Introduction

Works on marriage in Islam have been produced across every major era of the Islamic scholarly tradition, reflecting the central place of the institution of nikāḥ in Islamic law, ethics, and social organization. The classical fuqahāʾ devoted extensive chapters of their legal manuals to the conditions, pillars, and consequences of the marriage contract, while scholars of tazkiyah and akhlāq addressed the spiritual and moral dimensions of conjugal life. Modern works in this genre, composed in Arabic and in various other languages, have sought to make this accumulated tradition accessible to contemporary audiences, synthesizing the guidance of the Quran, the Sunnah, and the four recognized Sunni legal schools with practical counsel suited to Muslims living in diverse social contexts. These works emerged with particular urgency during the twentieth century, as rapid social change, the spread of secular family law in many Muslim-majority countries, and the influence of non-Islamic cultural models created a pressing need for clear, authoritative Islamic guidance on family life.

A work on marriage in Islam typically addresses several interconnected dimensions of the subject. The theological foundation comes first: the Quranic affirmation that God created spouses as sources of tranquility for one another (Sūrat al-Rūm, 30:21), and the numerous prophetic traditions that describe marriage as half of the religion and encourage it as a means of guarding one's chastity and building a righteous household. The legal dimension covers the conditions for a valid marriage contract, the essential pillars of nikāḥ including the offer and acceptance, the presence of the walī, and the payment of the mahr, as well as the rights and obligations that the contract establishes for both spouses. The ethical and spiritual dimension addresses the qualities of a righteous spouse, the etiquettes of marital life, the Islamic approach to resolving disputes between spouses, and the guidance provided by the Prophet, upon him be peace, in his own conduct as a husband and in his explicit counsel to the community.

Such works have served an important educational function across Muslim communities, providing both prospective spouses and established families with a coherent framework rooted in Islamic sources rather than cultural custom or secular convention. By bringing together the relevant verses of the Quran, the authenticated hadith literature, and the distilled guidance of classical fiqh, they help readers distinguish between what is genuinely obligatory, recommended, or prohibited in marriage and what belongs to cultural practice that may or may not align with Islamic principles. Scholars have consistently emphasized that understanding the Islamic framework for marriage is not merely a legal exercise but a means of drawing closer to God through the fulfillment of a major communal and individual obligation, and of building a household in which the deen is lived, taught, and preserved across generations.

A reader approaching a work on Islamic marriage should come with the intention of understanding the subject as a whole: its theological grounding, its legal structure, and its spiritual and ethical dimensions together. Studying the relevant Quranic verses and well-known prophetic traditions on marriage beforehand will greatly enrich the reading. The reader should also be attentive to the distinctions scholars draw between the positions of the different legal schools, since valid differences of scholarly opinion exist on numerous secondary questions, and should approach those differences with the respect for scholarly diversity that the Sunni tradition has always maintained. The gain from careful study of such a work is substantial: a principled, faith-rooted understanding of one of the most important relationships in human life, guided by the clearest and most enduring of sources.