Marriage and its purposes from Islamic perspective

Shafaqna English– The Asian Social Science has published the paper: “The Contract of Marriage and its Purposes from Islamic Perspective” written by Hayatullah Laluddin et al. in 2014.

According to Shafaqna, this paper attempts to describe the significance of marriage in Islam, its purposes and role, and creation of cordial relation among the members of the society. Marriage is the only process through which families are brought into existence; hence, it is of great importance for human society.

It is owing to the fact that family constitutes the fundamental unit of the structure of society and the Prophet (PBUH) insisted his followers who had the capability of marriage to enter marriage contract. However, it should be taken into account that there are certain procedures and rules that Shari’ah has prescribed for the process of entering into the contract of marriage which has to be observed.

Marriage in Islam and its purposes are mentioned below:

1. Marriage in Islam has several purposes such as spiritual composure, cooperation and collaboration in accomplishing the Divine Obligation. Islam as a primordial state of human nature involves all physical, spiritual and intellectual aspects of man and provides them in the most balanced way.
2. Marriage fulfills one’s material needs adequately and orderly. However, tranquility and peace that are achieved through successful union are regarded as its primary objective.
3. Besides tranquillity and peace, marriage results in a partnership between males and females by means of which they can achieve goodness and fulfil the Divine Mandate.
4. Islam prohibits same gender relationship such as marriage between men or marriage between women. It is contrary with the Europe countries that allow the same gender marriage.
5. Marriage naturally leads to reproduction that is essential for the continuity and existence of human generation. It is a blessing of Allah (SWT) that granted man a mate of his own kind to live with and be together saying.
6. Marriage complements one’s faith, in the sense that it helps one avoid looking at other women; hence, preserving his chastity. It provides him with a lawful means to fulfill his sexual desire. As a result, it prohibits him from committing adultery.
7. Marriage leads to worldly happiness that Islam encourages. Faith and happiness are critical elements of one’s personality. They can help one in his struggle of elevating his souls and acquiring high degrees of religiousness.
8. Marriage is the only mechanism for establishment of family life. No respectable human society could ever exist without family, the fundamental unit of the structure of society. Family is the avenue where close relation emerges such as parental and maternal relations, parent and child relation and also that of sibling’s relations. In addition to these relations, it also instills earnest sense of love and compassion, altruism, kindness, care and cooperation in a Muslim.
9. Marriage enhances and strengthens social bonds among the individual members of society, since it expands the range of family by adding new relatives to family structure through inclusion of in-laws and children’s aunts and uncles. Thus, through such extension more and more people can enjoy the feelings of love, belonging and social intimacy in the society.
10. Marriage nurtures human character by instilling a sense of responsibility in him and enabling him to take his responsibility as a husband and a father. Similarly, marriage instills the sense of responsibility in a woman as a wife and a mother.
11. A married person is more capable of focusing entirely on performing his job professionally, because he is motivated by the fact that there is someone who cares about him and takes care of the household and his children. Through having peace of mind, he can do his job accurately and productively. In contrast, a person who is not married does not have a focused mind because it is preoccupied with thinking about his work and home and the burden of securing his food and clothes.
12. Provision of a healthy environment for the maintenance of cordial relations and reciprocal love between the spouses can be regarded as the primary objective of contract of marriage. Moreover, it has some other purposes manifested in the provision of company to each other, loving one another, procreation of children and living in peace and tranquility.

• Read more: 10 facts about marriage in Islam

Source: pdfs.semanticscholar

www.shafaqna.com