No one enters into marriage thinking that it will not work out, that it will end in disaster. Lots of hopes, dreams and plans are attached to the idea of marriage, especially in Muslim marriages where once you enter it Allah showers the world’s blessings on the couple. These hopes and dreams bring with it the sense of commitment towards them. But is your commitment to marriage plans the same as your commitment to the marriage itself?
One can know that answer only when one enters the institution of marriage. That is why Allah has set marriage as having such a high status in Islam. The Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said about marriage that the one who enters in completes half their faith, so let Allah ask them about the other half; that is how high the status of marriage in Islam is.
Most times marriages fail when a Muslim couple enters into it with all their commitment towards the plans, hopes and dreams for the marriage. While the couple may be committed to the plans they make, they usually get a rude shock when they live the life of marriage. This is because the plans that they built together were ofcourse great and happy ones, with no room for misery or discomfort. But they forget that the life of this world is good and bad; that is the nature of this world. That is when their commitment to the marriage itself is tested. And that is where they fail. When the stress of living with a completely different personality sets in, when your spouse’s habits start irritating you, when the pressures of money and work life start getting to you, THAT is when the commitment to marriage is tested and that is what you have to pass. Not your promise towards your plans, but your promise towards the sacred relationship.
When you decide that two imperfect people come together to make the marriage work for the sake of Allah and to attain Jannah, that is when you know that you have fulfilled your promise to the institution of marriage and not only towards the plans you had for it. Your dreams and hopes as well as your plans in marriage will only be fulfilled when you give your everything to the relationship, make Allah happy and live with your spouse in “peace and mercy” like Allah decreed.
