Issue No: 291
28th July 2017
3rd Dhulqadah 1438 A.H.
Salamun alaykum,
It’s the Wedding Season:
With the end of the school term and onset of the summer season most of the people will become occupied in planning for holidays and arranging travel /accommodation bookings. In addition to summer being a holiday season it is also a convenient period for holding marriages.
Locally my friends in the Interfaith Network mentioned to me that summer is a busy period in the Church due to weddings being arranged almost every week.
The same would be true in our community where families take advantage of the beautiful weather season and auspicious dates on the Islamic calendar to hold weddings. By now the wedding invitation cards have been dispatched to invitees around the world.
What is beloved to Allah SWT?
The Noble Prophet has reported that,” There is no institution in Islam that is more beloved and dearer to Allah than marriage. Marriage is a happy occasion for the whole family. Not only are the families blessed to carry out this beloved tradition of the Noble Prophet, but it provides an opportunity for members of the family living in different regions to come together and join to celebrate the Nikah and strengthen their family bonds. These are wonderful moments for the family.
Planning for wedding in our community:
Following the formal announcement of the engagement, all the energies of the families of both the bride and bridegroom are focused towards preparing for the marriage. A lot of planning and preparation is done to ensure that the various programmes of the wedding are made special. The preparations would range from the compilation of invitees list to the selection of the colour of the rose buds for the family to display on their lapels. Many a times the wedding couple and their families are so enthused with the wedding that large resources in form of wealth, time and efforts are pooled together to make the event a memorable one for all.
What is the investment: How much time and resources is spent on the wedding and its preparations and how much resource is spent on making the marriage work before and after the wedding celebrations?
Is the wedding event an end in itself?
The season: Is it the end or the beginning?
In reality, the wedding season ends, but the Marriage season remains. For it is the wedded days of the lives of the newly married couple that need to be special and invested upon.
Every couple would unhesitatingly agree in totality that they would indeed like their married days to be blessed with abundant love and happiness.
Which marriage is blessed? Therefore, it would be opportune at the time of preparing for a wedding to reflect on the valuable saying of the Noble Prophet stating, “The blessing of that marriage is greater whose expenditure is easier.”
Furthermore, it is equally important for the bride, bridegroom and their families to take into full consideration that not only the Nikah ceremony in the Centres is guided by the noble teachings of Islam, but all the party events, feasts and other wedding programmes are arranged in similar conformity. By carrying out these deeds in obedience to Allah, the Divine blessings are abundantly increased upon the married couple and their families.
Benefit for being compliant to the thaqalayn:
As families embark on preparations for the wedding, it is important to ensure that the laws of Islam are always upheld in all the ceremonies of the wedding event. It is critical that this is given priority above the other preparations and arrangements.
If a deed is performed being compliant to seeking the Divine Pleasure isn’t there Divine reward of blessings and felicity towards sustaining the deed?
Wa ma tawfiqi illa billah
Fazle Abbas Datoo
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Resident Alim
Wessex Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat