Salamun alaykum,
It’s the Wedding Season:
With the onset of the summer season majority 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.
My friend Reverend Bruce Dean, Rector at the Parish of Wickham and Shedfield where our Al Mahdi Centre is presently located, 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. So by now the wedding invitation cards are on their way to the invitees around the world.
The Holy 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 Holy Prophet, but it provides an opportunity for members of the family living in different regions to join together to celebrate the Nikah and strengthen their family bonds.
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. This is as though the Wedding event is an end in itself.
In reality 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 that they would indeed like their married days to be blessed with abundant love and happiness.
Thus it would be opportune at the time of preparing for a wedding to reflect on the valuable saying of the Holy 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 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.
As families embark on preparations for the wedding, it is important to ensure that the laws of Islam are upheld at all times in all the ceremonies of the wedding event. It is critical that this is given priority above the other preparations and arrangements.
Wa ma tawfiqi illa billah.
Fazle Abbas Datoo
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Resident Alim
Wessex Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat