Can a Muslim Marry a Jew? The Islamic Ruling and What It Means in Practice

Can a Muslim marry a Jew? It depends on which of you is Muslim.

A Muslim man may marry a chaste Jewish woman because Jews are counted among the People of the Book, though many scholars discourage it, particularly for Muslims living as a minority.

A Muslim woman may not marry a Jewish man, and the four Sunni schools agree on that. Whether a state recognises the marriage is a separate matter, and in Israel, the answer is not straightforward.

This guide covers what is particular to Muslim-Jewish couples: what the Companions did, the kosher question, how Jewish law sees the children, the wedding itself, and the legal position in Israel and the UK. The wider evidence on marrying outside Islam is in our main guide, Can a Muslim Marry a Non-Muslim?

Can a Muslim Man Marry a Jewish Woman?

Yes. The permission comes from Quran 5:5, the same verse that declares the food of the People of the Scripture lawful, and scholars include Jewish women within it. Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta states that a Muslim man may marry a Jewish woman without her having to convert, while adding that such marriages are not encouraged. A Hanafi answer from Mathabah, a Canadian institute, records that most jurists consider it lightly disliked (makruh tanzihi).

The permission still comes with its conditions: she is chaste, she receives her Mahr, and she genuinely holds Judaism as her religion. That last condition needs particular care with Jewish partners. In Jewish law, Jewish identity usually passes by birth, so a woman can be fully Jewish in the eyes of her community while being entirely secular. The Islamic permission concerns the religion she believes in, not her ancestry, so ask a scholar how it applies if she does not believe in God.

What the Companions Did

The clearest Jewish-specific evidence comes from the Companions themselves. Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman and Talhah ibn Ubaydullah are both reported to have married Jewish women, according to the Mathabah answer above, which cites classical works including Ahkam al-Quran.

Hudhayfah’s marriage is better known because of how Umar ibn al-Khattab reacted. Ibn Kathir records, in his commentary on Quran 2:221, that Umar wrote to Hudhayfah, telling him to divorce her. The reasons the reports give are practical: Umar feared Muslim men might marry unchaste women from among them, and that they would pass over Muslim women in favour of them.

The permission in 5:5 survived that letter. Jurists still record it as agreed, and fatwa bodies still give it today. But Umar’s caution is where much of the later reluctance about these marriages begins, and it is worth taking seriously for that reason.

Can a Muslim Woman Marry a Jewish Man?

No. A Muslim woman may marry only a Muslim man, and the four Sunni schools make no exception for Jewish men. Our main guide explains the Quranic evidence and the reasoning in full.

For a woman who is already close to a Jewish man, the practical meaning is this. A Nikah between them would not be a valid Islamic marriage, even if a register office marries them under civil law. The only route is for him to accept Islam, and the decision has to be his own. Dar al-Ifta warns that saying the declaration of belief without thinking about its meaning is not true conversion, and a conversion made only to clear the way for a wedding helps neither of you.

If he is genuinely exploring Islam, let him do it at his own pace, with an Imam rather than through you. If he is not, it is kinder to both of you to accept that early.

Food, Shabbat and the Shape of a Jewish Home

Is Kosher Food Halal?

Quran 5:5 begins by saying the food of the People of the Scripture is lawful for Muslims, and many scholars read this as including animals slaughtered by Jews. On kosher meat today, scholars differ. Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam reports that most contemporary scholars treat it as halal because it meets the conditions of a valid slaughter. A Darul Iftaa in Trinidad, following SANHA in South Africa, says it cannot be treated as halal because in modern abattoirs Allah’s name is not said over each animal.

In a shared kitchen, the two systems overlap more than many couples expect. Both forbid pork. Kosher law also keeps meat and dairy apart and excludes shellfish. Islamic law has no meat-and-dairy rule, but it forbids alcohol, including the wine traditionally used for the Friday night blessing (Kiddush). If she keeps a kosher kitchen and you keep halal, agree whose rules the kitchen follows and which meat comes into the house before you share one.

Shabbat and the Jewish Year

Christmas comes once a year. Shabbat comes every week. In an observant Jewish home, it runs from sunset on Friday to nightfall on Saturday, with candles, a family meal, and rules about work. Add Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah on one side, and Ramadan and the two Eids on the other, and the calendar becomes something you negotiate weekly rather than once a season.

Scholars differ on how far a Muslim husband may limit his wife’s religious practice at home; our guide to Muslim-Christian marriage sets out the two main views. Whichever view you follow, the questions here are concrete: who lights the Shabbat candles, whether the children sit at the Friday night table, and how Jumu’ah and Shabbat preparations share the same day.

The Children: Claimed by Both Traditions from Birth

This is what sets a Muslim-Jewish marriage apart. On the Islamic side, scholars expect a Muslim father’s children to grow up as Muslims. Traditional Jewish law, as Chabad puts it, holds that “a child of a Jewish mother is Jewish, regardless of the father’s lineage”.

So the child of a Muslim father and a Jewish mother is, from the day of birth, Muslim in the eyes of one tradition and Jewish in the eyes of the other. Neither claim depends on a ceremony, and nothing the parents decide will remove either one. Her family may see your son as Jewish, whatever you agree on between yourselves.

That puts the weight on the practical choices: madrasa or Hebrew school, a bar or bat mitzvah or not, which festivals the children mark as their own. Even shared practices raise questions. Both traditions circumcise boys, which feels like common ground until someone asks whether it will be done as a Jewish Brit Milah ceremony. Settle these together, and tell both families what you have agreed, long before there is a child to disagree over.

The Wedding Itself

The Nikah

For a Muslim man and a Jewish woman, the Nikah needs what any Nikah needs: her consent, a Mahr, and two witnesses. Her Wali is normally her own Jewish father or nearest male relative, because a Muslim cannot act as guardian for a non-Muslim woman, a rule we explain in our guide to Muslim-Christian marriage.

Can a Rabbi Marry You?

In England and Wales, the law only lets rabbis and synagogue marriage secretaries conduct a wedding where both partners profess Judaism, so no synagogue can legally marry a Muslim-Jewish couple. Liberal Judaism allows its rabbis, at their discretion, to give mixed-religion couples a blessing, including under a chuppah, but only after a civil marriage and where the couple intend to keep a Jewish home.

 

That last condition is the difficulty for a Muslim husband, since it sits directly against the Islamic expectation for the home and the children. Before agreeing to any religious blessing beyond the Nikah, ask a scholar.

Making It Legal in the UK

A Nikah on its own is not usually a registered marriage in England and Wales, so most couples also marry at a register office or approved venue, following the official guidance on GOV.UK. A will matters as well, because Islamic inheritance gives a Jewish wife no fixed share of her Muslim husband’s estate. Our Muslim-Christian guide explains the one-third bequest that lets a husband provide for her.

Can a Muslim Marry a Jew in Israel?

Not inside Israel. Israel has no civil marriage. Every marriage performed there goes through a recognised religious authority, such as the Chief Rabbinate for Jews and the Sharia courts for Muslims. According to My Jewish Learning, each will only marry two members of their own community. A Muslim and a Jew, therefore, cannot marry each other within Israel itself.

Israel does register civil marriages performed abroad. Many couples who cannot marry at home travel to Cyprus for a civil ceremony. Since 2022, some have married online through officiants in the US state of Utah, and on 7 March 2023, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the population registry must record those marriages as well.

Two cautions. First, registration in Israel is a civil matter only. It says nothing about whether the marriage is valid in Islam, which still depends on who is Muslim and on a proper Nikah. Second, the rules on registering marriages abroad have been fought over in Israel’s courts and politics and may change, so check the current position with a lawyer there before making plans. This section is general information, not legal advice.

If You Are Thinking About This Marriage

For a Muslim Considering a Jewish Partner

Talk through these before you speak to either family:

• Does she hold Judaism as a religion, or is she Jewish by family alone?
• Whose food rules will your kitchen follow?
• How will Shabbat and Jumu’ah, Passover and Ramadan fit into your week and your year?
• How will you respond if her family regards your children as Jewish?
• Where will you marry, and will there be a civil ceremony as well?
• What does a scholar who knows your circumstances advise?

For a Jewish Reader Considering a Muslim Partner

If you are Jewish and reading this because you love someone who is Muslim, here is the honest picture from the Islamic side.

If you are a woman marrying a Muslim man, Islam does not require you to convert, and your husband may not force you to. You would, though, be marrying into the expectation that your children are raised Muslim, which your own tradition may see very differently.

If you are a man hoping to marry a Muslim woman, Islam offers no route other than becoming Muslim yourself, and that should only happen if you come to believe it.

What Judaism permits is a question for your rabbi rather than for us. Whatever you decide, involve both families early, because they will be part of this marriage too.

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The Takeaway

A Muslim man may marry a Jewish woman who holds her religion; a Muslim woman may not marry a Jewish man.

Beyond the ruling, the real work is in the kitchen, the calendar, and above all, the children, whom both traditions will regard as their own. Agree on those before the Nikah, check the law where you will marry, and take your own case to a scholar you trust.