Must you convert and accept Islam as your religion if you are not a Muslim and want to marry a Muslim girl?

Under Islamic belief, you must convert to Islam. However, the convert should not do it just to be able to marry the Muslim girl but should do it with full faith and true belief in Islam.

Another View

It is forbidden for a non Muslim to marry a Muslim girl for such marriages are void in the eyes of Allah and the woman will live a life like she is an adulteress and she will be void of blessings from Allah and gain his anger and wrath for the rest of her life. Is it really worth it? Are we here in this life to do as we please? Or are we created to please the one who gave us life in the first place? Does he not know what is best for us? Then surely whatever He commands is the best for us.

The reason for forbidding a Muslim woman from marrying a non-Muslim man is that a Christian or a Jewish man believes only in his prophets, and doesn't believe in the Prophet Mohamed or any of the other Prophets. An atheist wouldn't believe in either and therefore the children will grow up confused as to who they really are and what they believe as there will be no clarity in their belief and this will be blamed on the Muslim women who knew the consequences but just thought of her own happiness rather than the Islamic upbringing of her children as well as in her own life because if she will marry a non Muslim man yes he may not physically stop her from practising but it will certainly have a detrimental affect on her life as a practising Muslim woman.

For example, when this Muslim woman tries to teach her kids to love and respect all prophets and believe in all of them, her non-Muslim husband will not agree, because he believes only in his prophet or no prophet at all. He may interfere in the way she raises her kids, and prevent her from raising them in an Islamic way. And here comes the real problem, because she will have only two options, whether she leaves the whole thing as it is, and does nothing about it -which will be an insult to her religion- or she argues about the matter, and this will surely lead to marital problems.
I myself have known MANY children who were born from parents who had either a Muslim father and non Muslim wife or Muslim wife and non Muslim father and the children grow up not knowing what they are.

I met so many of these people who told me they were either half Muslim (You are either a full Muslim or you are not at all) or that they don't know what they are and were confused. Most likely because their parents didn't care. They certainly will care in the hereafter when it hits them so hard that they will be ruined. Let us not have children who are confused about what they are because we are here to implement Islam and raise our children and future generations of Muslims who implement Islam but if we are ignorant and selfish and just think about what we feel will give us happiness then we will ruin our own and our children's' lives in this world and the next.

Most of the time a Muslim woman may come across a Non Muslim man either through work or through their own non Muslim female friends, and if they spend time with that person and get to know them then inevitably feelings may arise because a man and a women are created to be attracted to each other chemically and biologically.

So first it is haraam to mix with a non mahram in the first place for both a man and a woman and then secondly when feelings do develop then one cannot say "Oh you can't help who you fall in love with", because why did you get to know that person in the first place? No one forced you to get to know him. You got to know him voluntarily and you could have easily stopped yourself but you didn't and allowed your feelings to develop for him. The two end up believing that they cannot be without each other through the deception of Satan and end up being together and have a life void of blessings and happiness and will certainly regret it if not in this world then the hereafter because Allah may punish someone either in this world or the next but usually both. Don't be deceived because you will not live a happy life gaining the anger of Allah and going against his commandments.

One has to decide is it really worth wasting the precious life that one has to gain the anger and wrath of Allah just for what they feel will be their happiness? How long will this dream and deception last for you? How do you know you will be happy for the rest of your life with that person? Many of these things end in tragedy and it is certainly not worth spending ones life void of blessings from Allah and living a life like an adulteress because then that person's hereafter is ruined and we only have one chance to work for our hereafter so let's not ruin it. Whatever way Allah wants us to live is the best for us in every way because we are just human; we do not know what is best and Allah also mentions this in the Qur'an.

She has to realise that if she goes ahead and marries the Non Muslim man then she has sacrificed her faith for the rest of her life and she will have gained Allah's anger and wrath for the rest of her life because she will live a life like an adulteress and the reason is that such marriages are void and NOT accepted in Islam at all.

So let us do things the right way in the way which Allah wants but if we choose to do the opposite then we can only blame ourselves for the rest of eternity and trust me we would NEVER want to do that. May Allah guide us to the straight path and give us good Muslim partners whom we can gain the pleasure of Allah with and raise good Muslim children.