MARRIAGE OR TORTURE

                                 MARRIAGE OR TORTURE

The Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him ) said the Muslims should solemnized Nikah so that his followers would be greater in number and give him a chance to feel proud . In Islam , the Nikah ceremony was always very simple . But no longer . It has been converted into a torture however noble the intentions are ,

We attended a marriage last night . The invitation card said that the Nikah would be at 8 PM ( it was at 11.15 pm) and the dinner would be served at 8.30 PM . The bride’s family arrived at the wedding hall after 10 PM and the baraat arrived at 11 PM . My family and I were allowed to leave the torture chambers at 12.45 AM. We reached home at 1.15 AM . This morning , I got up at 5.45 AM .  Naturally we offered qaza Fajr  prayers .

 Talking about ‘torture chambers ‘ reminded me of an incident that took place in Krakow (Poland) . On  field trips , the programme  included visits to churches and museums only : I found the former very boring and devoid of education . While visiting the grand cathedral in Krakow , I ‘innocently ‘asked the Course Director ‘ where are the torture chambers ‘ . His faced reddened  and I could see that he was trying hard  to control his anger .

Many useless and odious things have crept into system and are becoming  compulsory  rapidly. There were times when invitations were written in  a fine handwriting on Postal cards worth one anna ( the previous currency till it was replaced by Decimal Coinage in 1961). Once  in the 1990s ,we got an invitation card from  an overseas friend containing twelve pages . Marriages were simple affairs and not torturous affairs practiced nowadays . Marriages were also long lasting : divorce was considered a taboo .

Once a friend of mine invited my family and I to his son’s marriage in Lahore . We drove to Lahore  one day before the occasion. On reaching Lahore , I saw the invitation card again and carefully . The programme said that ‘ guests were assemble’ at 8 PM , ‘Baraat departs for the bride’s home/ hotel’ 9 PM blah , blah . I made a quick calculations : that we would not be able to reach home (  we were staying with my sister in law )  before 2 AM. The next morning , we planned to leave for Islamabad . We discussed within ourselves and made a decision to skip the marriage or torture .

Mahfooz ur Rahman

Islamabad

April 07 , 2013