SPIRIT OF ISLAM AUGUST 2O13

28 Spirit of Islam Issue 8 August 2013 immediate intellectual partner. From this point of view, marriage is a great opportunity for intellectual development, as both people can interact with each other and make intellectual progress together. Intellectual development is essential for everyone. Marriage offers just such an ideal opportunity for intellectual partnership. According to a saying of the Prophet of Islam, men and women are two equal halves of a single unit. The best expression of this equality is that both serve as equal intellectual partners to each other. Husband and wife both are equal partners in carrying on this process of personality development through exchange. Husband and wife are full-time companions, and are available to each other for this purpose, day and night. Through every day intellectual exchange, they increase their creativity, they discover new things, and are partners in mutual learning. Thus they can develop their personality in terms of Tazkia , or purification. God wants to select those women and men who may qualify to settle in this highly refined colony called Paradise. To further boost this process, God Almighty created men and women with differences. We are different in terms of attitude, temperament, tastes and psychology. This difference is not an evil, or a problem. It is instead a boon or blessing. It is this difference of opinion that provides them with subjects of discussion. These discussions of diverse points awaken the mind, and through this awakening of mind, we realize our potential. It is this natural difference that gives us a chance to improve ourselves and attain higher levels of developed personalities. We then become supermen and superwomen. This process of personality development along positive lines is not restricted to the life in this world. It continues into the next, and it is this personality development on positive lines that will enable us to find an entry into God's eternal Paradise. If we ponder upon this reality, we will arrive at a most thrilling discovery, and find that our issues with each other are completely meaningless. Men and women are the masterpieces of God’s creation. Marriage is the coming together of these two masterpieces of creation in a union that can lead them to Paradise. o