Can Ordained Minister Who Converts to Islam Still Perform Marriages?

11 January, 2020

Q As-salamu `alaykum. I became an ordained minister (Humanist) many years before my conversion. My question is: can I still use my license to marry people or would it be against Islam to do it?

Answer

Sheikh Ahmad Kutty

11 January, 2020

Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

In this fatwa:

1- If your license as an ordained minister does allow you to solemnize Islamic marriages, you can continue working accordingly.

2- Otherwise, you may apply for a new license that allows you to perform Islamic marriages.

In his response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

If your license allows you to perform marriage according to the Islamic guidelines, you may continue to do so.

However, if you are limited to solemnizing marriages in accordance with the Christian rituals, then, as a Muslim, you should not do so.

In Canada, imams get the license to solemnize marriages in accordance with the religious requirements of Islam even as the Christian pastors do.

So, you may apply for a new license if you cannot solemnize marriages with your old license.

Allah Almighty knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.