The Mahdi Times May 2012 | Page 53

T H In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful, Assalamau Alaikum waRahmatullahi waBarakatu dear brothers and sisters, As we grow older and seek closeness to Allah (swt), we realize by His Mercy and studies of the Qur'an and the Ahlul Bayt (a.s) the importance of marriage between the believers.  The Hadith and Quranic verses are too many to mention in this article, so this will be a brief overview of the importance of marriage, some important qualities to look for in a believing woman, the marriage contract between the male and female, and the eight makroo times of solitude for the newly married man and woman. The evidence regarding the importance of marriage is in the Qur'an: "And marry those among you who are single and those who are fit among your male slaves and female slaves. If they are needy, Allah will make them needless out of His Grace ..." (Noor : 32) Also in the Holy Qur'an:  "O you people, verily We have created you from male and female and made you nations and tribes so you may know one another, verily the most pious of you....." The Imam (a.s) says: "so you may know one another...." in this verse it means to marry, and of course the traditions in regard to the idea of marriage being a mustahab act are very many, and the Imam (a.s) chooses the traditions to share, and that is from His words (swt), "marry and have children" and that is from the previous Imams (a.s), meaning the sunnah of the previous Imams (as), and from their traditions. Reproduction is based on marriage and it is in order that we may make E S T R A I G H T P the earth heavy with Muslim children that will remember Allah (swt), the Qur'an says:  "Allah the Almighty says: "And Allah has made spouses for you from among yourself and from your spouses He creates offsprings and beloveds for you." And for the words of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) who said: "The most evil of your dead are your singles." And the singles is a plural for the word single and it is in regard to the single man or single female.  And the Imam (a.s) quotes a hadith from one of the Imams (a.s), "A individual has not benefited anything after Islam better than a Muslim wife who makes him happy when he looks at her, and she obeys him, and she safeguards him and his money when he is absent from her." So here we see that the Ahlul Bayt (a.s) have laid out a guideline for the believing women, and that is that they make their husband happy when he looks at her, that they remain obedient to their husbands (so long as they are not commanding haram or any act in disobedience to Allah (swt), and lastly that she safeguards him, and his money when he is absent from her.  Which obviously refers to safe-guarding his secrets, her chastity, and his belongings. In summary, and this is very important for the believing woman to understand, clearly the man is the paradise of the woman and also her hell-fire. This clearly means that the woman must understand that the husband is her key to paradise, if she does not do what is incumbent upon her to do, and if she disobeys what Allah (swt) has appointed in regards to her husband, he is her door and gateway to entering the hell fire. And at the same time the believing man must understand compassion and A T H patience, and forgiving his wife, as many traditions mention the extreme severity for the woman if the husband does not show forgiveness towards her. And it is mustahab for whoever wants to marry and make a contract, that he may choose from the women whoever gathers in her these four characteristics, and there are many traditions that FƲ&