BeliefWatch: Marriage

Unlike Judaism, Islam is passed down through the father. The Qur’an even grants a Muslim man permission to marry a Jewish or Christian woman, so long as she is chaste. “A believing maid is better than an idolatrous woman,” the holy text says. Thus it was for centuries: Muslim men married other women of the Book, who were permitted to practice their own religion but were absorbed into their husband’s family along with their Muslim children.

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