Aslam

bridgeroom will say : All praise is for God and blessings on His Prophet, I accept her in marriage on this fixed dower. (3) The bride should be informed of the condition of the bridgeroom . It is better that they should see each other before marriage (4) . Two witnesses are necessary for marriage. (5) One should have intention to establish sunnat of the Prophet by marriage and to seek issues. (6) It is good to perform it in the month of Shawal.
The Prophet married Ayesha in Shawal and took her in his house in Shawal. (7) The bride must be in pure state at the time of marriage. This means-She must not be the wife of another man. It cannot be performed during period of waiting. She must not be infidel or retrogade. She must not be a slave of another. She must not be within the prohibited degrees of the husband — mother, mother's mother, daughter, sister, father's sister, foster mother, foster sister, wife's previous husband's daughter, grand daughter, fifth wife, sister of wife who is alive or her mother's sister, a woman who cursed her husband, a woman no in Ihram .
state.

The following qualifications of the bride should be sought.

(1) Religion : The bride should be religious and possess good conduct. This is the main quality of the bride. A man came to the Prophet and said : O Messenger of God, my wife does not repulse any foreign touch. He said : Divorce her. He said : I love her. The Prophet said : Then keep her. The Prophet said : Marry a girl for her wealth, for her beauty, for her qualities and for her religion.
You should consider the attribute of her religion. May your hands be covered with dust. There is in another Hadis : He who marries a woman for beauty and wealth is deprived of her beauty and wealth. If a man marries for protection of his religion God gives him the means of beauty and wealth. The Prophet said :
Don't marry a woman only for her beauty, perchance her beauty will be a cause of her ruin. Don't marry her only for her wealth, perchance her wealth will make her disobedient. Marry her only for her religion . He laid a great stress on her religious habits, as such a wife becomes a helper in religion.

(2) Good Conduct : If the wife is harsh and rough and ungrateful, her harms are more than her benefits. One Azdi met Prophet Ilias who ordered him to marry and prohibited him to have recourse to monkery. Then he said to Azdi : Don't marry four kinds of women — (1) a woman who always seeks dresses

Vol-II The Book of Wordly Usages 31