The kitābī Wife’s Conversion to Islam: An Unusual Interpretation by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

Abstract

This essay analyzes Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s (d. 751/1350) teaching about the legal options open to a woman who converts to Islam while married to a Jewish or Christian husband. I argue that Ibn al-Qayyim’s preferred position is unusual for the eighth/fourteenth century in which he wrote, although it may derive from Ibn Taymiyya’s (d. 728/ 1328) teaching on the subject. In order to contextualize Ibn al-Qayyim’s view, I summarize the variety of approaches to single-spouse conversion that dominated in the first century AH, and the broad consensus on the topic that developed after this. Although female conversion to Islam has received some attention in historical studies, there has been less focus on the legal discourse surrounding this question. The essay seeks to contribute to this discussion.

Ordered Relationships. The Regulation of Jewish-Christian Marriages and Children in Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s Legal Works

“…Most of the regulations that Ibn al-Qayyim presents address marriages between a Muslim [5] man and a non-Muslim woman, but there is also a detailed discussion of how to regulate marriages in which one or both spouses has converted to Islam (Bosanquet 2019;Friedmann 2003, 165-7). In these discussions the focus is on whether the couple should be separated and if so, what form of financial compensation the woman should receive.…”