Woman Between Islam and Western Society
4. The Problems Facing Modern Civilization
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main underlying factor in the suicidal tendencies of
the young people of today.
There are two principal reasons for the break-up of
the family system in these countries. One is the
concentration on pleasure in married life, rather
than on responsibility. Couples marry now as if
they were on a pleasure-seeking jaunt, so that when
no further pleasure is to be extracted from the
marital state, they go their separate ways. This has
led to an erosion of the sanctity of marriage, and
divorce, in consequence, has become common. Any
children born to such couples, who subsequently
opt to separate, are little better than orphans,
though both parents are alive. Another cause of
family fragmentation is traceable to the end of the
joint family system, the main symptom of which is
the increasing number of elderly parents and
grandparents being sent to old people’s homes,
where they live separately from the rest of the
family. In the joint family system, grandparents
were always present to look after grandchildren,
but in western society, their place is no longer in the
home.
