Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
6. The Rights of Husband and Wife
~ 123 ~
It is often said, with justice, that man is a social
animal. But more important is the fact that man is
an ethical animal. There may be a physical
resemblance between human beings and animals,
but, from the moral standpoint, man is in a class by
himself, animals knowing none of the self-imposed,
ethical constraints which govern human lives. It is
this ethical sense in man and other civilizational
demands which require members of the opposite
sex to refrain from establishing free sexual relations.
The natural urge to procreate must, according to the
shari’ah,
be confined within the bonds of wedlock.
Men and. women are enjoined by the
shari’ah
to
many (barring certain close relations) and to lead a
family life. The Qur’an says:
Except for these (prohibited) all others are
lawful, provided you seek (them in marriage)
with gifts from your property, desiring
chastity not Iust.
I04
Sexual attraction between men and women is the
result of a natural biological urge. It was to give this
relationship legal sanction that the institution of
marriage
(nikah)
was established.
Human
