Is it permissible to marry a woman from the People of the Book? We request a detailed explanation.

Al-Halabi : We request a detailed ruling on the permissibility of marrying women from the People of the Book. If it is prohibited, we request a detailed explanation of the reason for the prohibition and its clarification.

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that the original ruling regarding marriage to women from the People of the Book is permissibility, and this is explicitly stated in the Book in the saying of Allah the Exalted: However, this permissibility is not obligatory, and many permissible things may, at times, be surrounded by factors that place them in the category of the prohibited and not permissible, indeed the forbidden. Let us give a very simple example: a man has a wife, and she is a righteous wife with no fault, and he wants to marry another woman in addition to her. This is also permissible, just like marrying a woman from the People of the Book But he believes that he cannot be just between the first wife and the new one. What is the ruling on this second marriage, whose original ruling is permissibility? This ruling changes to not permissible. Why? Because this permissibility is restricted by the Quranic requirement of justice, restricted by the text of the Noble Quran, so it is not permissible. Likewise, when our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, permitted the Muslim to marry a woman from the People of the Book, this permissibility was not at the beginning of Islam. The permissibility was not when the Muslims were weak and in Makkah. This permissibility was when the Islamic state began, establishing its existence and spreading its shadow over the surrounding lands, such that his saying, peace and blessings be upon him, was true at that time, not while he was in Makkah. His saying, peace and blessings be upon him, was true there, and he said, peace and blessings be upon him: At that time, Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, prescribed for the Muslims to marry women from the People of the Book. Because the state, the power, and the society had become Islamic, so everyone who entered it through the path of marriage, or even through the path of enslavement, benefited from the fact that he was a slave.