Can a woman do mutah with a Christian man and if not why not?

Answer 1

Mut'ah is an Arabic word meaning literally "pleasure". Its main connotation is "temporary marriage". Shi'a Islam recognises marriages entered into temporarily purely for a single act of sexual intercourse, often as a quasi-legal way of engaging in what would otherwise be considered prostitution.

Christianity regards marriage as a life-time commitment, even if the reality is sometimes otherwise. So, temporary marriage is not acceptable to a Christian, for pleasure or otherwise. If your feelings for a single Christian man are such that you wish to engage in sex, then do so without guilt or use of artificial forms to hide that assumed guilt.

Answer 2

Another answer from our community:Certainly not, christian marriages are for life and only death should separate you. The man and woman become one flesh with the man as the head of the family as long as they both shall live.

Answer 3

Yes, and this is happening more frequently, in spite of many Muslim men saying that Muslim girls never marry non-Muslims. For example, the United Kingdom 2001 census identified:

• 17,163 Christian women married to Muslim men
• 4,233 Christian men married to Muslim women

Ancient taboos against marrying Christian or Jewish men are clearly breaking down, and Imams came together with their Christian counterparts to provide recommendations for future mixed marriages in Britain. They recognised that occasionally both Muslims and Christians feel pressure to convert to the other's faith in order to avoid fallouts and ostracism, but it is perfectly reasonable to maintain their different faiths, as long as each partner to the marriage understands the needs of the other. In Britain, the Christian Muslim Forum recommends there be no forced conversion by either partner (http://www.christianmuslimforum....).

In the Middle East the couple would generally need to be more discreet, although I am aware of at least one Christian man living openly in Istanbul with his Muslim wife.

You also need to choose the form of your wedding. In most Western countries, it would be easier to have a civil wedding than a religious one. If the couple wish to have a Christian wedding they should check with the groom’s church whether there would be any impediment, otherwise they may have to contact other church leaders willing to perform an interfaith marriage. There is at least one imam in the United Kingdom who would perform a wedding ceremony where the husband is Christian and, I believe, another in South Africa, but otherwise they are very rare.

Answer 4

No.