Chastity: an Objective of Marriage

The two main religions of the Eastern Mediterranean Region attach great importance to marriage and marital relationships.

3.1 In the Glorious Quran, its primary source of law, Islam pays particular attention to marriage, showering it with such distinctive veneration that makes it unique among all human contracts.

The Quran makes clear that marriage is a divine favour that God bestows on His servants:. "God has given you spouses from among yourselves and, through your spouses, sons and grandsons,. He has provided you with good things: will they then believe infalsefzood and deny God'sfavours ?" (16;72).

The creation of spouses is described as a sign of God's limitless power: " Among His signs is that He created for you spouses from among yourselves, that you may live in peace with them, and spread love and compassion between you and them; surely; there are signs in that for those who reflect" (30;.21).

Islam makes it the responsibility of society as a whole to facilitate marriage for both men and women. In the Quran we read: "Give in marriage those among you who are single and those of your male and female slaves whoare pious. If they are poor, God will grant them sufficiency of His bounty; for He is munificent, all-knowing.  Let those who cannot afford to marry live in continence until God grants them sufficiency out of His bounty"  (24;'32-33).

Islamic statements point out that among the purposes of marriage, is the protection of men and women against immoral behaviour resulting from sexual permissiveness. A married person is, generally speaking, satisfied with what God has lawfully provided for him or her, and would not go 'beyond that and infringe upon'the limits laid down by God. It is for this reason that the Prophet of Islam (peace be on him) urges those who can afford marriage not to delay it. He says: "Young men! Whoever has sufficient means should get married. It would help him to lower his gaze and protect his chastity. But those who cannot should resort to fasting for fasting is a good restraint of the sexual drive" (Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim  on the authority of Abdullah ibn Massoud).

Emphasizing that chastity is one of the aims of marriage, the Prophet says: "When one of you looks at a woman (in a sexsual sense) he should go to his wife for that would satisfy his desire" (Related by Muslim on the authority of Jabir ibn Abdulah).

"Islam also enjoins upon its followers to practice and enjoy sex fully within marriage making it a commendable act, worthy of reward. It advises gentleness and tenderness in courtship, foreplay and eroticism during love-making, and requires the two spouses to help each other attain pleasure and satisfaction from the act"(8).

The Quran has, in general terms, restricted sex to man age and considered any sexual activity outsidenit a forbidden transgression, God says in the Quran: "And those who are mindful of their chastity, fulfilling their desires only with their spouses and whomever their right hands may possess, since then they are free from blame, Those who hanker after anything beyond that are indeed transgressors. (23; 5- 7).

3.2 Christianity's encouragement of marriage and its interest in it are well documented in both the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible.

We read in the Old Testament that it is God who made the institution of marriage appropriate for human beings: "Then the Lord God said,  It is not good that the man (Adam) should be alone,I will make him a helper fit for him" (Genesis: 2,18). The Torah also looks at men and women in similar vein:
"This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman,   because she was taken out of Man.  Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and other cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" (Genesis:2,21 passim).

Christian scriptures also take an interest in mariage, which they conslder as sacrosanct, and urge that "the husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband", maintaining that this is a right specifically for them to exercise to the exclusion of everyone else, for, "the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does". (Corinthians: 7,2-4)

Paul says in his First Letter to the Corinthians, "To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well them to remain single as I do.  But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry.  For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion" (7,8 passim).  He also says to them, "Now concerning the matters upon wihich you wrote.  It is well for a man not to touch a woman.  But because of the temptation, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband" (7,1-2).

3.3By preserving their chastity within marriage, Muslims and Christians protect themselves against the most risky source of infection with the AIDS virus and other sexually transmitted diseases, This objective can only be achieved through chaste, clean marriage, It is for this reason that Islam prohibits man.ying prostitutes, Following the revelation of the Quranic verse which says, "The Adulterer may marry only an adulteress or one who associates partners with God. All this is forbidden to believer" (24; 3).   The Prophet, (peace be on him) instructed one of his companions not to marry a prostitute with whom he had a relationship prior to his becoming a Muslim. He said to him: "Do not marry her"  (Sunan An-Nassa'ie).

According to the Glorious Quran, God pennits marriage with virtuous women who are believers or followers of earlier religions (i,e, Christianity and Judaism) because such women are chaste and of good moral calibre, It also allows marriage for men on condition that they also are chaste and not promiscuous, Whoever rejects this Quranic ruling and does not observe it is an infidel whose marriage can only be recognised by infidels like himself. Anyone who accepts this ruling but acts contrary to it by establishing a forbidden relationship is considered an adulterer.

The Quranic verse cited above follows the verse dealing with the flogging of adulterers: "As for the adulterers and Ihe adulterer -flog each (if them wilh a hundred lashes" (24;2). In this instance the punishment is physical, while the other is a moral one. The prohibition of marriage to adulterers, both male and female, is akin, in modem convention, to stripping someone of his nationality or national honour, or depriving someone of certain rights.

Christianity also forbids marriage to both male and female, adulterers and considers "marriage to a divorcee, man or woman, whose divorce came as a result of committing adultery" as unlawful (I I). Adultery between two Christians prohibits either party from entering into a marital relationship with the other.

3.4 Thus, according to religious law, marriage is the only pennissible way that God has prescribed for men and women to enjoy the physical aspects of the sexual relationship. All other fonns of sexual contact that take place outside a proper marriage are sinful and unlawful. Perhaps it is interesting to reflect here that the phenomena of espousal and the existence of the male and the female are not exclusive to man. Duality is a fundamental and constant feature of all God's creation. God says in the Quran: "Glory be to Him Who created all pairs out of what grows in the earth, among (mankind) themselves and out of that of which they have no knowledge" (36:36)  "And out of everything, We have created a pair, so that you may remember" (51 :49).

Therefore, one of the prominent themes emerging during the Regional Consultation on the Role of Ethics and Religion in the Prevention and Control of AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases, is that "marriage is a major solution to these problems, as it protects young people. Nevertheless, it is tremendously difficult to achieve.  It is just not sufficient simply to advise young people to abstain from sexual activity while all around them is inviting and full of temptation. We must, therefore, facilitate marriage and remove all financial, social and traditional obstacles that prevent it" (13) .

One of the Consultation's final recommendations is that in order to protect young people against sexual misdemeanour, early marriages must be encouraged by solving the social and economic problems that are currently causing the average age at which people get married to be high. Early marriage must also be accompanied by a call for proper family planning in order to delay pregnancy and childbirth".