Marriage is a sacred relationship. But now its sanctity, essence and beauty seem withered. Modern man has turned it into a bargain. It has rather become a day of ostentation. A huge amount of money is spent on it, nowadays, just for pomp and show and nothing else. We do it, so that people call us rich, which we actually are not. The excess money has made us so spendthrift that we no longer find ourselves valued in society now. Man, who was the crown of creation, has gone off the human values.
We marry our daughters and sons with show off but we never realize its impact on others. If we close our eyes for a moment and ask ourselves – why our daughters commit suicides? Why relations are falling apart? Why families disintegrate everyday? The answer will caught hold of us and point to extravagant marriages. Hitch in our daughters’ marriage is because they cannot afford dowry or bear modern day expenses. How worldly have we become today! That despite knowing that expensive marriage is a curse; we still watch everything as a mute spectator.
Getting a son or a daughter married has become a social function rather than the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (bpuh). The wealthiest person in Arab, Hazrat Abdul Rehman-Bin-Aowf, companion of the beloved Prophet, got married so simply that even the Messenger of Allah (saw) was not invited. However, at present, we spend lakhs of rupess on Wazwan, jewelry, decoration, entertainment, music and unnecessary. We never ponder over its consequences. This nuisance is growing, and if it goes on unbridled, the day is not too far when we will be engulfed by other social evils as well.
The marriage season in Kashmir starts from June which is high time to generate awareness about it. The trend of spending on weddings has unfortunately increased manifold and has negatively impacted our society. Every religion calls for simplicity while our society asks for lavish spending. We need to be wakeful and save a bigger lot of our society from economical and societal breakdown. We are fiscally undergoing tough times due to Covid-19 pandemic. And, in order to restore our economy, we should bring simplicity in our lives.
No doubt, a rich man can marry his children lavishly on this big day. But the wisdom lies, thinking about those who live from hand to mouth in our society. A simple marriage is bliss and remains successful. The crazy ones not only affect us financially, socially but they result in increased stress, family squabbles, distraction, break-ups, etc.
Forgive me to say that it’s the affluent section of our society who make these marriages a show-off and make life troublesome for others. Our literate lot must be vigilant enough about the overspending factor of these marriages. But alas, compared to those unread, they are more extravagant and do their will! They take pride in leaving footprints of reckless spending behind them. Nevertheless, it’s the youth themselves who can stop this craze and save themselves from this quagmire. In order to prove that we are disciplined, educated, and civilized. We must come forward and do something to uproot this evil from our society. It isn’t yet too late to save hundreds of unmarried daughters from isolation. We should make union itself the priority rather than obsessing over wedding details and costs. Our daughters are psychologically tormented, but unfortunately, we are unmoved. If dowry is not given to them, they are harassed and forced to end up their lives. So, let’s wake up and make these marriages simple, successful and happy which Islam has emphasized us.
Manzoor Akash is from Shangergund (Dandoosa) Rafiabad and works in Dept. of Education, J&K.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.