Cleanliness is half of faith and so is marriage, so if one gets married and then keeps him/herself neat and tidy, does it means that emaan is completed?Was that all the faith? To be clean and married?
And what about the people who can't get married for any reason? Would there emaan be incomplete?
What if one gets married twice! Would his imaan be complete instead of half complete?
What if one gets divorced? Would his half faith be wasted or incomplete?
For exact understanding of the matter, it is important to have a look at the actual hadith having commandments about cleanliness and marriage. Both of the hadith under consideration are actually a part of two long hadiths.
Narrated by Anas ibn Malik, Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said, "When a man marries he has fulfilled half of the €deen'; so let him fear Allah regarding the remaining half." At-Tirmidhi Hadith 3096
And the other one is:
Narrated Ab» Mlik Al-Hrith bin sim Al-Ash'ari: Allah's Messenger said, €Cleanliness is half of Faith; the utterance of Allah (Al-hamdu lillah - all praise belongs to Allah) fills the scales of good actions; the utterance of Allah (Glory be to Allah and all praise belongs to Allah) fills the space between the heavens and the earth, and Salt (prayer) is light; and charity is the proof of Faith; and endurance is a light, and the Qur'n is a plea in your favour or against you. Every person begins the morning ready to strike a deal with his soul as a stake; he either ransoms it or puts it into perdition.€ (Muslim)
First of all, one point is to be clarified here, that matters of deen are not simple mathematics,
+= 1
word half is used to indicate the importance of both cleanliness and marriage.
In the later hadeeth, word cleanliness is actually just a single translation of the actual Arabic word used in hadeeth which is €TAHAARA€. Tahara means purity, cleanliness etc. different scholars have took cleanliness in different meanings, some consider it in means of ablution, wudu.Some consider it at bodily cleanliness, some take in sense of cleanliness of soul or thought. Word purity can more diversely define the actual context of hadeeth. In Islam there are two dimensions of tahara, Inner tahara and Outer tahara
Inner tahara:
It includes purity of mind and thought process, whatever you think eventually becomes your actions, this I scientifically proved that thoughts make our habits and actions. So a clean mind and thinking process will obviously help you to complete your emaan. Similarly, upholding five pillars of Islam, doing a lot of dikar, reciting Quran, offering nawafil, all these constitute a large percentage of completeness of faith. Likewise taking care of actions, speaking truth, honesty, justice, avoiding anger, hatred and other negative deeds also contribute to purity of inner self and thus completeness of faith.
Outer tahara:
Outer tahara includes physical cleanliness. For example taking bath, doing ablution, wearing clean clothes, cleaning teeth, and also keeping home and environment clean.
Now coming towards the second part of question, the other hadeeth €When a man marries he has fulfilled half of the €deen' €.
Marriage is also a complete set of religious duties. It is not mere a bond between two individual. It teaches one tolerance, sense of responsibility, how to behave in leadership roles, how be sympathetic, merciful and forceful when necessary. It helps one guard one's chastity and control sexual desires. Moreover, both the partners are guard of each other and can correct matters of deen of each other.
Marriage and cleanliness must not be considered simple acts, as they have so many other matters associated with them.If we take in account all related aspects of purity and marriage, no doubt both of these are important components of Islam and if implemented properly with all their accessories; they will cover all traits of faith.
previous post
next post