Healthy Relationship_The Islamic way...by Rubab Anwar

Love
نحمدہ و نصلی و نسلم علی رسولہ الکریم

 اما بعد

 فاعوذ باللہ من الشیطان الرجیم

 بسم اللہ الرحمٰن الرحیم

قال اللہ تبارک و تعالی فی القرآن المجید و الفرقان الحمید
صدق اللہ العظیم و صدق رسولہ النبی الکریم

ان اللہ و ملائکتہ یصلّون علی النّبی یا ایھا الذین اٰمنوا صلّوا علیہ وسلّموا تسلیما
Please read this out loud:

 

 الصلوۃ والسلام علیک یا رسول اللہ 

الصلوۃ والسلام علیک یا حبیب اللہ 

الصلوۃ والسلام علیک یا نور اللہ

الصلوۃ والسلام علیک یا رحمت للعالمین
Assalamualaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,


May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’la make me write only the truth and the right, and May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’la make us all read, understand, implement, and spread the right and the truth. (Ameen)

If you ask any Alim or Mufti what problem/question are you most approached for? From experience I can tell you that the most concerns people acquire about are marital problems. One of the biggest problems in today’s society surrounds marriage. Not only is this disease affecting newlyweds, but the symptoms can be seen in the marriages of those who have been wed for decades. Why is this a problem? Like all problems because we are distanced from Islam, the happiness distances itself from us, giving way to problems. Today let’s discuss the 3 key ingredients to a successful marriage. I don’t think there’s any simple recipe that only requires 3 ingredients, how will we summarize the complex issue of a successful marriage? Through the Book of Allah, the sayings of the Prophet Sallal lahu alaihi wasallam, and the examples of the pious.

Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’la states in Surah Nahl verse 72:

“And Allah has created for you spouses of your own breed”

Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’la made spouses as a favor to humankind. Then why today do we view husbands or wives as more of a burden than a favor?  Because we’ve stopped asking Allah a prayer that He Himself told us to ask him.


Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’la says in Surah Furqan verse 74:

 And those who believe say, “Our Lord, cool our eyes with our spouses and our
children, and make us leaders of the pious.”


This is the Dua we should be making, Oh Allah make our spouses and our children the coolness of our eyes. Why is it that now rather than they be the coolness of our eyes, they are the reason for the tears, hurt, and pain in our eyes?There is no one else to blame but solely ourselves. We have stopped being the coolness of their eyes.


Ask yourself 3 questions. If you are a married woman ask yourself, when was the last time that you cooked specially for your husband, not for your kids, but particularly for your husband’s liking. Ask yourself, When was the last time, besides an event like an anniversary or a birthday, did you buy a gift for your husband? Now if you didn’t have the time or money to do even one of the two things mentioned above, the last one should be easy. When was the last time you looked at your husband and smiled? If your answer to the last question was one week after the wedding, you know where your marriage stands.


As for the married man, when was the last time you bought flowers for your wife other than her birthday? Or when was the last time you cooked or even helped her cook dinner? And finally if you were “busy” or“saving” money, when was the last time you complimented your wife?


These things might sound simple to some, and to some they might sound time and money consuming, but in reality these small things show the sincerity and support for each other.


3 Ingredients to a successful marriage

1.      Trust

Trust is the key ingredient to a successful marriage. I’m not talking about the trust of when a wife questions her husband when he was out late; I’m concerned about a broader form of trust.

In the verse that was used in the Khutbah above, Allah says,

“they are coverings for you and you are coverings for them;”

What does the word cover represent in this verse, it represents trust. They are trustworthy for you and you are trustworthy for them. Referring to Mishkawt Baabul Waswasa (Chapter on ill thoughts from Shaitan) to make a
marriage unsuccessful is the number one priority of Shaitan. As mentioned in the Quran in Surah Baqarah, magic is used to create distances between a man and his wife. How do we protect this connection and relationship? We protect it with trust. Shaitan will put unwanted doubts and thoughts in to your mind to uncover your spouse’s mistakes in front of others. To break your spouse’s trust and reveal his/her secrets to a third person, even if that third person is your mother, or your father, or your brother, or your sister, or even your dearest friend can break a marriage. Remember that they are a covering for you and you are a covering for them.


It’s not just about the rights of a wife or the rights of a husband. If a wife is crying at 2:30 a.m. because of an argument and the husband goes to the lawyer and says, “Tell me what are my rights and what are my wife’s rights and can you make a written document for me.”  If the husband shows that piece of paper to his wife, what good will that do? Will it stop her from crying in the middle of the night? It’s not just about rights; it’s more about understanding one another. This leads us to the second ingredient to a successful marriage.


2.      Communication

Communication is the main ingredient to a successful marriage. Men usually say that women are complicated, and it’s impossible to understand them.


There was a joke that I heard in the past couple of days about a husband who says to his wife that women are complicated to understand, next week his wife brings him a book named “Understanding women for Dummies.”


Recently there is an increase in divorce rates, and this is because of the fact that spouses fail to understand one another. The Honey moon phase would last at least 4 to 5 years, now couples are getting divorced in 4 to 5 months. Today in the newspapers you will see ads and listings for unmarried men and women looking for a spouse, mentioning that they have been divorced before. Doctors, Designers, Engineers educated people looking for a spouse, but they’ve been divorced with no children. Why is that we see so many cases like these? It’s because marriage is different than any other relationship on this planet. A marriage can be the strongest bond or the weakest link.


A husband and wife neglect to communicate positively. When a husband comes home from work, the wife begins like a recording about the pity injustices that she faced throughout the day. The husband merely nods, finishes his food and goes to watch TV or read the news. Or on more exciting days when a husband finally decides to reply, he says something which offends his wife, making her sob in the endless story of how she sacrificed everything and now she has to see this day. As a girl, I can say us women tend to talk more than men. If I was a man and writing this, women would be hunting me down or writing comments on not knowing what a woman has to face. Women talk in a way that only women understand, there’s a whole cryptic message underlying the real words of a woman. I’m not saying this about all, but most woman when they say no, it usually means yes, when they say, “Nothing’s wrong, everything’s fine” it means, “Everything’s wrong, and nothing’s fine.” To understand the coding of a website is easier than understanding the code of a woman’s words. Women understand the language of hidden meanings, assumptions, and endlessly pondering over a word, while men understand the language of being straightforward and to the point.


Women have a quality in them that no other species on this planet does. To remember everything. A woman will remember everything from the first argument in a marriage to the color of clothes her husband was wearing, what he was saying, and who else was there. Every single little detail, of every single little argument that your marriage has ever had, a woman will remember.

And that is why Allah says in the Quran, Surah Taghabun verse 14:

“O People who Believe! Some of your spouses and children are your enemies, therefore be cautious of them; and if you pardon and overlook and forgive, then indeed Allah is all Forgiving, Most Merciful.”


How can a person move forward when they remember every single detail of the past, ready to recall in a seconds notice. That is why spouses have difficulty communicating, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’la gave us a solution, He says, a spouse can be your enemy or the coolness of your eyes on your actions, which one do you choose; the only thing to do is to forgive and overlook, and indeed Allah will forgive you too. That is the key to communication forgive and overlook, what good will come out of repeating every past argument? Try to forgive, forget, and overlook each other’s mistakes, and this will make a marriage successful.


In Qasasul Auliya there’s a waqiah (factual story) about Hazrat Imam Muhammad (Teacher of Imam Shafiee)(Rahmutullahi alaih), and he was one of the biggest scholar of his time. He wrote 932 books, a Jewish scribe said about him, that if Imam Muhammad had announced he was a Prophet everyone at the time would have believed him. When Imam Muhammad was in his mother’s womb his father left him and his mother to go on a business trip for a few days. Imam Muhammad’s father returned after 40 years of leaving. It was a Friday when he returned, and as all pious people, he first went to the mosque before heading home. When he entered the mosque he saw that a young man in his early forty’s was giving the Friday Khutbah, after Jumma he saw the same young man and a crowd had gathered around him to hear him advise different people. Imam Muhammad’s father also stood there for a while to hear this young man, and then headed home. When he reached his house he knocked on the door, which his wife opened. She welcomed her husband and started to prepare food for him. If this was a wife of the 21st century, she would have slammed the door shut in his face, refused to recognize him, or threaten to sue him. But this was not a woman of the 21stcentury, this was not a woman that had fallen in the traps of the materialistic world, this was a woman of piety. She not only welcomed him, but started to prepare food without questioning anything, instead he questioned her. Since he had left before the baby was born, he asked if they had a son or a daughter. She told him that they had a son and surprisingly asked, “Didn’t you go to the mosque before you came here?” He said, “Was he there praying Jumma?” Imam Muhammad’s mother smiled and replied, “He was the one leading Jumma.”


No praise is enough for the mother of Imam Muhammad, no praise is enough for the upbringing she gave Imam Muhammad as a single mother. She could have put her son in a field where they could become more financially stable, but her priorities were different. May Allah make every woman’s priority Islam. May Allah give every woman the ability to raise her children how Imam Muhammad’s mother raised him. What a wonderful wife she was, rather than complaining or giving up she stood strong and put her faith in Allah.

Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’la says in Surah Ale Imran

“and when you decide rely upon Allah; indeed Allah loves those who trust (Him).”

If you trust and rely on Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’la for the solutions of your problems, surely your problems will vanish. Today, we rely only on ourselves; we forget where we came from and where we have to return. If people started trusting Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’la not only will their marital problems fade, but also their day to day life problems.

There’s another waqiah in Tafseer e Naeemi mentioning Ghaseelul Malaikah, or Hazrat Hanzala Radi Allahu Anhu. On his wedding night The Prophet Sallal lahu alaihi wasallam announced that there would be a battle with the Kuffar. Hazrat Hanzala asked his wife if he could join the battle and Hazrat Hanzala’s wife replied, “You going in the battle would be an honor for me. If you leave and come back, I will be the wife of a warrior. If you leave and are killed in battle, I will be the wife of a Shaheed (martyr).”


The support that Hazrat Hanzala’s wife showed is the support that is lacking between spouses today.

There’s also another waqiah in Tafseer e Naeemi regarding Hazrat Umar Farooq Radi Allahu Anhu. There was a man that had an argument with his wife and came for advice to Hazrat Umar Farooq Radi Allahu Anhu, when he reached Hazrat Umar Farooq’s home he heard Hazrat Umar Farooq’s wife complaining to Hazrat Umar Farooq and Hazrat Umar Farooq silently listening. The man after hearing this left, Hazrat Umar Farooq noticed the man leaving and went after the man and questioned if he had a problem. The man replied, “I did come for advice regarding my wife, but then hearing that even your wife has complains I left.” Hazrat Umar Farooq Radi Allahu Anhu replied smiling, “Even if she’s complaining, she is the shield between me and hell fire, and that is why I patiently and silently listen to her.”

The wisdom of Hazrat Umar Radi Allahu Anhu, may Allah give a part of Hazrat Umar’s wisdom to every man. Hazrat Umar respected his wife at all times because he knew that his wife was his shield from sins.

The third and final vital ingredient that a successful marriage requires is Love.

3.      Love

Most commonly known the human body has 230 joints, which include elbows, wrists, ankles and knees. A person that’s old usually suffers from aches and pains in these joints. The cause of this pain is due to a fluid (Synovial Fluid) reducing in between bones that help the bones move with ease. When a person gets older this fluid reduces and that is when he/she experiences pains. This fluid is placed in joints between 2 bones. A marriage is similar to the joints in the body, the bones are similar to humans, and the fluid is like love. When 2 humans join together in a marriage in the beginning they have abundance of love, but as the relationship progresses this love reduces, and when the humans clash together, they cause the aches and pains in the relationship.


Love, as cliché as it might sound, is the glue of the relationship. It creates flexibility in the relationship. Of course there’s no once upon a time, or a happily ever after, this is not a Cinderella story, or a movie where everyone joins in a choreographed dance and everything ends well. No marriage is perfect, everyone has arguments and misunderstandings, but in the end those who are supportive, patient, appreciative, and loving are the ones who truly have made their marriage successful.

How do you acquire this love? You ask Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’la.


Allah Subhanhu wa Ta’la mentions in Surah Baqarah verse 165

“And some people create for themselves Gods (objects of worship) other than Allah, with devotion (love) equal to the devotion (love) of Allah; and the believers do not love anybody with love equal to the love of Allah”

Tafseer e Naeemi Volume 2, Maulana Mufti Ahmed Yaar Khan Neemi writes, “When a person reads this verse (with Durood Shareef 3 times in the beginning and the end) 7 times and blows on sugar and feeds the sugar in any form to his family, love will grow amongst them by Allah’s will.”


There is a lot more to discuss on the topic of marriage, for example the way we begin the marriage with more rituals than Sunnah is a problem right there and the way society and media plays a role in spoon feeding the youth ideas about in laws and wedding traditions. But these are whole other topics which require at least another 3000 characters or more.

May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’la give wisdom, love, and compassion to all the married Muslim couples.
May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’la make our families flourish and prosper.


Please remember Noor Academy, me, and my family in your prayers. ...Rubab Anwar _Noor Academy


وما علینا الاالبلٰغ المبین

No comments