On Fearing to Get Married

[Khalid Saifullah]

بسم اللّٰه الرحمن الرحيم

Imām as-Sa'di (رحمه الله) said

"Do not imagine that you will get poor if you marry. Allāh encourages towards marriage and promises richness after poverty"
•[Taysir-ul-Karim, p. 567]

It was narrated that Sa’eed ibn Jubayr said: Ibn ‘Abbās said to me: “Have you gotten married?” I said: “No.”
He said: “Get married, for the best of this ummah are the ones with the most wives.” •[al-Bukhaari (5069)].

Ibraaheem ibn Maysarah said: Tawoos said to me:
“Either get married, or I will say to you what ‘Umar said to Abu’l-Zawā’id:
"Nothing is keeping you from getting married except impotence or immorality.”

Ibn Mas’ood said:
"If I only had ten days to live and I knew that I would die at the end of them, and I had any desire to get married, I would get married, for fear of fitnah (temptation). "

Shaykh Ibn Bāz (رحمه اللّٰه) said in Majmoo’ al-Fatāwa (20/421):
"What is required is to hasten to get married, and no young man or young woman should delay marriage for the sake of studies, because marriage does not prevent any such thing. It is possible for a young man to get married in order to protect his religious commitment and morals, and enable him to lower his gaze."

"Marriage serves many purposes, especially in this day and age. Because delaying it is harmful for both young women and young men, every young man and every young woman should hasten to get married if there is a man who is compatible with the woman, and if a man can find the right woman." End quote.

— Shaykh Saleh al-Munajjid (حفظه اللّٰه) said:
"If you think that not getting married is an act of worship by means of which you can draw closer to the Lord of the Worlds, and you think that if you avoid marriage this will raise you in status before Allaah, you are mistaken and there is the fear that you may be sinning.

If you say that you are afraid of being poor, and you do not have enough wealth to look after a family, I say to you: Try your best to earn a living and be content and think positively of Allāh, for He has promised on the lips of His Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) that He will help the one who wants to be chaste and seeks that which is halaal by getting married.

If you have something that you want to achieve – such as a certificate, a position, a project and so on – and you say that you want to achieve that first, then you will get married, we say to you: Why are you ignoring marriage for that reason?

– Marriage has never been a barrier to achieving things, rather in most cases it is a support and a help. – That is just the whisperings of the shaytaan, which he has instilled in the minds of many young men so that it has become prevalent in our culture and society.

– And you hear many of those who have delayed their own marriages or the marriages of their sons and daughters saying such things, and our society has become burdened with problems resulting from large numbers of single men and women, and the delay of marriage.

– But despite that we have not seen any achievement, development or progress, whereas the first generation of Muslims used to hasten to do good and they did not delay marriage, and their achievements were the greatest and most complete of achievements."
And over and above all that, how about if you realize that marriage will protect half of your religion?

It was narrated from Anas ibn Mālik (رضي اللّٰه عنه) that the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said:
“Whomever Allāh has blessed with a righteous wife, He has helped him with half of his religion, so let him fear Allāh with regard to the other half."
•[Narrated by al-Haakim in al-Mustadrak(2/175), al-Tabarāni in al-Awsat (1/294) and al-Bayhaqi in Shu’ab al-Eemaan (4/382).
– It was classed as hasan by al-Albāni in Saheeh al-Targheeb (2/192)].

How about if you realise that by getting married, you will have followed the advice of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) when he said: “O young men, whoever among you can afford it, let him get married, for it is more effective in lowering the gaze and guarding one’s chastity.”
•[Narrated by al-Bukhāri (5065) and Muslim (1400)].

Be resolved and put your trust in Allaah, and Allāh will help you, and will provide you with a righteous wife who will help you to obey your Lord and He will bless you with righteous offspring who will be a stored treasure for you with Allāh in the Hereafter."

Can there be any hesitation after this?