The Quran describes the marriage contract unlike any other contract between two people; naming it a solemn covenant:
“And how could you take it while you have gone in unto each other and they have taken from you a solemn covenant?” (Quran 4:21)
Something which is solemn cannot be undone by mere shortcomings and flaws.
Through the marriage contract the man and the woman become partners after being single, each one representing the other, experiencing the ups and downs, the highs and lows together.
Your Clothing
The Quran illustrates the closeness of the marital bond between the spouses by likening it to a garment:
“They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them” (Quran 2:187)
The word clothing is a covering, a protection as well as an adornment, expressing the meaning of assimilation and beautification which each partner provides for the other.
2. Your Comfort
The marriage is not a company where each shareholder is after the maximum profit with disregard for the loss of his / her partner. Rather it is an agreement that each party will work for the benefit of the other and for them to work together for their mutual comfort and happiness. This is the relationship described in the Quran:
“It is He who created you from one soul and created from it its mate that he might dwell in comfort with her” (Quran 7:189)
Islam elaborates on the relationship between the spouses, exemplified in tranquility and stability found in love between the spouses.
3. Your Soulmate
Islam extends the boundaries of affection, kindness and companionship through the alliance of marriage. Islam perfects and makes whole the emotion between two souls and spreads those feelings of love and compassion from the parents to the children
“And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquillity in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.” (Quran Ar-Rum, 21)
4. The Leader and His Deputy
The family, represented by the husband and wife, is the small community that make up the large society. Therefore it is necessary for the integrity and welfare of the family, and by extension the society, that there is a leader (a manager per say) who organises and plans matters. The woman by her creation as well as the innate qualities of softness, vulnerability, patience, beauty, empathy, intuition, tenderness and compassion that Allah created in her, is prepared to give birth and raise and nurture children. The man, by his physical strength and intellect is suited for this role of the head and leader, to provide and protect as well as bring financial stability and security to his wife and family.
“Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more than the other, and because they support them from their means” (Quran 4:34)
5. When It Doesn’t Work Out
When there is a breakdown in the relationship between the married couple, they either come to a compromise seeking a return to happy married life or if divorce becomes the best solution they part ways in friendly and peaceful manner:
“But if they divorce, Allah will enrich each [of them] from His abundance. And ever is Allah Encompassing and Wise” (Quran 4;130)