A speech by Muhammad Ibrahim Shuqqa on the ease of marriage.

Muhammad Ibrahim Shuqqa: My brothers, before our Shaykh begins to answer the questions directed to him, I would have liked to, and I thought that the brotherThe Shaykh : Ali wanted to mention a matter that is, in my view and in the view of people and Muslims, far more important than plural marriage, and that is the ease of marriage in Islam. Marriage in Islam—we Muslims, who take pride in our belonging to this religion—we have made marriage difficult and hard, plunging us into hardships and tribulations. It ends, for many of the Muslim sons who marry, in falling into problems that lead them to the doors of the courts. There are three matters that must be mentioned. The first matter, I mention it by the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) . Imagine a marriage where the meeting, the proposal, the determination of the mahr, the witnesses, and the wedding all take place in a short time. How much effort will this cost us today? The exorbitant mahr, the numerous feasts, the countless crowds, the parties, the clothes, the sofas, the cushions, the houses, and so on?

The Shaykh: And before that, the dowry!
Muhammad Ibrahim Shuqqa: And before that, yes, the dowry. This dowry that perhaps has ruined things and not fixed them. May Allah reward you, my brothers. I, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, have followed this path, and nothing else. This is what I want to tell you, so that you know that following the Sunnah and acting according to the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is what makes affairs flow smoothly and easily, bringing them near rather than far, making them easy rather than hard, and bringing them close rather than distant. Marriage, the proposal, the meeting, and the determination of the mahr—by the way, the father of the wife, our brother Abu Abdullah, did not know the mahr of his daughter until we went to the court to register the mahr, and it was one Jordanian dinar, without any delay, one Jordanian dinar, without any delay. Not because we possess at least a hundred, or fifty, or two hundred, or three, or four, but rather to let people know that the mahr of their daughters should be something determined by the man, not imposed by the father of the woman. This is a Sunnah that was unknown until Allah provided for us someone to explain it, clarify it, and teach it to us. These are among the abandoned Sunnahs, and when they are abandoned, innovations take their place. And that was also at the hand of our Shaykh, may Allah reward him with good. And the meeting, as I said, and the request. If you knew how the request was made: the father of the wife, Abu Hala, was in Tashkent, and contact was made with him in minutes. "O Abu Abdullah, we want your daughter so-and-so for our son." He said a word: "I do not know Asim." I said to him, "Perhaps you know Abu Asim." He said, "On Allah's blessing." With such ease and simplicity. Then we returned to our Shaykh, and all of this perhaps took two or three hours. The witnesses were me, me, and my Shaykh, may Allah reward him with good, and he was the one who performed the contract. The one entrusted with the contract was Abdullah, the son of our brother Abu Abdullah. The men who were present were four: Asim, Abdullah, our Shaykh, and me. The marriage contract was concluded, and this daughter became the wife of my son in two or three hours. This is what should be mentioned and learned by people, so that they know that there is no distinction for the ummah in its life, no honor, no eradication of corruption, no relief from these burdens we live with, and no removal of these injustices that undermine our society, except that we return to the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the manner of that man who did not possess an iron ring, an iron ring he did not have, so he married her with what he had of the Qur'an. As for the second matter, that religion should be sought. If both the man and the woman are keen on this matter, there is blessing in it . And what greater provision is there than that a believing, righteous girl is provided with a righteous, believing man? And what greater merit is there than that a righteous man is provided with a believing, righteous woman who is his equal and he is her equal? And there is no equality except in the righteousness of religion. Therefore, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever comes to you:" And he said: I wanted to mention this matter, and I did not want to mention it, but I wanted to teach myself and remind myself to persist on this great methodology, for there is no success, no happiness, and no status that the ummah attains, as it is said, under the sun, except with this natural, easy religion that has no fatigue, no effort, and no hardship, because it is the religion of fitrah, the fitrah of Allah with which He created people, and there is no change in the creation of Allah. And now we leave the space for questions for our Shaykh to answer, may Allah reward him with good. And I would like the questions, my brothers, to be written, and may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh: Excuse me, here Professor Ali has a word to say, we will hear it from him, if Allah wills, so please proceed.