Does Islam Permit men to Marry non-Muslim Women?

[hijab] and sometimes even a face veil. Their LA in La illaha illAllah, Muhammad rasul Allah is loud and clear.
However, when it comes to marriage, these women find that Muslim men are not available for marriage. Many Muslim men are nationalists and go “back home” to marry and to bring back with them “cultural” Muslim spouses who are ill at ease in America and of little support to their husbands facing a poweful American way of life which soon decimates the will of “cultural” Muslims to live as Muslims here.
Even more damaging is the idea endorsed by Muslim leaders that “Islam permits Muslim men to marry non-Muslim women.” The result is the invasion of Muslim homes by non-Muslim women who, supported by the entire complex of the “Amercan way of life,” its educational system and its entertainment miasma, soon seduces and assimilates the Muslim male into the non-Islamic system prevalent here.
My purpose here is to study the idea of our “leaders” that it’s okay for the Muslim male to marry non-Muslim females. I’ll begin by debunking this entire notion on the basis of the Qur’an and the Hadith. I’ll go on to look critically at the Islamic texts these “leaders” use to permit Muslim men to marry non-Muslim women.

The Qur’an’s Fundamental View of Marriage:

Allah, in the Qur’an, gives a powerful command to the believers about marriage. It’s not a recommendation but an order which is not matched by any other teaching of Islam on marriage:
“Do not marry women who associate others with Allah [mushrikat] until they believe. An enslaved woman who believes is better than a non-Muslim woman who associates others with Allah [mushrika] even though she allures you. Nor marry your women to men who associate others with Allah [mushrikeen] until they believe: An enslaved man who believes is better than a non-Muslim man who associates others with Allah [mushrik] even though he allures you. Unbelievers only beckon you to the Fire, but Allah beckons you by His Grace to the Garden [of Bliss] and Forgiveness, and makes His signs clear to mankind that they may receive admonition.” [The Qur’an 2:221]

Note 1: There is a command from Allah here: “Do not marry ….[la tinkihu.] That’s not just a recommendation.
Note 2: The basis of marriage here is: “until they believe.” [hatta yo’min.]Note 3: Marriage here is a revolutionary process. It crosses class lines. How far indeed have Muslims gone from Islam that most Muslims will not marry an “enslaved” woman, let alone marrying their daughters to “enslaved” men. [The Hanafi school openly opposes the Qur’an by claiming that social equality is essential for marriage.]Note 4: Physical attraction, beauty, handsomeness, the usual attributes of male-female attraction [“allure”] must not be placed before belief in Allah.
Note 5: The unbelief being rejected here is SHIRK [associating others with Allah]. Some translations use words like “idolators” and “pagans” which are not in the text.

What does the Hadith say about marriage?:
The teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him, do not leave any space for the idea that there can be a basis for marriage other than acceptance of Islam by both sides:

From Abu Huraira, r.a.:The messenger of Allah, peace be on him, said: When you receive a proposal of marriage and you are satisfied with the person’s religion and behavior/character, marry him, otherwise the earth will be filled with evil and great disruption. [Hadith, Jami’ Tirmidhi.]

From Thauban, r.a.: When [the Qur’an] was revealed against [hoarding] gold and silver, they [the Companions] said: What [wealth] should we acquire? ‘Umar, r.a., said: I’ll find out for you. He went rapidly on his camel to the Prophet, pbuh, and I followed him. He [‘Umar, r.a..] said: “O messenger of Allah: which wealth should we acquire?” He [the Prophet, pbuh] said “Try to acquire a HEART which is THANKFUL, and a TONGUE which MENTIONS ALLAH much, and a TRULY BELIEVING WIFE who helps you in matters regarding the HEREAFTER.” [Hadith Sunan of Ibn Maja.]

From Abu Huraira, r.a., from the Prophet, pbuh: He said: Women are married for four reasons: for their wealth, and for their geneology, and for their beauty, and for their religious piety. You should achieve success in marrying them for their religious piety, otherwise may your hand be rubbed in the dust! [Hadith, Sahih of Bukhari.]

There are numerous hadith which indicate that the entire fabric of Islamic family life is based on the acceptance of Allah’s Will by the husband and the wife. The foundation of Islamic life is the daily process of FIVE OBLIGATORY PRAYERS. If one’s marital partner does not accept these prayers, the entire structure of family life loses direction.
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NOW LET US LOOK AT THE ARGUMENT OF THOSE WHO CLAIM THAT MUSLIM MEN IN AMERICA CAN MARRY non-MUSLIM WOMEN:
Their argument is based on this verse:
“This day are all things good and pure made lawful unto you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them. [Lawful unto you in marriage] are (not only) chaste women who are believers, but chaste women among the People of the Book REVEALED BEFORE YOUR TIME,- when ye give them their due marriage gifts, and desire chastity, not lewdness taking them as lovers. If anyone rejects faith, fruitless is his work, and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost [all spiritual good].” [The Qur’an 5:5.]

CONTEXTUALLY the first point to note is that this verse was revealed in chapter 5 which is chronologically among the very last in the Qur’an. It refers to a time when Islam had become the sole power in Arabia. A non-Muslim woman who married a Muslim in this situation would come into a well-established Islamic society where the entire culture and educational system would be working for Islam. This is TOTALLY UNLIKE AMERICA where the entire system is supporting the non-Muslim spouse.
It is a PERMISSION, not a COMMAND as in 2:221. The beginning of the verse is about the food of the People of the Book. Muslims are PERMITTED to eat their food, but are not being ENCOURAGED or ORDERED to do so because the foundations are given in Sura 6 which lay the basis for Islamic dietary law. 
The question arises who are the People of the Book? These cannot be people who follow the Old Testament and New Testament. It’s about the Book which was revealed BEFORE the time of the Prophet, pbuh, which the Qur’an refers to as the Torah and the Injeel. These were revealed to Moses [pbuh] and Jesus [pbuh]. Their followers were no able to preserve them and resorted to distortion and re-writing. Hence to complete and finalize the Message of the Creator, the Qur’an was revealed.
Most Christians believe that Jesus, pbuh, is the son of God or God himself, which is SHIRK [associating others with God] and hence goes against the original teachings of Jesus, pbuh, which took the ONE God alone as the one to be worshiped.
The Qur’an emphatically states that those who say that Jesus, pbuh, i
s God are kuffar, unbelievers. It says so in the very same chapter in which it permits marriage with people who received the Book “before your time.” Evidently the belief of those who followed Jesus, pbuh, originally, was very different from that of people who call themselves Christians now:

“Surely the unbelievers are those who say that Allah is Christ the son of Mary. Say: ‘Who then has the least power against Allah, if His Will were to destroy Christ the son of Mary, his mother, and all -every one that is on the earth? For to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between. He creates what He pleases. For Allah has Power over all things. ‘ ” [The Qur’an 5:17.]

Islamic monotheism is totally uncompromising.

Many of the modern Jews have made Israel into their god and idol and have cut themselves off from humanity. Research into the Old Testament by modern Jewish scholars indicates that Yahweh, the god of the Jews, was actually the god of a clan whom they carried along with them where they went. He was NOT the Creator of all peoples, and certainly NOT comparable to the concept of Allah in the Qur’an.
The Muslim “leaders” who permit Muslim men to marry non-Muslim women are simply transferring to AMERICA the ideas which might have relevance in lands where Islam is well established and where Muslims are the great majority.
Even when Islam was in power, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, r.a. was against permitting Muslim men to marry non-Muslim women. Ibn Jarir narrates with a good chain of narration from Shaqiq that Hudhaifa, r.a., had married a Jewish woman. ‘Umar, r.a., wrote to him and urged him to let her go [divorce her]. Hudhaifa, r.a., wrote back: Do you consider this HARAM [forbidden] and hence I should divorce her? ‘Umar wrote back: I do not consider it Haram but I am afraid that if people start marrying these women, the truly believing women will be neglected. 
That was from ‘Umar, r.a., a man who understood the Qur’an better than anyone living today and at a time when Islam in its purity was at the height of its power.
ONE FINAL POINT: As more and more Muslim men in America go after non-Muslim women, it has a demoralizing effect on Muslim women. They too start getting involved with non-Muslim men. The result is the slow but steady erosion of the Muslim family in America.
The RULE IS THAT OF EQUALITY. Both Muslim men and women must find Muslim spouses. The exception is that in powerful Islamic systems, Muslim men are permitted to marry Christian and Jewish women