I wonder how a Catholic would have been treated in Northern Ireland during the troubles if he/she married a Protestant?

They would have kicked her out of the IRA.

We weren't criticising Abu's description for what it included, but for what it excluded, and for what it facilitates.

what do you feel it excludes?

I don't see how it facilitates child marriage-

if you think a child can develo a deep and spiritual connection easier than it can become infatuated with someone then you're kidding yourself

In Islam, a marriage does not necessarily mean that the husband and wife will live together immediately as in Western culture.

In Islam, a marriage is understood to be a contract between a man and a woman.

While a marriage could hypothetically take place at any age, the couple living together as man and wife would occur when both were biologically adults.

freediver wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2013 at 12:19pm:




Islam teaches that a marriage should be arranged according to a person's inner qualities. The superficial qualities such as outer beauty are considered to be of secondary importance.

Today in the West, it seems to be the other way round with outer beauty being the primary consideration.

Most people in the English-speaking world today seem to confuse the word 'love' with 'lust'. Their idea of love is often confused with sexual attraction.

In the West, we have ridiculous ideas like 'love at first sight'. True love comes from knowing a person's good character. Liking a person's physical appearance is just an attraction of the person's baser animal instincts.

freediver wrote on Sep 2^nd, 2013 at 9:47pm:


Probably not. Hence the whole (new) concept of marriage being about mutual support and love introduced by Muhammad and the quran.

freediver wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2013 at 12:19pm:


I don't know anything about pre-islamic arabia.

Common sense though dictates that love and mutual affection between a man and a woman is a pretty universal innate characteristic of humans - irrespective of what religion they hold.

It was however fairly standard fair (and again I don't know the specifics of pre-islamic arabian culture) for pre-modern societies to institute laws and social norms that culturalised oppression of women, and reduce them to mere objects to be bartered by their fathers and uncles, and then objects of possession for their (chosen) husband. This effectively barred women from finding their own mate and marrying who they choose based on mutual love. We know this was very common throughout history, across cultures.

Islam undeniably acknowledged this culture and sought to change it - introducing the then radical notion that marriage should a) be based on mutual love and agreement between the husband and wife and b) provide a relationship that gives equal rights and responsibilities on both the husband and wife. However much you and moses attempt to smear islam, it doesn't change the fact that these new notions about marriage (I gave a sample in my last post) were a significant change in culture (in a general sense - again not being an expert on the specifics of arabian culture), and they were introduced by islam.

Quote:


Sounds like a typical stick-in-the-mud with no imagination. Fact: the quran intends marriage for people who are already in love and decide themselves they want to live in marriage. How is that possible if you can only marry someone you don't know, and chosen by your parents? It is completely contradictory.

Of course we reject living together and sharing a bed before marriage - which is probably what he was referring to with "modern concepts of love".