Abstract

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 recognized 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 recognized by society and the duties of the parents in bringing up children. Islam recognizes 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