Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wassallam) said: “Nikah is half of Imaan.”
Numerous Ahadith narrations testify to the sanctity of the Nikah (marriage) bond. The above is one such hadith from which the sanctity and importance of Nikah are abundantly clear. As a result of the holy culture of Islam, Nikah has always been regarded and treated with due respect and reverence by Muslims. Unlike liberal and materialistic cultures, Islam emphasises the strong relationship between Nikah and Taqwa (piety and divine fear – the fear which engenders obedience of the commands of Allah Ta’ala.) In fact, Islam teaches that Nikah is the factor which vastly improves the degree and quality of taqwa.
The Nikah bond envisages the establishment of a home of piety – a home in which moral excellence, spiritual loftiness and humanity will achieve a high degree of perfection. While this was the blessed condition of the Ummah in its early days, it has to be observed that the gradual adoption by Muslims of the ways of alien cultures has seriously eroded the transcendental quality and value of the Nikah bond.
Divorce which was an extremely rare occurrence in Muslim society, has now become an incremental practice. The greater degree of Muslim abandonment of Muslim culture – the Sunnah of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wassallam) – the higher the incidence of divorce in the Muslim community. Divorce, separation, futile disputes, unnecessary arguments, lack of parental control, delinquency, failure to fulfil marital rights and obligations, infidelity, misery and heartache have gripped numerous Muslim families in these days of modernity, liberalism and abandonment of the Sunnah.
For these evil consequences of the libertine Muslim culture to find their way into Muslim homes, there is no need for surprise. Such baneful effects are the natural consequences of the elimination of the sanctity which once reigned supreme in the Muslim home. It was not possible for Pious Women 5 Muslims to retain their healthy and holy family – structure with their assimilation by the liberal western culture which in practice shows scant regard for the bond of marriage as a union of piety and holiness.
The evils which have smitten western society and annihilated its soul are now at work in the Ummah and to a large extent have made calamitous inroads in society. It is imperative for Muslims to understand the valuable and vital role which Nikah plays in the development and progress of Muslim society. The efficacy of the Nikah in regard to the achievement of happiness, love and piety is dependent on giving practical expression to the advices, and admonitions of the Sunnah. The marriage will be successful and happy only if it is conducted along the lines chalked out by Islam. Muslims should therefore introduce the ways of Islam into their homes so that the Nikah bond can exercise its impact and effects to bring into greater realization the perfection of Imaan as stated in the Hadith: “Nikah is half of Imaan.”
Al Mara’tus Saliha