He wants to become Muslim in order to marry a Muslim woman

 

I was told that if a person was to become a Muslim, to get married to a muslim girl for example, even if not truly out of faith, then it is still accepted by God. Since this way one more person is becoming a Muslim, and especially that his children would be Muslims instead of Christians for example. So what do u say about that?

Praise be to Allaah.
 

 

The basis of faith is in the hearts, and so the intention
plays a major role in Islamic sharee’ah. This is indicated in the hadeeth
which the scholars regard as half of the religion of Islam, and with which
many scholars begin their books, such as al-Bukhaari (may Allaah have mercy
on him) in his Saheeh. He narrated that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said: “I
heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) say: “Actions are but by intention and each person will have but that
which he intended. So whoever migrated for some worldly purpose or for the
sake of a woman whom he could marry, his migration was for the purpose that
he intended.” (al-Bukhaari, 1). According to the version narrated by Muslim,
“So whoever migrated for the sake of Allaah and His Messenger, his migration
was for the sake of Allaah and His Messenger, and whoever migrated for some
worldly purpose or for the sake of a woman whom he could marry, his
migration was for the purpose that he intended.” (Muslim, 2530). Based on
the above, this matter may be examined from two angles: 

The first has to do with the acceptance of this person’s
Islam by Allaah. The hadeeth indicates that it will not be accepted if this
(marrying a woman) is the only intention that he has and faith has not
entered his heart. 

The second has to do with applying the rulings of Islam to
him. If this person utters the Shahaadatayn and follows the teachings of
Islam, and does not do anything that would nullify his Islam, then he should
be treated like any other Muslim, and his marriage to this Muslim woman may
be accepted. That is because we are commanded by sharee’ah to deal with
people according to how they appear to be; we are not commanded to enquire
into what is in their hearts. It says in the hadeeth of Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri
that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: I was not commanded to enquire into what is in people’s hearts or
to find out their secrets.” (al-Bukhaari, 4004; Muslim, 1763). 

Perhaps if this person enters Islam, even if it is with this
intention, he will look at the perfection of Islam and be encouraged to form
a sincere intention, so he will become sincere towards Allaah and become a
good Muslim, and Allaah will accept his Islam. Those who are in touch with
this person can advise him to make sure that his intention is primarily to
seek the pleasure of Allaah and to enter into Islam truly, and his marriage
will then be a consequence or a means of his entering into the blessing of
Islam, and not an aim in and of itself. This girl could make marriage to her
a means of encouraging him to become Muslim, as happened in the case of Umm
Sulaym (may Allaah be pleased with her) and her marriage to Abu Talhah (may
Allaah be pleased with him). It was narrated that Anas said:  “Abu Talhah
married Umm Sulaym, and the dowry between them was Islam. Umm Sulaym had
become Muslim before Abu Talhah. He proposed marriage to her and she said,
‘I have become Muslim; if you become Muslim I will marry you.’ So he became
Muslim and that was the dowry between them.” (al-Nasaa’i, 3288; classed as
saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Sunan al-Nasaa’i, 3133).

 With regard to the reason for accepting him – as mentioned
in the question – being to increase the number of Muslims, this is not
correct, because increasing the number of Muslims, even though this is
something good and desirable, is not a reason for accepting anyone who
claims to be a Muslim but does not really believe in Islam, because Islam is
concerned with quality as well as quantity, it is not concerned only with
quantity. One person who sincerely believes in the religion is better than a
thousand who are lying about it.