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Chapter
20:
Marriage (Hadith -- The
Traditions):
(Note:
The superscript-numbers [e.g., intention2]
that
appear in the text [in
pink]
refer to the numbers of the explanatory footnotes that
appear at the end of each Hadith
[Tradition].)
1
`Alqamah said,
While I was going along with `Abd Allah, he said, We were
with the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
and he said:
"He who is able to marry
should marry, for it keeps the eye cast down and keeps a
man chaste; and he who cannot, should take to fasting,
for it will have a castrating effect upon
him.1
(B. 30 : 10.)
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1
Marriage is here recognised as a means of moral
elevation and spiritual exaltation. Fasting has a
castrating effect inasmuch as the carnal passions
are thereby subdued. According to another hadith,
marriage is recognised as the Sunnah of the Holy
Prophet, and it is added; "He who abstains from my
Sunnah in not of me." (B. 67 : 1.)
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2
Ibn Mas`ud said,
We used to fight along with the Prophet, peace and blessings
of Allah be on him, and we had not (our) wives (with us); so
we said, May we not castrate, O Messenger of Allah? And he
forbade us doing so.2
(B. 67 : 6.)
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2
So in Islam there are no eunuchs for the kingdom of
heaven. On the other hand, marrying and keeping
oneself chaste is a means of attaining the kingdom
of heaven.
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3
Sa`d said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, repudiated `Uthman ibn Maz`un's remaining celibate, and
if he had permitted him, we would have been emasculated. (B.
67 : 8.)
4
`Ali reported,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, forbade temporary marriage with women, and the eating
of domestic asses, on the day of Khaibar.3
(B. 64 : 40.)
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3
The technical word for temporary marriage is
mut`ah. It is derived from mata`
meaning profiting for a long time.
Mut`ah is considered to be a legal form of
marriage by the Shi`ahs, but the vast majority of
the Muslim community rejects it on the basis of the
hadith quoted here. The Holy Qur'an uses the word
ihsan (lit. being inaccessible) for
marriage, and thus looks upon marriage as a
permanent relation which can be cut off only be
divorce. For all kinds of sexual relationship it
uses the word safah, which signifies
fornication. According to some hadith,
mut`ah was allowed by the Holy Prophet in a
war. Even if this be true, it may have been allowed
at an earlier stage, reform having been brought
about gradually, but there is not the least doubt
that it was finally disallowed.
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5
`A'ishah reported,
In the pre-Islamic times marriage was in four ways; one of
these being as the people's marriage today, a man asking
another man for marriage with his ward or his daughter, then
he settles on her a dowry, then marries
her.4
(B. 67 : 37.)
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4
Khitbah or asking a woman in marriage is a
preliminary stage. The dowry to be settled on the
woman must then be agreed upon. There is no
limitation to this amount; it may be a heap of gold
(v. 11), or it may be a ring of iron, or even
service rendered to the woman in teaching her (B.
67 : 51). In fact, the amount of the dowry depends
on the circumstances of the contracting
parties.
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6
Jabir said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
When one of you asks a woman
in marriage, then if he is able that he should look into
what invites him to have her in marriage, he should do
it." (AD. 12 : 18.)
7
Mughirah reported,
He made a proposal of marriage to a woman, and the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be on him, said:
"See her, for this is more
likely to bring about agreement between you." (Tr. 11 :
5.)
8
Abu Hurairah reported,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, said:
"The widow shall not be
married until she is consulted, and the virgin shall not
be married until her consent is obtained."
They said, O Messenger of Allah! How
shall her consent be obtained? He said, "(It is sufficient)
that she remains silent." 5
(B. 67 : 42.)
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5
Hh. 8 and 9 show that a woman must be given in
marriage by her guardian; but the guardian, whether
father or anyone else, must obtain the woman's
consent. As many hadith show, a woman is at liberty
to offer her hand to anyone, and Bukhari heads one
of his chapters as follows : A woman offering
herself for marriage to a virtuous man" (B. 67 :
33). In such a case, the state is considered to be
the guardian (B. 67 : 41).
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9
Khansa' reported,
Her father gave her away in marriage, and she was a thayyib,
and she did not like it. So she came to the Messenger of
Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, and he
annulled her marriage.6
(B. 67 : 43.)
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6
Thus the woman has the choice of repudiating a
marriage to which she is not a consenting party.
The word thayyib includes both, a woman
whose husband has died and a woman who has been
divorced.
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10
`A'ishah said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"Select (fit) women (in
respect of character) for your seed, and marry (your)
equals and give (your daughters) in marriage to
them."7
(IM. 9 : 45.)
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7
Marriage must be contracted so far as possible
between equals. This is technically known as
marriage in kuf' or kufu' (pl. akfa'). Bukhari
explains this by heading his chapter as "Al-Akfa
fi-l-din" (67 : 16), or Equals in religion;
making it clear that all Muslims are equal in one
sense. There are examples recorded in Hadith in
which a woman of the high family of Quraish was
married to a slave or a freed slave (B. 64 :
12).
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11
Abu Hurairah reported,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
said:
"A woman is married on
account of four things; on account of her wealth, and on
account of (the nobility of) her family, and her beauty,
and on account of her character,8
so attain success with the one possessing nobility of
character." (B. 67 : 16.)
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8
Religion, in contrast with the other three, builds
character, and hence the word din carries the
significance of character here.
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12
`Uqbah said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"The conditions which are
most worthy that you should fulfil are those with which
you legalize sexual relations."9
(B. 54 : 6.)
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9
Any conditions which the parties agree upon may be
laid down in the marriage contract, so long as they
are not against the law. For instance, it is stated
that a woman shall not impose a condition requiring
the divorce of her sister (B. 67 : 54).
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13
Ibn `Umar reported,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, forbade shighar; and shighar is this that
a man gives his daughter in marriage to another man on
condition that the latter shall give his daughter in
marriage to him, neither of them paying
dowry.10
(B. 67 : 29.)
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10
The dowry must be made over to the woman, and her
father or guardian has no right to it. Hence
shighar is forbidden.
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14
`A'ishah said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"Make the marriage publicly known, and
perform it in mosques, and beat at it with
duff."11
(Tr-Msh. 13 :
3.)
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11
Duff or daff is the
tambourine, and the object of beating with
daff at marriage is to make it publicly
known. It also furnishes a kind of
music.
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15
`Abd Allah said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, taught us the marriage sermon (which is
thus):12
"All praise is due to Allah;
we beseech Him for help, and we ask for His protection,
and we seek refuge in Him from the mischiefs of our
souls; whomsoever Allah guides, there is none who can
lead him astray and whomsoever Allah finds in error,
there in none to guide him; and I bear witness that there
is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and
His Messenger. `O you who believe! Be careful of your
duty to Allah, by Whom you demand one of another your
rights, and to the ties of relationship; surely Allah
watches over you.' `O you who believe! Be careful of your
duty to Allah with the care which is due to him, and do
not die unless you are Muslims.' `O you who believe! Be
careful of your duty to Allah and speak the right word;
He would put for you your deeds into the right state and
forgive you your faults; and whoever obeys Allah and His
Messenger, he indeed achieves a mighty success." (AD. 12
: 31.)
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12
The khutbah or sermon at marriage helps the
publicity of the marriage, and serves the double
purpose of sanctifying the marriage contract and
informing the parties of their responsibilities.
The three verses of the Holy Qur'an quoted in the
sermon are 4 : 1 (a part), 3 : 101, and 33 : 70,
71. V. 4 : 1 runs thus :
"O people! Be careful of your
duty to your Lord, Who created you from a single
being and created its mate of the same kind, and
spread from these two many men and women; and be
careful of your duty to Allah by Whom you demand
one of another your rights and to the ties of
relationship; surely Allah ever watches over
you."
The whole of this verse may
be recited instead of the part given in the hadith.
They all lay stress on carefulness to duty, and the
person who delivers the sermon must expatiate on
them to make the audience realize their import. The
khutbah is followed by ijab and
qubul, i.e., the acceptance of the parties
to the contract, and the amount of dowry is made
publicly known. This is followed by a prayer by the
whole gathering that the union may be
blessed.
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16
Anas said,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, saw a
women and children coming from a wedding, so the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be on him, stood up erect and
said :
"O Allah! You are the most
loved of all people to me" He said this three
times.13
(B. 63 : 5.)
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13
The nikah was followed by a ceremony of
conducting the bride to the bridegroom, called `urs
or `urus, at which people gathered together, and
thus it received additional publicity. The hadith
further shows the Holy Prophet's deep love for
women and children. As these women and children
were from among the Ansar, the hadith is narrated
by Bukhari in a chapter dealing with "the love of
the Ansar."
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17
`A'ishah said,
She conducted the bride to a man from among the Ansar. and
the Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said,
"O `A'ishah! Why had you no
music with you, for the Ansar love
music?14
(B. 67 : 64.)
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14
The word used in the hadith is lahw, which means a
thing in which a man delights himself and which
occupies him so as to divert him, and includes
every diversion, pastime, sport, or play. Here it
means music.
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18
Anas said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, had Zainab conducted to him on the occasion of his
marriage with her; so Umm Sulaim said to me, What! if we
send a present to the Messenger of Allah? , peace and
blessings of Allah be on him, I said to her, Do it. So she
took dates and butter and cheese, and made a preparation
mingling them in a cooking-pot, and sent me with it to him.
And I went with it to him, and he said, "Place it
(here15)."
(B. 67 : 65.)
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15
Giving of presents at marriage is therefore in
accordance with the Sunnah.
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19
Anas said,
Zainab bint Jahsh was conducted as a bride to the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be on him, and bread and meat
were served, and I was sent to invite people to the feast. A
party came and had the meal, then went out; then another
party came and had the meal and went out; I went on thus
inviting until I could not find any one whom I should
invite.16
(B. 65-33 :
8.)
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16
This feast is called walimah and it is given
by the bridegroom when the bride has been conducted
to him. It is said to be derived from
iltiyam which means gathering together of
two people.
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20
Ibn `Umar reported,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"When one of you is invited
to a marriage feast, he should go to it." (B. 67 :
72.)
21
Ibn `Abbas said, carrying it back to the Prophet, peace and
blessings of Allah be on him, (who) said:
"If one of you, when he goes
in to his wife, should say, `In the name of Allah ; O
Allah! Ward off from us the Devil and ward off the Devil
from that which Thou grantest us, then offspring is
decreed for them, it (the Devil) will not harm it." (B. 4
: 8.)
22
Jabir said,
We used to resort to `azl17
in the time of the
Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
and the Qur'an was then being revealed.
(B. 67 : 97.)
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17
`Azl was a birth-control device. It originally
means putting a thing aside or away, and with
reference to sexual relations, paulo ante
emissionem (penem suum) extraxit, et extra vulvam
semen emisit. It is allowed when conception is
likely to endanger the woman's life or impair her
health.
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23
Abu Sa`id said,
........We resorted to `azl, then we asked the Messenger of
Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, and he
said:
"What! Do you do it?" He said
this thrice.
"There is no soul that is to be
till the day of Resurrection but it will come into life."
(B. 67 : 97.)
24
Abu Rafi` said,
I saw the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah
be on him, calling out adhan for prayer in the ear of Hasan
ibn `Ali when Fatimah gave birth to him.18
(Tr-Msh. 19 :
3.)
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18
This is the first act with regard to a Muslim baby.
The words of the adhan are repeated opposite the
right ear, and the words of iqamah opposite the
left. The latter is based on a report in the
Sharh al-Sunnah showing that `Umar ibn `Abd
al-`Aziz followed this practice. The practice is
traced back to the Holy Prophet in the Musnad of
Abu Ya`la. The utterance of words relating to the
unity and greatness of Allah in the ears of a
new-born baby shows that the Holy Prophet was aware
of the existence of the sub-conscious
mind.
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25
Abu Musa said,
A son was born to me and I
brought him to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah
be on him, He named him Ibrahim, and he chewed a date and
rubbed thereby his palate, and prayed for blessings for
him and gave him back to me.19
(B. 71 : 1.)
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19
The Arabic word is hannaka-hu. The word
tahnik is derived from hanak which means the
interior of the upper part of the inside of the
mouth, or the palate. The new-born baby is made to
taste either a chewed date as in this case, or
honey, by some elderly member of the family. The
naming of the baby, the tahnik and a prayer
for him are thus the sunnah of the Holy
Prophet.
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26
Salman ibn `Amir said,
I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah
be on him, say:
"In the case of the boy is
`aqiqah, so pour blood for him and remove from him
the uncleanness."20
(B. 71 : 2.)
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20
The word `aqiqah is derived from `aqqa
meaning he clave, split or cut; and `aqqa an
waladi-hi signifies he slaughtered as a
sacrifice for his child a sheep or a goat (on the
seventh day after the birth). This is called
`aqiqah, but the word is also applied to the
hair of a young one recently born, that comes forth
on his head in his mother's belly, the hair being
shaved on the seventh day. It is in reference to
this that the Hadith speaks of removing of
uncleanness.
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27
Umm Kurz said,
I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah
be on him, say:
"In the case of a boy, two
goats, and in the case of a girl, one goat (should be
sacrificed).21
(Tr-Msh. 19 :
3.)
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21
This is the general practice, but as the next
hadith shows, one goat suffices in the case of the
boy as well. It is only for those who can
afford.
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28
Ibn `Abbas said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, sacrificed a ram each in the case of Hasan and Husain.
(AD-Msh. 19 : 3.)
Top
Hadith
Section
> A
Manual of Hadith
> Chapter 20: Marriage (Hadith -- The Traditions)
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