Most schools allow Muslim men to marry Christian or Jewish women, not the reverse

The permission sits in Quran 5:5, which declares lawful chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from among those given the Scripture before you, when you have given them their due compensation, desiring chastity, not unlawful sexual intercourse or taking secret lovers. Two general verses point the other way: Quran 2:221 forbids marriage across faith in both directions, and Quran 60:10 states that believing women and disbelieving men are not lawful to one another and adds, hold not to marriage bonds with disbelieving women. A third verse, Quran 4:141, never will Allah give the disbelievers a way over the believers, is used by fatwas for the guardianship condition.Quran.com+3

Sahih Muslim 1456d, on the captives of Awtas who had husbands and the revelation of and married women, except those whom your right hands possess, is graded Sahih. The Musnad Ahmad version of the same report is graded weak in its chain by Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut.Sunnah.com+1

The report that al-Ma'idah was the last surah revealed is graded weak in chain by Ahmad Shakir and al-Albani, hasan by Bashar Awad Maarouf, and hasan in chain by Zubair Ali Zai. The report that the Prophet freed Safiyya bint Huyayy and made her emancipation her dowry is Sahih; the wording given speaks only of manumission and dowry, not of her religion at the time.Sunnah.com+1

The Hanafi school permits marriage to those who believe in a prophet and affirm a book, and states that the better is not to do it except out of necessity. The idolatress is excluded by Quran 2:221; the harbiyya is disliked, and Ibn Abidin notes that their absolute use of karaha for her indicates a prohibitive dislike.Shamela+2

The Maliki school permits marriage to the free kitabiyya with dislike according to Malik; Ibn al-Qasim permitted it without dislike, and that is the apparent meaning of the verse. The dislike is emphasized in the abode of war, for leaving his child there and her raising him on her religion, and Malik disliked women of the enemy land for placing his child in the land of shirk. Marriage to a kitabi slave woman is not permitted, since Quran 5:5 means the free woman and Quran 4:25 means believing slave women.Shamela+1

The Shafi'i school permits marriage to the free kitabiyya and dislikes it; al-Zarkashi adds it may be recommended if her Islam is hoped for. There is no difference between the harbiyya and the dhimmiyya in permissibility, both disliked for fear of fitna. Marriage to a kitabi slave woman is not permitted for a Muslim, even if she belongs to a Muslim, by Quran 4:25; Nawawi allows a free kitabi man to marry a kitabi slave woman.Shamela+4

The Hanbali school permits marriage to the free kitabiyya, even if she is a harbiyya, by Quran 5:5, and reports consensus on this; but the better is not to marry a kitabiyya. Marriage to a kitabi slave woman is forbidden, though ownership is permitted, because marriage entails the enslavement of his child and leaving him with a disbeliever. The People of the Book are defined as Jews, Samaritans, Christians and those who agree with them; Druze, Nusayriyya and Tayamina women are excluded, and a murtadda is not lawful.Shamela+3

The schools also differ over who counts as a person of the Book. The Hanafi reports allow marriage to anyone holding a revealed book, including the scrolls of Ibrahim and the Psalms of Dawud. Al-Shafi'i in Rawdat al-Talibin excludes those with no book or only a semblance of one, such as the Magians, and the Hanbali text is the narrowest, excluding those attached only to the scrolls of Ibrahim and Shith. Ibn Rushd adds a separate disagreement over the kitabi slave woman by marriage, alongside their agreement that she is lawful through ownership.Shamela+3

Ibn Rushd reports the majority's method: Quran 5:5 is a specific text and Quran 2:221 a general one, so the specific is carved out of the general, while those who forbade the marriage made the general abrogate the specific. A second reading holds that the word mushrikat in Quranic usage does not cover the People of the Book at all, since the Quran joins them as two categories. A third leans on chronology, since al-Ma'idah is reported as among the last surahs revealed.Shamela+4

Umar's command is read as policy rather than a declaration of unlawfulness, since his own answer to Hudhayfa was she is a live coal, not she is haram, and Ibn Qudama uses it only to establish that abstaining is better. The language of dislike is not uniform across the schools: Malik's dislike is paired with Ibn al-Qasim's permission without it, the Hanafis say the better is not to, the Shafi'is state it is disliked, and the Hanbalis say abstaining is better while affirming the consensus on permissibility.Shamela+5

The chastity condition is treated as a genuine restriction on the verse, so that a woman not chaste is not lawful until she repents. Contemporary conditional prohibition is presented as ijtihad over consequences, not as abrogation: many later jurists went to prohibition now because of the harms, and some restricted it where Muslims are a minority.IslamQA+4

The Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America permits marriage to a Jewish or Christian woman on condition she is chaste and that guardianship belongs to the Muslim husband, cites Quran 4:141, and lists harms including pressure to compromise his religion and the children's upbringing. The same assembly states categorically that the Quran prohibits a Muslim woman's marriage to a Christian man and that this is consensus, adding that even Muslim men are discouraged from marrying non-Muslim women. Its answer on the reconciliation notes that al-Ma'idah is among the last revealed and that its permission is either a specification of Quran 2:221 or rests on the word mushrikat not extending to the People of the Book.AMJA+2

Dr Salah al-Sawi, in a 2007 fatwa, permits it on condition it does not drive the man to falsehood in word or deed, and advises against proceeding if she insists on a church contract. The European Council for Fatwa and Research holds the marriage permissible after verifying she is genuinely Christian and chaste, describes it as disliked while permitted, prefers a Muslim wife, and says the correct position is the majority's given the clarity of the verse. Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah carries the fatwa of Muhammad Abduh, no. 2480, dated 30 October 1900, that a Muslim may marry a Christian in Germany or elsewhere and the contract is valid with two witnesses, even if they are dhimmis.AMJA+2

Yusuf al-Qaradawi's detailed fatwa restricts it with conditions: preferring a Muslim wife, and no danger to the man or his offspring, saying it is not permissible where that danger is real. Al-Albani holds that where the condition of chastity is not met, it is not permissible. IslamQA permits it for the man with chastity and guardianship, and states the scholars unanimously agreed on prohibiting it for the woman. IslamWeb notes the jurists differed on whether two Christian witnesses suffice, with the majority holding the marriage invalid and Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf reported otherwise.IslamOnline Fiqh+4