Islam_in_Focus_text

may have acquired prior to or after marriage is hers alone.
There is no necessary community of property of husbands
and wives. Furthermore, it is the husband who is responsible
for the maintenance and economic security of the family. He
must even provide the wife with the kind of help and service
to which she was used before marriage, and, according to
some scholars, she is under no legal obligation to do the rou-
tine housework, although she may do so, and usually does,
for some reason or other, e.g., cooperation, economy, etc.
2. Permanence of Marriage
Because Islam considers marriage a very serious com-
mitment, it has prescribed certain measures to make the mar-
ital bond as permanent as humanly possible. The parties
must strive to meet the conditions of proper age, general
compatibility, reasonable intentions, and judicious discre-
tion, When the parties enter into a marital contract, the inten-
tion must be clear to make the bond permanent, free from
the casual and temporary designations. For this reason, trial
marriages, term marriages, and all marriages that appear ex-
perimental, casual, or temporary are forbidden in Islam. "
3) We are aware of the complex and intricate arguments used by some
Sheea Muslims as regards the so-called mut'ah marriage. We appreciate
the scholarly dimension of the problem bui see no purpose in pursuing it
here. Interested readers are referred to the detailed discussion of the whole
matter in our forth coming book The Family Structure m Islam.
In