THE RIGHTS OF HUSBAND AND WIFE

6. The Rights of Husband and Wife ~ 135 ~ closest to man so a woman is closest to man. A husband and a wife are the only companions between whom there is no secret even of hidden parts. Due to this close relation a woman comes to have access to all of man’s secrets. She comes to learn the most private and concealed facts of his life. This is a delicate state of affairs. Every man has his secrets. He dislikes their being brought to the knowledge of others. But a man cannot hide these things from his wife. So he makes no effort to do so. Such an attempt would neither be useful nor practically possible. The solution offered by the Islamic shari’ah is to make it binding upon the woman to guard the man’s secrets. In no circumstances may she reveal them to others. If she shows carelessness in this regard, she should fear God for revealing her secrets to others. If God unveils her in the next life, no one will ever be able to come to her rescue. It is a fact that when two people live together, it is inevitable that differences and complaints will arise. Keeping this fact in mind, the Qur’anic injunction on the guarding of man’s secrets specifies that, even