What is the criterion for a People of the Book member remaining on his religion, which permits us to eat their food and marry their women?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The question asks: What is the criterion for a People of the Book member remaining on his religion, which permits us to marry him and eat his food?
The Shaykh : The criterion is that he remains affiliated with it by name, not by practice, because this was never the case, not on any day when the statement of Blessed and Exalted is He was revealed:[Al-Ma'idah 5:5] And He said about them: [Al-Ma'idah 5:73] And this is my answer.
The questioner : That is, if it is found here that a Christian denies the resurrection or denies the existence of the Lord, Glorified and Exalted is He, does this ruling apply to him?
The Shaykh : No, this person has exited the religion of Christianity.
The questioner : And he is affiliated with Christianity.
The Shaykh : Yes, he is affiliated, but what does affiliation mean? Affiliation does not mean that he does not profess Christianity, but he may neglect much of the true Christianity brought by Isa (peace be upon him). However, if he denies Christianity in its entirety and in detail, he is worse, without doubt, than the Muslim who apostatized from his religion, and it does not benefit him to be called Ahmad ibn Muhammad.
The Shaykh : The criterion is that he remains affiliated with it by name, not by practice, because this was never the case, not on any day when the statement of Blessed and Exalted is He was revealed:
and the food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you
وطعام الذين أوتوا الكتاب حل لكمThey have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allah is the third of three."
لقد كفر الذين قالوا إن الله ثالث ثلاثةThe questioner : That is, if it is found here that a Christian denies the resurrection or denies the existence of the Lord, Glorified and Exalted is He, does this ruling apply to him?
The Shaykh : No, this person has exited the religion of Christianity.
The questioner : And he is affiliated with Christianity.
The Shaykh : Yes, he is affiliated, but what does affiliation mean? Affiliation does not mean that he does not profess Christianity, but he may neglect much of the true Christianity brought by Isa (peace be upon him). However, if he denies Christianity in its entirety and in detail, he is worse, without doubt, than the Muslim who apostatized from his religion, and it does not benefit him to be called Ahmad ibn Muhammad.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.