Aslam

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Chapter II: Etiquette of Marriage

(2) Don't spend extravagantly the properties of your husband but protect them. The Prophet said : It is not lawful to give in charity the food of his house without his permission but give such ready food as would be spoilt. Asma's said to her daughter at the time her marriage : You are now going to spend such as life where you shall have to live long and you are going to the bed of such a person with whom you have got no acquaintance. You are going to love one with whom you had no love before. Make for him such a world which will be heaven for you, prepare for him such a bed which will be a pillar for you. Be such a slave for him that he might become your slave. Don't go willingly to him, lest you become to him an object of hatred.
Don't remain far from him, lest he may forget you. When he remains near you, be near him. When he stays distant from you, save your nose, ears and eyes. Let him not get from you except sweet smile. Let him not hear from you except sweet words'. Let him not see in you except beauty.

(3) She would engage herself in good works in the absence of her husband and make enjoyment in the presence of her husband. The Prophet said : If a woman inflicts trouble on her husband, the black-eyed. Hur says : Don't inflict trouble on him.
May God destroy you. Now he is with you, perchance he will leave you soon and come to us.

(4) Don't express sorrow for more than four months and ten days when your husband dies. The Prophet said : It is not lawful for a woman who believes in God and the next world to grieve for more than three days except in the case of the death of her husband for whom she should grieve for four months and ten days and she should stay in her husband's house during this time.

(5) She should do all household affairs to her utmost capacity.

CHAPTER HI

SECTION I

EARNINGS AND TRADE AND COMMERCE

God made the next world the place of reward and punishments and this world the place of efforts, troubles and earnings. Earning is not the aim of human life but it is hereafter and the door to enter it. The world is the seed ground for the men : (1) One kind of men forgets the return and makes the earning of livelihood as the sole object of his life. He is one of those who will be destroyed. (2) Another kind of men makes the return to the next world as his sole object of life and remains busy in earning his livelihood therefor. (3) The third kind of men is near the middle path who keep his goal of return to the next world as fixed and takes to trade and commerce for livelihood . He who does not adopt the straight path in earning livelihood will not get the pleasure of straight path. He who takes the world as the means of earning the next world adopts the rules and regulations of Shariat in search of it and gets the pleasure of the middle path. .

Source: Imam Al-Ghazali, Ihya Ulum al-Din (Revival of the Islamic Sciences)
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