Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 221 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:221

وَلَا تَنكِحُوا۟ ٱلْمُشْرِكَـٰتِ حَتَّىٰ يُؤْمِنَّ ۚ وَلَأَمَةٌ مُّؤْمِنَةٌ خَيْرٌ مِّن مُّشْرِكَةٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَتْكُمْ ۗ وَلَا تُنكِحُوا۟ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ حَتَّىٰ يُؤْمِنُوا۟ ۚ وَلَعَبْدٌ مُّؤْمِنٌ خَيْرٌ مِّن مُّشْرِكٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكُمْ ۗ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى ٱلنَّارِ ۖ وَٱللَّهُ يَدْعُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱلْجَنَّةِ وَٱلْمَغْفِرَةِ بِإِذْنِهِۦ ۖ وَيُبَيِّنُ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ

“And do not marry polytheistic women until they believe.[81] And a believing slave woman is better than a polytheist, even though she might please you. And do not marry polytheistic men [to your women] until they believe. And a believing slave is better than a polytheist, even though he might please you. Those invite [you] to the Fire, but Allāh invites to Paradise and to forgiveness, by His permission. And He makes clear His verses [i.e., ordinances] to the people that perhaps they may remember.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Choose a spouse for faith over what dazzles; every home is an invitation, and Allah invites to the Garden and to forgiveness.

A reflection

Even if they impress you

A mother spreads six printed biodatas across the kitchen table. Each has a photograph, a height, a salary band and a family surname. None has a line for how the young man treats a waiter, or what he does when no one is watching.

The ayah does something unusual for a law. It admits the attraction. 'Even if she impresses you'. 'Even if he impresses you'. It does not pretend that beauty, money and lineage are invisible. Two concise commentaries name them plainly: her beauty and her wealth, his wealth and his good looks.

The word for impress, aʿjaba, comes from a root of wonder. One lexicon defines wonder as what comes over a person who does not know a thing's cause. To be dazzled is, almost by definition, not yet to know what lies behind. A face, a car, a title: these impress precisely because they are surfaces.

The Prophet ﷺ put the same honesty into one sentence, recorded in both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. A woman is married for four things: her wealth, her standing, her beauty and her faith. 'Win the one with faith', he said, 'may your hands be dusted'. He listed the other three first. He knew they would be on the table.

The ayah is not asking you to stop noticing. It is asking you to weigh. What dazzles fades or changes with the years. What a person believes shapes every ordinary Tuesday for forty years.

The mother at the kitchen table is not foolish. She simply needs a seventh column. It cannot be printed. It has to be asked about, watched for and prayed over.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.