Pathway to Paradise — Page 47
PATH WAY TO PARADISE 47 THE PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE IN ISLAM As you will have gathered by now, Muslims cannot enter into marriage lightly, just on a whim. Allah has enjoined marriage for the believers for three basic reasons. They are: 1. To enable a man and a woman to live together and experience love and happiness, within Islamic law. 2. To produce children, and provide a stable and righteous environment for their upbringing. 3. To provide a legal union which safeguards society from moral and social degradation. T he first two reasons are self - explanatory; both take into account the natural urges of human beings. The third point looks beyond the individual, and establishes marriage as the most important tool for creating an ideal society. How does marriage accomplis h this? First, you must understand that one of the most important moral values in Islam is chastity, i. e. , the purity of both the individual and the whole society. Islam regards marriage as the means by which man’s natural urges and needs, both physical and emotio nal, are controlled and satisfied at the same time. Uncontrolled and uninhibited satisfaction of physical desire is simply not permitted in Islam. Adultery and fornication are grave sins. A Muslim man cannot go to any woman and merely satisfy his physical desires; he has to do so through a legal contract of marriage, which carries with it the additional responsibilities, duties and liabilities of family and children for the rest of his life.