The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 518
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 518 The teaching of ‘guardianship,’ which is more or less found in most religions, but has been established by Islām in the form of a specified and detailed law, is an immensely beneficial and blessed system. Through this system, countless frauds associated with the marriage of girls are eradicated completely; and evil and cunning men do not receive the opportunity to show naive girls a lush green garden of opportunity and then lure them into a snare of deception. In western countries where women have excessive freedom in the matter of marriage, examples of this nature occur quite often where manipulative men convince innocent girls to marry them without the agreement and knowledge of their guardians by luring them with flattering speech and physical affection. However, when such girls fall into their trap, the cloak of deceit begins to come off. Even carnal desires begin to fall cold and shortly thereafter the homes of such girls - which they stepped into considering it to be a paradise - begins to turn into hell. In the beginning, it starts with a lack of consideration, then disagreement, then altercation, and then, separation. Finally the matter ends with divorce. Furthermore, another quality of the aforementioned system of guardianship is that in this manner, marriages are not only based on emotions, rather, other aspects which are extremely important in marriage are also taken into consideration. For example, the moral and religious aspect, family status, financial status, cultural aspect, suitability of dispositions, age and health, etc. It is obvious that if youngsters are left alone without any kind of advice or support from their guardians, so that they may engage in marriage however they please, since emotions tend to overpower the thoughts of youngsters, and putting exceptions to one side, since these emotions are usually lustful in nature, it is very likely for other aspects to be disregarded. Practically, all standards become subject to temporary sentiments, which usually result in dangerous consequences. However, through the system of guardianship, this risk falls drastically, because along with the emotions of the girl, the guardian’s lamp of understanding and experience also plays its role. Hence, the system of guardianship is a very blessed