Marrying non-Muslims by concealing identity "grave sin", says Maulana Razvi

Lucknow: Maulana Shahbuddin Razvi, president of the All India Muslim Jamaat, said Muslim men who "conceal their religious identity to marry non-Muslim women" are very close to being ostracised from the community. Speaking at a press conference, he claimed such marriages are void.

He further said: "In Islam, putting a tilak on the forehead, knotting braids and wearing the kalawa on the wrist are treated as gunahe kabira (grave sin difficult to be pardoned), but some Muslim men do this in order to conceal their religious identity and marry women belonging to the other community. Such actions that amount to concealing one’s religious identity are haram (forbidden) in Islam and thus such marriages are illegal," reported The Indian Express.

Answering a query, he said that those who follow Islam should always remember that their religion had given them a "grand way of life" and some markers of identity (skullcaps and the beard) that show they are Muslims.

Razvi recently issued the controversial statement that the marriage between Bollywood actress Swara Bhaskar and SP leader Fahad Ahmed is "illegitimate". He claimed that the marriage would be valid only if Swara accepted Islam.