THE RIGHTS OF HUSBAND AND WIFE

6. The Rights of Husband and Wife ~ 123 ~ It is often said, with justice, that man is a social animal. But more important is the fact that man is an ethical animal. There may be a physical resemblance between human beings and animals, but, from the moral standpoint, man is in a class by himself, animals knowing none of the self-imposed, ethical constraints which govern human lives. It is this ethical sense in man and other civilizational demands which require members of the opposite sex to refrain from establishing free sexual relations. The natural urge to procreate must, according to the shari’ah, be confined within the bonds of wedlock. Men and. women are enjoined by the shari’ah to many (barring certain close relations) and to lead a family life. The Qur’an says: Except for these (prohibited) all others are lawful, provided you seek (them in marriage) with gifts from your property, desiring chastity not Iust.I04 Sexual attraction between men and women is the result of a natural biological urge. It was to give this relationship legal sanction that the institution of marriage (nikah) was established. Human