Marriage is a social institution as old as the human race itself.It may be defined as a relation between a man and a woman which is recognised by custom or law and involves certain rights and duties, both in the case of the parties entering the Union, and in case of the children born of it.Marriage has thus two main functions to perform: it is the means adopted by human society for regulating relations between the sexes; and it furnishes the mechanism by means of which the relations of a child to the community is determined.
The rites and ceremonies of marriage have been different with different peoples and in different ages.but these two functions mentioned above are common even where in marriage.
It always implies the right of sexual intercourse as allowed and recognised by society and the duties of the parents in bringing up children. Islam recognises this institution and accepts it as the basis of human society after purging it of all those evils which had penetrated it.
Firstly, Islam does not regard it as a union only for the gratification of sexual lost, but a social contract with wide and varied responsibilities and duties.
The reason behind it is that, according to the Divine Faith, a woman is not a plaything in the hand of man. but a spiritual and moral being who is entrusted to him on the sacred pledge to which Allah is made a witness.
The wife is, therefore, not meant. to provide sensuous pleasure only to the male, but to fully co-operate with him in making the life of the family and ultimately of the whole humanity significantly meaningful.
The Holy Qur’an has in so many verses pointed out the different purposes of marriage.It states: “And of His signs is that He has created wives for you from yourselves that you might find quiet of wind in them, and He put between you love and affection” (xxx. 21).
In this verse it has been said that the female is not inferior to the male in the sense that the former is created out of a superior stuff while the latter comes of a base origin.Both man and woman are the progeny of Adam and thus both have the same soul.
The purpose of marriage, according to the Holy Qur’an, is therefore, the union of the two souls which are one in essence.Their separate existence is an unnatural state of their being which changes Into the natural state when they are united by marriage and thus are brought close to each other physically, mentally and emotionally.
