able to always be faithful to this vow of marriage and enjoy happiness as aspired and taught officially by the Catholic Church.
4
AL-QUR’AN AND MARRIAGE ETHICS IN ISLAM
Hamim Ilyas
4.1 Foreword
Humans, both man or woman, are individual and social creatures. As an individual shehe is a unique creature unlike others. Then as a social
creature, shehe is unable to live alone and has to live with others in a family or society. Al-Qur’an pays attention to that nature and provides
guidelines for the good of man as an individual and social creature, including in keeping good social relations. The guidelines provided by
Islam’s holy book are general as well as specific in nature. The former is in the form of ethical principles of which the relations are based on; and
the latter is in the form of specific guidelines or rules on how the relations should be conducted. This writing analyses the guidelines and
its implementations in marriage which is the main union in forming a family.
4.2 Marriage Ethics Principles
Marriage is one of the oldest unions in history. Its union in religion is inseparable to the faith in the creation of man with its nature, of which
aside the two natures mentioned above there are still many, among them are being in pairs and bound by rules. Marriage union is conducted to
actualize these natures which will be good for herhis personal and societal life. To fulfil these requirements, Al-Qur’an instructs five
principles as the basis of marriage: Firstly, autonomy. Marriage is a part of human being’s effort in
deciding herhis own faith. Thus, ethically shehe must do it based on autonomy without imposition from others. This autonomy is inherent in
herhim as an actualization of human equality and free will. Regarding the equality which becomes the basis of autonomy, it must be affirmed
that what is meant here is the equality of man – woman in their humanity. As humans, man and woman both possess equal standing in
front of Allah. They are both glorified by God as the descendants of Adam al-Isra’, 17:70; created to worship Him az-Zariyat, 51:56 by
being a servant that must submit to Him and the leaders who represent Him in commanding life on earth al-Baqarah, 2:30. With that position
in mind, they will be afforded with a good life and the best reward if they bear faith and good deeds an-Nahl, 16:97; and one’s gain over
another is determined by herhis piety al-Hujurat, 49:13 and achievement al-An’am, 6:165.
In regards to this equality, there is a verse in al-Qur’an which literal meaning shows that man has a higher degree compared to woman al-
Baqarah, 2:228; and in the Hadith there is a saying by the Prophet which literally shows that women are inferior to men in terms of religion
and mind HR Imam Bukhari and Muslim. However, when it is understood in its internal and external context, it is known that the
superior standing men have shown a bigger socio-economic responsibility of being a qawwam head of family which is to balance
