Re: Is everyone on Islamicboard a salafi?
Marriage is optional/non-compulsory. Refraining from haram, however, is an obligation, so it should be promoted more considering every which way there is fitnah. Marriage is not the cure to every issue that brothers face today. Some of them go into marriage with the same issues that they entered in it with. It actually can magnify their situation. So while marriage is a beautiful thing and can be helpful and is encouraged in some instances, it's not the only option. That being said, when it does come time to get married and find a spouse, I can see how it is difficult to do when every part of the community which is meant to help is not really putting in the effort. I wouldn't put the blame on just one part of the community though as you're doing. Everyone can contribute and improve.
Marriage is indeed option, but when the person starts to fear falling into temptation then it becomes mandatory. And we all know that for most of us, releasing these urges is more of a need than a want (except for those extreme cases where a person is asexual or has been dismissed sexually). So refraining from haram should not be our primary way to handle it as it is only a temporary solution. It is better to practice the prevention method (marry early) than the cure (refraining from haram for God knows how long). As for blaming one part of the community, id say that if the entire umma is facing these problems, then the problem isn’t with them … its with the methods they are led with or what they are being led to.
We already have islam, it's a matter of actually implementing what we learn. And as for scholars teaching, they are teaching, but are people actually seeking their guidance? Have you actually voiced your concerns legitimately to any person of knowledge and heard their response? You're speaking from one perspective, but we don't know what they go through and the type of people they have to deal with/help. Marriage is just one aspect of life that we need guidance on and it would be futile for someone to study Islam for years and years and only cater to those who can't find spouses. Even I wouldn't know where to start. I'd have to bring in the entire family and speak to them to see where the problem lies. No one has time for that lol. You can do that for yourself.
When it comes to marriage it's not really that intricate. If anything, it's logical and common sense. Be pious, be respectful, be kind and patient, work hard, etc. You don't need to go to a scholar to do/know these things. You may need people to remind you from time to time, but that's on you to surround yourself with such people.
I know that they are teaching and am well aware of it, but they are preaching about only half of what is actually important. Okey here is one of my odd examples but I hope it illustrates my point in a better way.
If a person wants to sell you a product (ie marriage), first he must convince you why its beneficial to you (already done a thousand times by scholars). But if the person wants you to actually go through with buying it, he must first inform you of how to buy it and make the process of purchasing it easy (and that’s what the scholars lack in talking about and trying to do), else … even if the product was beneficial to you, you might be discourage by how difficult it is to obtain and buy.
Im not asking for the scholars to go knocking on muslim households offering potential spouses for their children nor am I asking them to come show me a live example of how a nikkah happens on themselves. I am simply asking for them to promote how to make marriage easier for the youth so that they would choose it over haram things.
And that’s far from whats happening. In most of muslim and arab households, even the mention of falling in love with someone is considered taboo or something, let alone marriage itself. You may not realise it because maybe you’ve been married already and forgot about it or maybe have different standards and norms than most muslims don’t, but this is the reality! The majority of the youth gets criticized by their parents when the mention of love or marriage is brought up … only when the daughter becomes too old for marriage in some regions do parents start actively taking part in finding a spouse for her, but by then she has probably done something haram or lost her peak value in the marriage pool. (we both know that this is not of islam and I am very well aware of that, yet I am telling you this is the reality and this needs to be dealt with and countered!)
Background checks have no basis. You can expect marriages to fail or turn sour but that's just life and often it has nothing to do with "background checks." There are still many successful marriages. You can ask the person important questions about their character directly and tell them your expectations. There's no reason for people to tiptoe around what they really want from their future partners when they get the chance to be forward. Really sometimes it just takes a bit of reflection and observation to tell what type of person someone is.
I was not referring to those cases where the flame of passion dies out between the married couple. I was actually referring to those cases where the parents marry off their daughter to a person that they thought was a pious man but turns out to be a double faced, deceitful person who is actually an alcoholic/smoker/womanizer/never prays, etc. And believe me, you have no idea how many times these things happen in the world today … Perhaps you are unaware of it and that’s why you think background checks are not important, but if you have lived with other people outside a circle of pious individuals, you would most certainly know what im talking about.
What exactly are you referring to here? How do you want them to help? Give exact examples because I thought you were talking about actual hand outs for men to pay the mahr.
For compassion and love, do we not get enough from our mothers
Giving hand outs IS a form of care. It shows compassion for those in need! Im not saying that we should give hand outs for every person that wants to get married. It should only be given to those who are truly in need and not those who are lazy sitting on their bumz thinking that Allah will shower them with money by his grace. Ofc that’s not what im implying! But we should still try to guide our youth on how to be responsible for themselves and chase after what will help them attain what they need … for example, helping them find jobs …
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salaam
Hyper sexual world with porn, hook up culture and then you have slow arranged marriages trying to compete with that. - its a very big problem. Sadly I have no solutions lol.
Thats exactly the problem i wanted to highlight, but i personally believe that scholars can do a bit more than to just give advice to the umma. With the number and magnitude of their followers, their voices and opinions would be of value to the real people in authority and power. The opinions can help change the countries rules and legislation to make the halal more easy and the haram more difficult to obtain. ... Perhaps that is a lot to ask for, but i guess when you are in a place and time like me(a person who is really getting affected by these problem), you might think of things like that.:hmm::exhausted
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Asalaamualaykum, Very good post.
Although you have rightfully identified issues - your search of the solution is misplaced.
The very establishment of a solution, is totally based on the functionality of the constituents for it to be a success.
Islam in general appeals to 4 levels of a Muslim.
a) The Shariah Law - That which is practised in public. (Self explanatory)
b) The Shariah Law - That which is practised in privacy. (Making Whudu before Salaah
c) Zikr of Allah SWT but still practised outwardly - doing a good deed in privacy
d) Zikr of Allah in total privacy whereby even someone on the outside has no idea whats in the heart.
To Explain myself here, I will take you back in time. In those days - a football when purchased was totally flat. you had to use an air pump and pump air into the valve and in about 5 minutes you had a bouncing functional ball. The football was made of elements, The inner inflatable (balloon like) "bladder" and then the outer leather casing. When you pumped the ball with air, you actually inflated the casing which in turn expanded and inflated the outer leather casing. The "bladder" was hidden and concealed from the eye and all a person could see was the inflated outer leather casing. Take the ball bounce it and it was functional.
A little prank we used to play on friends, was to push a pin or matchstick into the ball and deflate the air - The bladder used to collapse but still left the outer leather case "inflated". The victim used to come - hold the ball, and bounce it !!! As you can imagine - it never bounced and came back up. It just stuck to the ground.
The point is, for the ball to be functional, it took the hidden inner casing to be inflated. In the same way points (A and B) above represent the leather outer case and points (C and D) represent the inner case. Without inflating the inner case, on the first bounce the ball squashes up.
The problem is not whether you follow a madhab or not. Neither is the solution.
When the inner part of someone has justice, Haq, Adl , upright, honest Etc ( The inner bladder of the ball)then collectively the society inflates into fulfilling the outward Shariah (Leather shell of the ball). The end result is a solid functional system ( A bouncing ball).
Example: Pertaining to marriage as you have mentioned: Here in UK over 3 decades - various bodies have implemented marriage sessions, marriage meetings of potential spouses etc and Alhumdulila a percentage worked but the majority failed...WHY ? because most of the guys going there were fooling around using it as initial contact to mess girls about - even to the point that guys were bringing fake fathers pretending to be their dads, The young guys hitting on muslimahs and their "dads" hitting on elder divorcees !!!! (The mothers) Imagine that !!!
The point is the reason the Ulema don't implement these things is because they know the masses of Muslims are corrupted in the hearts (in that bladder of the ball) and until you don't recitify that "bladder" you just manufacturing leather balls that wont bounce !!!!
Look at what times have become - 30 years ago An Aalim would give a talk, after that Zikr was made, Durood was given, they ate together with the masses implementing as many Sunnah as you can, after that people sat in circles with books and hadith and you had a galaxy of Ulema in gatherings that you could consult and ask questions.......Fast forward that 30 years later today....what do you have ? Flamboyant stages with celeb status scholars . after that talk they snap a few selfies here and there, shake a few hands....jump in the cars and gone !!! And the people come out thinking "I know the Quran" ......
You can line up NAK, Hamza Yusuf , Tablighi Jamaath, Berelwis, Wahabis, Salafis, Sheikh one name right up to Sheikh Another name all in one room .....the bottom line is brother.....All of them put together cannot make the Zikr of Allah SWT for you. You have to do it yourself !!! You have to engage beyong A and B into C and D (above points).
You can implement a million solutions with a million establishments but the solution is only functional and viable when the participants have Haq, Adl, Honesty, integrity, upright and have Allah in the hearts. If the participants are corrupt - they will eventually corrupt the system.
Allah SWT will only change the conditions of man WHEN man changes himself.
Everyone wants the Ilm today - but the REAL Tassawuf ( nothing to do with Sufism, I'm talking real tasawauf) gets put into the "too hard basket"
Wow! MashAllah, i really never thought of it that way. It kinda opened up for me a new point of view.
I also wasnt aware that the situation was this bad in some places ... FAKE FATHERS?!
But your right, without observing Taqwaa (Point D and the others), all the efforts of the scholars wont make much of a difference in the person.
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All I got from the OP is he really wants to follow his whims and desires and imitate the kuffar but wants to blame scholars for it.
And all i got from you is that you have a shallow understanding and low comprehensive skills. Go read my post again. If i cared about my whims and desires i wouldnt be sitting here discussing the problems facing the umma or even bother with blaming the scholars, i would be out there fulfilling my "whims and desires". Im actually here discussing this because i care. unlike people who shun people down for having different opinions from theirs and not even bothering to give a useful/beneficial remark ^o)
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That is how women attack men is through his children. Worst thing a man can ever do is love his children, because it put him in a point of weakness where his woman will use the children to control him and if a divorce happens use the children as means to hurt him the most. Children are powerful weapon that belongs to women to hurt men. You cannot deny that.
Tell me if it is a lie of stories after stories after stories when a divorce happen that the mother use the very children at the beginning of marriage at the end to make the children hate their fathers, cut ties with their fathers and society in general doesn't even come to the aid. So please, don't make it look like it is all bells and whistles. Children is a further stress to men that will harm him when divorce happens.
Also don't think children is all that great either:
By the way, more shaming tactics towards men will be..."So what? Women go through birth and she sacrifice for her children, be a man and take it. It doesn't come close to what a mother goes through." Isn't that what you guys do to further devalue men's role and strip him from any right and devalue him and make him another further doormat to be used and abused. Men will have to MAN UP now doesn't he?
No need for this aggression brother, im sure she means well.
Though she is true about it being difficult to give my son or daughter in marriage, I will never forget (by the grace of Allah) how i felt as a teen. And i will know that these feelings that i went through is probably the same ones that they will be having. And that is why i will be hasty in finding them a suitable spouse so that they dont fall in haram. :thumbs_up:statisfie