YouTube Video Response: Marriage to Non Muslim - Contemporary Issues - Bilal Philips

I am so blessed to have learned some important information concerning marriage and non-muslims: a femenist issue I was troubled by.

Philips notes that "woman's nature is to compromise and avoid conflict" This may be sexist- not all women are the same, but the fact remains that many are the product of their society and most soceities nuture the view that women are gentle, compromising, and nurturers. It is a resonable view that if a Muslimah marries a non-muslim man, there can be conflicts of him wanting her to do things that go against Islam. Philips lists as examples "making pork meals and buying alchohl, dressing sexy to make him proud, raising the children muslim" A man in most soceities may be very demanding and pressure her- in most socieities, women are pressured to be married, not tempt the man to stray so they will be conflicted, as "her religion is threatened"
A side note is that there are men and women who may be able to make this situation work as not all people ascribe to gener- sterotypes.

As for my issue about Men marrying non-muslims:
Philips makes a great point that men can marry Christian/Jewish women but they should be pious and a virgin [unless divorced/widowed]- this may be hard to do in modern society. Christian/Jewish women can follow Muslim prinicipals in terms of dress and diet because it does not go against their religion/ so if the husband asks her to stop drinking, technically she can't have a religous reason to continue as her religion does not require her to drink.

Philips adds that marriage to non-muslims can be difficult for men as divorce can lead to child custody issues and this can be the reason why Muslim ex-husbands kidnap the children. [courts mostly give kids to mom in divorce and may raise them non-muslim]

Alhamdulillah I found an answer to this question!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7boA3baF2dg&NR=1