Islam Explained By Husain Zakariyya Yawale
+234-8052952900 (sms only)
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Allah says: “And marry those among you who are single (i.e. a man who has no wife and the woman who has no husband) and (also marry) the Sâlihûn (pious, fit and capable ones) of your (male) slaves and maid-servants (female slaves). If they be poor, Allâh will enrich them out of His Bounty. And Allâh is All-Sufficent for His creatures’ needs, All-Knowing (about the state of the people).”[an-Nur: 32]
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. All Praise is due to Allah, We praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our own evils and our own bad deeds. Anyone who is guided by Allah, he is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad, is His servant, and messenger. May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon His last and final Apostle, his Household, his companions and all his followers until the end of time.
The institution of marriage is as old as man himself. The first couple or family was Adam and Hauwa’u, may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon them. Thus, marriage is a noble and honourable institution. Allah says:
“If ye fear that ye shall not be able to Deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to Deal justly (with them), then only one, or (A captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.”[an-Nisa’i: 3]
In the beginning of the world, the procedures of marriage were different from what obtains today. This happened because of the population was very small. However, as the human race began to increase and the women folk began to out number the males, the trend took different dimension=on so as to reduce the numerous social problems which accompanied high population of women; fornication, adultery, drugs, armed robbery and all the vices and evils that usually come with it. The number of women in the world surpasses that of men. The remaining is a outcome of men dying in wars, violent crimes, car, air and train accidents, and women surviving them. The upsurge in homosexuality especially in West and so-called developed nations further increases the problem. There are also the problems of poverty, illiteracy and the spate gender violence in many homes. Mr. Bertrand Russell a social Philosopher wrote, “And in all countries where there is an excess of women, it is an obvious injustice that those women who, by arithmetical necessity, must remain unmarried should be wholly debarred from sexual experience.” Polygamy, then, is the only responsible solution for this predicament.
Thus, a unified marriage ceremony is a great way-out for poor and weak families to reducing the laden social cum cultural burdens that usually make normal marriage solemnization possible or timely. Consequently, the trend of collective matrimonial is growing in countries like Yemen, India, Japan, Jordan, China, Iran, Palestine, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan and now Nigeria.
However, there are differences between what is obtained in the rest of the countries around the world. While the rest of the world unify only first timers youths because they cannot incur all the expenses involved in wedding celebrations and expensively furnished apartments which usually consume huge amount of money, as well as time. So, NGOs sometimes supported by the government agencies organize to off-set the expenses of bridal ceremonials, in addition to marriage gifts, only. But in the case of the kano project, the marital couples are all widows and divorcees.
One other important aspect of the operability of Islam is the making of espousing more than one wife at time as an effective antidote to further reduces societal social problems, honourably regarded an act of worship.Accordingly, Islamic polygamy addresses threateningsocial problems of prostitution and extramarital affairs very common in the Western societies. Instead of cheating or infidelity permission has been granted to for the second, the third and finally the fourth, all for the reason to reducing social menaces because adultery is one of the principal reasons for divorce in the West. Islam allows a man to marry more than one wife, with full recognition of the rights of both of them. The basic principle in Islam is that men are held responsible for their behaviour towards their wives, just as women are responsible for their behavior towards husbands. The relationship must not only be reciprocal, but affectionate. Hence, numerous families due to economic reasons, usually supported by NGOs, choose Mass weddings so that the entire cost of the celebration can be equally shared, thereby tremendously reducing the financial liability to a tolerable least.
In Arab countries most especially, marriage expenditure is very exorbitant and demanding as well. Weddings are pricey and bachelors have to pay their fiancée’s family huge amount of money to marry their daughter. Unlike Nigeria where the case is the opposite; both marriage and divorce are not only very cheap but also rampant. A man can marry in the morning, and cheaply divorces in the afternoon without recourse to the consequence. It is as easy as that here in Naija!
Therefore, the case could be said to be completely different when compared with other countries. Their problem is not as a result of rampant divorcees; their problem is the capability to incur wedding expenditure!
In Afghanistan early this year, mass wedding was organized by an NGO by the name, Madinah Foundation for young bachelors, incurring all the wedding expenses including sets of chairs, bed and beddings and kitchen utensils. The nikkahs were solemnized by Khadim-i-Haram-i-Nabawi Madinatul Munawarah Imam bin Husain bin Ali Zainul Abidin, who was also the chief guest at the occasion. The cleric at the end also led a prayer for the prosperity of the couples.
In Pakistan the story is the same;several young couples were assisted to fulfill their marital obligations in a well attended mass wedding. Dr Shahid Mahmood,who is the chief organizer and the director of Minhaj Welfare Foundation, the said that widespread poverty and old-fashioned social traditions had made it unbearable for the poor parents to marry off their daughters, especially as at when due.
In Yemen, the largest mass wedding ever was organized in which 1, 600 young couples tied the knot! This time the mass wedding was also unprecedented in the history of human race;all the grooms are orphans! Explaining the reason for the event, the organizer Abdul Rajeh explained. “Orphans have a really hard time getting married as they don’t have the financial support of a father or strong guardian to help them with the dowry.”The event was organized by the Orphans Charitable Organization and sponsored by the Custodian of the two holy Mosques, King Sultan bin Abdul Aziz.
What I am trying to bring to light are as many tangible examples of similar events around the world as possible, in order to compare and contrast, so that beneficial experiences can serve as handy reference.
Therefore, the Kano project of mass wedding with be properly analyzed in the shade of the Shari’ah to further fine tune both the procedures during the ceremony and during the scrutiny before eligibility of the couples, in sha Allah!
Subscribe to this comment's feed
