Woman Between Islam and Western Society
6. The Rights of Husband and Wife
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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
marry (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 lust.
4
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
psychology, biological realities and social
considerations all demand that sexual relationships
between men and women should be regularized
