     PragmaticGal | Monday, February 05, 2001 - 02:12 pm
I am not an expert, but here's my Considered Opiniion  :
First of all it doesn't matter if only the father is a Muslim, or both parents are Muslim. Since the idea of allowing a Muslim man to marry non-Muslim women was based on the assumption that the man's will (and religion) would prevail over the woman's, and that children would naturally adopt the religion of the Boss of the family (also known as Dad/Abbe/Papa/Tyrant), I think Muslims would blame the man for not carrying out his duty (ie, teaching the kids about Islam). He would also be fundementally wrong for continuing with his relationship with the Christian woman, since if she's actively teaching her children about her religion, she would not be a Good Wife/Mother. Whether the kid is committing apostasy is unclear, but based on the assumption that all Reasoning beings are supposed to adopt Islam on sight, and the kid at one point was taught the Shahadah and accepted it, then yes. But if the child never practiced Islam (or said the Shahadah), then they are not committing apostasy. They are just infidels. A charge of apostasy involves that the er, Criminal be a Muslim, and later reject Islam without coercion. Like me 
On the other hand, even a person whose mother AND father were non-Muslims could be an apostate, if he/she accepted Islam in adulthood and then later rejected it (remember early Muslims were largely converts from other faiths--and were occasionally charged with apoptasy). Which is what I hear the majority of Muslim converts do (and personally witnessed).
But to stay true to form, I would have to say that what religion the kid practices is trivial, since both are about equally valid. Or invalid, as the case may be. |
