All Islamic sects (Sunnah & Shia) decree that marriage is not compulsory/Wajib, so if marriage is not compulsory then how it can be half of Islam/
Deen/religion?! Certainly that can't be true. Yes, there are some
Hadiths for the Prophet regarding that like he said:
” Any man whom Allah provides with a virtuous wife has been helped to half his Deen, so he should fear Allah regarding the other half.”
عن أنس رضي الله عنه أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم قال: من رزقه الله امرأة صالحة فقد أعانه على شطر دينه فليتق الله في الشطر الباقي. رواه الطبراني في الأوسط والحاكم ومن طريقه للبيهقي وقال الحاكم صحيح الإسناد، وفي رواية البيهقي قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله و سلم: إذا تزوج العبد فقد استكمل نصف الدين فليتق الله في النصف الباقي. حسنه الألباني في صحيح الترغيب والترهيب
.
If those
Hadiths are true, then what did the Prophet mean by Deen in this context? Is it really religion/Islam? or something else? The word "Deen" as a term means "Religion" but linguistically it has different meanings. One of the Arabic meanings for the word
Deen "دين" is "a lifestyle", but nowadays it commonly refers to "religion/doctrine" or "religious lifestyle":
لسان العرب:
الدَّيْدانُ والدَّيْدَنُ والدِّين: العادة، تقول: ما زال ذلك دَيدَنَه ودَيدَانه ودِينَه ودأْبَه وعادَتَه وسَدَمه وهِجِّيرَه وهِجِّيراه واهْجِيراه ودُرابَتَه
الصّحّاح في اللغة:
والدينُ بالكسر: العادةُ والشأن
مقاييس اللغة:
فإنّ الأصمعيّ قال: المَرَانة اسمُ ناقَتِه، وكانت تَعرِفُ ذلك الطريقَ، فلذلك قال: لا أكلِّفُها إلاّ المَرانة. حَتَّى تعرف الدِّين: أي الحالَ والأمر الذي تَعهده. فأراد لا أكلف بلوغَ هذه الدار إِلاّ ناقتي
القاموس المحيط:
والدِّيْنُ، بالكسر: الجَزاءُ، وقد دِنْتُه، بالكسر، دَيْناً، ويُكْسَرُ، والإِسْلامُ، وقد دِنْتُ به، بالكسر، والعادةُ، والعِبادةُ، والمُوَاظِبُ من الأَمْطَارِ، أو اللَّيِّنُ منها، والطاعة>
According to Islam this life is a test which is to live it according to religion (The Message of Islam/Islamic doctrine). Thus, the
Hadith may was referring to the marriage as half of person's life because a married person spends almost half of his time with his wife (~8 hours = sleeping, ~4 hours = hanging out), thus if that time will be spent wisely (hence "virtuous wife" not "any wife") according to religion then he basically fulfilled half of his test. I think the
Hadith can be applied to both men and women like in many
Quranic verses even though it was talking about the husband. In other words, I think the Hadiths indicate that marriage is half one's life (or time) and if it's virtuous and righteous then it means the person managed to live half of his/her time righteously as Allah loves to.
All Islamic sects (Sunnah & Shia) decree that marriage is not compulsory/Wajib, so if marriage is not compulsory then how it can be half of Islam/Deen/religion?! Certainly that can't be true. Yes, there are some Hadiths for the Prophet regarding that like he said: 
I'm going to offer my own view. I feel that marriage is half of one's deen. Because when you are not married, and you are really struggling against your desires, the desires take over your mind and can affect your entire perception of reality. It can affect how successfully you worship Allah, and can even start to affect how you feel about Islam. It can make you look at non-mahrams, which can lead you further from purity, and lead you into haraam actions, and make you sin (alcohol and zina) and become farther from Allah. Also, in our (Shia) hadiths, it says the prayer of a married person is such and such amount more rewardable than that of a single person. With marriage, you are fortified in halal. You have a halal outlet through which to exercise your desires, you can come to prayer and thank Allah easier, have your needs fulfilled and lower your gaze and not sin, feel purer and closer to Allah, and you are rewarded in marriage for the things you do for your wife, and your actions have more reward. So, it is for these reasons I feel literally, marriage is half of one's deen. I think for some people, marriage can literally save their deen, and increase them in their ease in practicing it, increase their deen. Also, the fact that you are now sharing your life with someone else. So, I really feel it can be said marriage is half of your deen.
ReplyDeleteWa assalaamu aleykum wa rahmatullah.
Thanks for the nice comment but again what did the Hadith mean by "Deen"? If it's half the "Deen" then certainly "Deen" can't mean Islam/Religion otherwise it would become compulsory for every Muslim
ReplyDeleteIslam as a religion is theoretically composed of three main elements:
1. Principles/Aqeeda/أصول الدين
2. Law/Shariah/فروع الدين
3. Ethics/Akhlaaq/الأخلاق
In which of these Marriage would represent half of religion?
There's no doubt that HAPPY marriage can have significant positive impact on a married person but in this sense we are talking about a lifestyle rather than a religion/doctrine. However, a FAULTY marriage can have disastrous negative impact on a married person as well!
Regarding the married person having more rewards than the single, there are many Hadiths refer to some actions if a person does will get double/triple/many times more than other people/actions, by no means those Hadiths would make marriage half of Islam/religion/doctrine.