Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
11. Success in marriage
~ 247 ~
customer have any right to complain that a
shopkeeper has not delivered the goods, when he
himself has not paid for them? If a girl looks at her
problems without bias, she will realize that
balancing up the two sides of the question is really
the crux of the matter. If she does not deliver what
the in-laws expect, she cannot expect to get what
she wants either.
The truth is that the in-laws house is a place where
one learns the secret of living. It is only when the
girl is no longer under the protective cover of her
parents that the facts unravel. Then the reality of the
in-laws home makes the parental home seem like an
illusory world. Any girl who fails to learn this secret
is bound to have an unsatisfactory married life,
while the girl who comes to terms with reality can
look forward to an untrammelled life of wedded
bliss.
THE JOINT FAMILY
These days girls consider living in a joint family a
problem. They would much rather live elsewhere
with their husbands. Educated girls in particular try
to convince their husbands that they, as a couple,
