“Ask a Priest: Would I Risk My Soul If I Marry a Muslim?”

Q: I’m in love with a Muslim and I’m a Christian. We want to get married, but I’m scared I’ll end up in hell because of it. Will I? – A.P.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: If you are concerned about how an interfaith marriage might impact your salvation, it is good that you are facing that issue now.

You don’t mention whether you are Catholic. Here, I will offer a Catholic perspective, which you might find helpful.

The Catholic Church doesn’t encourage its members to marry outside the faith, especially to non-Christians.

The reason is because the differences in religious and cultural worldviews can be tremendous and can cause deep tensions in a marriage. This could tempt you to downplay and eventually suppress your own faith “to keep the peace at home.”

Moreover, the marriage of a Christian and a Muslim poses special problems for raising the children. The children can grow up confused, falling into the error of thinking “all religions are the same.”

You can read more about mixed marriages (between a Catholic and a non-Catholic Christian) and those involving disparity of cult (between a Catholic and a non-Christian) in the Catechism’s section on marriage.

This is not to say that a marriage between a Christian and a Muslim is impossible. But the difficulties shouldn’t be underestimated. Moreover, a Muslim husband could be under pressure from his own relatives to bring up the children in Islam.

So it is worth asking yourself what kind of religion you want for your children. Will you be able to raise them as Christians? How will you teach them about Jesus if they see that their own dad doesn’t believe in Our Lord’s divinity?

As to your specific question: I can’t say where a soul will end up. But the fact that you are already scared about ending up a lost soul is something you need to pay attention to.

It might be the Holy Spirit nudging you to think through the consequences of marrying someone whose religion differs radically from Christianity.

Muslims don’t believe that God is a Trinity. Nor do they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the fullness of divine revelation in this world.

Can you be comfortable spending your life with someone who doesn’t share the core beliefs of Christianity?

It might be good to speak with your pastor. The decision you make will impact not only your own eternity but potentially the eternity of your children.

Count on my prayers.

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