𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 (169)

Can One Marry Outside Their Race, Tribe and Social Background? The permissibility of marrying into a different race, nation, tribe or social background is proven through the Book, the Sunnah and the actions of the Sahābah and Salaf. Allah (the Most High) said: {يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ} “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.” [Al-Hujurāt: 13] Allah has made clear in this Āyah that no one has distinction over another, nor virtue over another in the sight of Allah except due to taqwā, or piety. The noblest of people with Allah are the most righteous, dutiful and God-fearing. The Prophet ﷺ was asked regarding the noblest of people, so he replied: “They are the most righteous of them.” (agreed upon) So the Āyāt of Qur’an and the Prophetic Hadīth prove that between the nations and tribes and races there is equality― and it is permitted for a Qurashi and Hāshimi to marry someone from the tribe of Tamīm or Qahtān or other than them, and vice-versa. The Prophet ﷺ was the best of the tribe of Quraish and Banu Hāshim, and he married Zaynab bint Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with her) and she was from the tribe of Bani Asad bin Khuzaymah, she was not a Quraishi woman. He married Umm Habībah bint Abī Sufyān (may Allah be pleased with her) and Hafsah bint ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with her), also Juwayriyah bint Al-Hārith (may Allah be pleased with her), Sawdah bint Zam’ah (may Allah be pleased with her), Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) and ‘Ā’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her)― and they were not from the tribe of Banu Hāshim. He also married Safiyyah bint Huyayy (may Allah be pleased with her) and she was from the Children of Israel (from a Jewish tribe of Madinah). ‘Umar bin Al-Khattāb (may Allah be pleased with him) was from the tribe of Banu ‘Adiyy and he married Umm Kalthūm bint ‘Ali bin Abī Tālib (may Allah be pleased with her) and she was from the tribe of Banu Hāshim. ‘Uthmān bin ‘Affān (may Allah be pleased with him) was from the tribe of Banu Umayyah and he married Ruqayyah, and after her death, he married Umm Kulthūm (may Allah be pleased with them), both of whom were daughters of the Prophet ﷺ and from the tribe of Banu Hāshim. Examples of this nature are very numerous indeed― and they all prove that the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions did not care about the affair of lineage, so long as the Religion of the people was firm, steadfast and righteous. This is further proven by the fact that the Prophet ﷺ married Usāmah bin Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him) who was a freed slave of the tribe of Bani Kalb to Fātimah bint Qais (may Allah be pleased with her) who was a Quraishi woman. Also, Abu Hudhayfah bin ‘Utbah bin Rabī’ah bin Abdush-Shams (may Allah be pleased with him) married off the daughter of his brother to Sālim yet she was a Quraishi woman and Sālim was a freed slave. Likewise, Abu Bakr As-Siddīq (may Allah be pleased with him), who was a Taymī-Qurashi, married his sister off to Al-Ash’ath bin Qais (may Allah be pleased with him) who a Kindī Yemeni from the tribe of Qahtān. Also, Abdur-Rahmān bin ‘Awf Az-Zuhrī married off his sister to Bilāl bin Rabāh the Mu’adhin (may Allah be pleased with them all)― she was a Zuhrīyah, Quraishi Arab woman and Bilāl was a freed slave from Abyssinia (Ethiopia). All of this guides the students of knowledge to recognise the permissibility of marriage of a person to someone from other than his tribe, race, skin colour or social background as long as they are religious people, steadfast upon the Religion, and of course compatible for each other. [Based on a fatwā by Ibn Bāz, see Al-Jāmi’ fī Fiqhil-‘Allāmah Ibn Bāz (pp. 869-870), also Majmū Fatāwa of Ibn Bāz]