardian and the presence of two witnesses; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 83629.
Allaah Knows best.
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