Interfaith Practices

Abstract

This chapter traces interfaith practices in Muslim/non-Muslim marriages and families. It begins by situating the theological and legal status of interfaith marriage in Islam, including current debates over whether Muslim women can marry non-Muslim men. Contextualized within specific geographic contexts, at both the regional and national levels, it then turns to the lived social and religious practices in interfaith marriages and families, at once shaped by societal and familial dynamics. By drawing from research across diverse contexts, it explores the plural approaches to religious practice (including how knowledge and practices are disseminated to children) through negotiation and compromise in interfaith marriages and families. These may be more universalist, with a couple approaching interfaith practices by combining both religious traditions in their household, or more particularist, with a couple choosing one dominant religious tradition in which to raise children. While Islam is practiced differently across contexts, how religion is lived in interfaith marriages and families at once reflects and challenges the norms and values of the societies in which they occur; they reflect the multidimensional and contested terrain of how Islam is lived, more broadly, on a global scale.