The Chapter on Marriage: The Importance and Benefits of Marriage
The source text under review is shaped around two main axes: the spiritual nature of the Miʿrāj miracle and the social and individual necessity of marriage (*nikāḥ*).
The source text under review is shaped around two main axes: the spiritual nature of the Miʿrāj miracle and the social and individual necessity of marriage (nikāḥ). While the Miʿrāj symbolizes the human being’s shedding of bodily limits and living a spiritual ascent (ʿurūj), the ritual prayer is characterized as a daily rehearsal of that ascent. In the chapter on marriage, it is stressed that marriage is “half of faith”; today’s economic anxieties, consumer culture, and the order of “modern slavery” are argued to be the greatest obstacles before marriage. The document presents as basic conclusions the need to simplify marriage, return to sound human nature (fiṭra), and establish social justice.
A. The Nature of the Miʿrāj and of Prayer
The Miʿrāj is not only a historical miracle; it is also a symbol of the human effort to leave the material world and reach spiritual depth.
- Spiritual Ascent: The Miʿrāj means liberation from the limits of body and matter. The human being is not body alone; the awakening and exaltation of the soul are essential.
- Prayer Is a Fragment of the Miʿrāj: The five daily prayers are, in their ideal form, a “minimal Miʿrāj” experience. When a person turns to the qibla, he must shed the world and what is in it.
- Presence and Self-Watchfulness (murāqaba): The worth of prayer is measured by how much God is remembered in it and how much the heart trembles. Merely performing the procedures is not enough; the soul must feel itself in the divine presence.
B. The Truth of Worldly Life and the Awareness of “Trust”
Worldly life is defined not as a field of ownership, but as a temporary examination ground.
- Being a Trustee: Life and the things one possesses are trusts. For a person to “appropriate” (tamalluk) this world is a delusion.
- The Examination-Hall Metaphor: The world is an examination hall; when the exam ends, a person leaves even the paper onto which he poured his mental energy on the desk and goes out.
- The Balance of Comfort and Hardship: Excessive comfort in this world may be a danger signal. According to Islamic belief, one who suffers hardship in this world will find peace in the Hereafter, while one who lives the world like an “amusement park” will face a long reckoning.
Key concepts
- Awakening of the Soul
- The human being is not a limited being consisting of body alone. The Miʿrāj is the soul’s ascent (*ʿurūj*) and the discovery of the human being’s true nature.
- Relation to Prayer
- Prayer is a “minimal” fragment of the Miʿrāj. It is an opportunity five times a day to leave the material world and turn to God. To the degree God is remembered in prayer, that worship is a real prayer; merely performing the procedures is characterized as a soulless “procedure.”
- Awareness of Trust
- Life is a trust given to us; it must neither be betrayed nor entirely appropriated (*tamalluk*).
- Bodily Pleasures and Crises
- What pulls a person down are bodily pleasures. The basic cause of modern depression is that a noble being—the human—is imprisoned inside the body. Acts of worship (especially fasting) free a person by spiritualizing him.
- Definition of Slavery
- A person who is not legally barred from owning property, yet can with his earnings only feed and shelter himself and cannot accumulate capital, is defined as a “modern slave.”
- Social Responsibility
- It is stressed that religious scholars and institutions must concern themselves not only with “distributing aid packages” and advertising, but with establishing justice and building systems that make it easier for young people to marry.
- Ascent (*ʿurūj*)
- Rising, going upward; the soul’s passing through spiritual ranks.
- Reverence (*khushūʿ*)
- During prayer and worship, the trembling of the heart and deep respect that come from feeling oneself in God’s presence.
- Self-Watchfulness (*murāqaba*)
- Living with the awareness that God sees one at every moment; inner supervision.
- Appropriation (*tamalluk*)
- Taking something into ownership, appropriating it entirely (the text stresses that life is a trust and must not be appropriated).
- Appetite of the Belly (*shahwat al-baṭn*)
- Excessive attachment to the stomach; the desire to eat and drink.
- Sexual Appetite (*shahwat al-farj*)
- Sexual desire and lust.
- Immoral Corruption (*fisq wa fujūr*)
- Sinfulness, deviation from the right, moral corruption.
- God’s Custom (*sunnat Allāh*)
- The unchanging laws God has set for the universe and social life.
- Righteous Deed (*ṣāliḥ ʿamal*)
- A good, beautiful deed valuable in God’s sight; a righteous child is also evaluated within this scope.
- Asceticism (*zuhd*)
- Keeping a distance from the world and material values, not binding the heart to them; a simple life.
- Bridal Gift (*mihr*)
- According to Islamic law, the economic value the man gives or undertakes to give the woman at marriage.
Study questions
In which year did the Miʿrāj miracle take place?
It took place in the Year of Sorrow, on the twenty-seventh night of Rajab.
According to al-Ghazālī, what are the two basic trials that lead a person astray?
Appetite of the belly (shahwat al-baṭn / desire to eat) and sexual appetite (shahwat al-farj).
What is the measure of an ideal prayer?
That it has a counterpart in mind and soul, that the “divine nature” is felt, and that the degree of remembering God is high.
According to the text, what does “being unable to acquire property” mean in the modern world?
That a person can meet only his basic needs with his earnings, that even buying a house to put his head in becomes impossible, and that he cannot acquire capital within the system.
According to ʿUmar, what does a man’s not marrying without a reasonable excuse indicate?
It indicates that he is in some “immorality” (fujūr), because preserving human nature is difficult in bachelorhood.
What are the first two of the five basic benefits of marriage mentioned?
1. Children (continuation of the human species and righteous deed), 2. Protection from lust (drawing libido onto a lawful ground).
What does it mean that marriage is “half of faith”?
It means that by bringing under control one of the two great trials (appetites) that drag a person toward Hell, fifty percent of faith is secured.