The Consequences of Bachelorhood

Bachelorhood- turning away from marriage, in spite of the reasons which may be calling to it, is considered from the great calamities which may lead an interrelated society towards disintegration and breakdown. This is so because the family represents the basic fort for the society; once this fort is hit, the entire society will be blown with the wind on the social level. And the western experience presents an example of this with its disintegration and social problems.

Henceforth, it was The Creator’s Wisdom and Knowledge about the welfare of the mankind to demonstrate the detestability of bachelorhood and to impose marriage on the one who fears to slip into what is forbidden. There are many narratives related to Allah’s prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) in which he dispraised the abandonment of marriage; it is related that he (Allah’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) said, «The worst among those who die from you are the single ones.»¹

It is related in another narrative that Allah’s prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) asked a man named Akaf, «Do you have a wife?» Akaf answered, «No, O Allah’s prophet.» He (Allah’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) asked him, «Do you have a bond maid?» He answered, «No, O Allah’s prophet.» He (Allah’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) asked him, «Are you well to do?» He answered, «Yes, I am.» Then, Allah’s prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) said to him, «Get married; otherwise, you will be from the sinners.»²

It is necessary here to shed light on some people’s concept that turning away from marriage is a good issue which aims at deadening the desire and cultivating the soul, thus conceiving that abandoning marriage is from the paths which lead to The Most High Allah. This belief is not in harmony with the biography of The Noblest Prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) and the Household (Allah’s prayers and peace bestowed upon them). They, as the rest of the people, used to get married. Even more, The Noblest Prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) used to always spur on the people to get married, and it is related that he (Allah’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) prevented one of his companions, who was from those who isolated themselves from the people for the sake of worship, from bachelorhood and said to him, «There is no monasticism in Islam.»³

In addition, it is related that one woman said to Abou Jaafar Al-Baqer (Allah’s peace bestowed upon him), «I am a celibate.» He (Allah’s peace bestowed upon him) asked her, «What is celibacy according to you?» She answered, «I do no want to get married ever.» He (Allah’s peace bestowed upon him) asked her, «Why?» She answered, «I am beseeching favor.» He (Allah’s peace bestowed upon him), then, said to her, «Go away! Had there been any favor in that, Fatima (Allah’s peace bestowed upon her) would have been more deserving of it than you are, for no one is to forgo her in this favor.»⁴

The Justifications of the Abandonment of Marriage

Some youths may justify their abandonment and delay of marriage with that the financial situation does not permit them to. This is prohibited as is related in the narratives; it is related that The Noblest Prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household) said, «He who abandons marriage for the fear of poverty has then mistrusted The Most Glorious and Reverent Allah, for The Most Glorious and Reverent Allah says, {…If they be poor, Allah will enrich them out of His Bounty…}⁵»⁶

The Most High Allah, therefore, is the custody of the married person as is demonstrated in the just mentioned Aya and in the following narrative ascribed to The Noblest Prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace bestowed upon him and his Household): «Get married; this will bring you more sustenance.»⁷

1- Why is Islam so interested in marriage?
2- What are the vices of bachelorhood and its affect on the society?
3- Talk about the psychological instincts and about the relationship which marriage has to them.
4- What are the Islamic aims from the establishment of the family?

1- Bihar Al-Anwar [The Seas of Lights]/ The Scholar Al-Majlisi/ Part Hundred/ Page 220
2- Meezan Al-Hekma [The Standard of Sagacity]/ Mohammadi Al-Rishahri/ Part Two/ Page 1180
3- Mustadrak Safinat Al-Bihar [Making Up for the Ship of the Seas]/ The Islamic Publication Institution/ Part Four/ Page 261
4- Meezan Al-Hekma/ Part Two/ Page 1180
5- The Noble Qur’an/ Al-Nour [The Light] Surah/ Aya 32
6- Wasa’el Al-Sheeaa [The Means of the Shiite]/ Part Twenty/ Page 42
7- Meezan Al-Hekma [The Standard of Sagacity]/ Mohammadi Al-Rishahri/ Part Two/ Page 1179