Marriage Breakdown

            Nowadays, the general trend governing marriages is that the husband views his responsibility towards his family as being a purely materialistic one i.e. to provide financially for them (a house, car, clothes, etc). This attitude is resulting in many marriages breaking down since many husbands are seriously deficient in not spending sufficient time with their families - in communicating and interacting with the family and children. Islam presents a different view of the role of the husband, where he is made responsible for the Islamic nurturing and development of his wife and children as well as their psychological and moral welfare. In actual fact the time which he spends with his family is not only a responsibility but an act of Ibaadat(worship) for which he will be rewarded. Sad to note that despite this,

many husbands become restless and seek every opportunity to withdraw from their families by, among other things:

Spending a great deal of time watching sports on TV or going off at weekends to play golf or fishing. He seeks more and more to be away from his family and should the wife raise even the mildest objection, he usually reacts with a great temper tantrum. Sadly, many wives endure this torture of loneliness and neglect with a great deal of bitterness and sorrow, tolerating their miserable condition because they have no where else to go.  How often have you heard a tearful wife say, 'He's got more time for his friends than for me'.

Allah's Messenger (Sallallaahu layhi Wasallam) said, 'The best of you is he who is best to his family'. (Mishkãt) Thus, it is a wakeup call to all husbands to look inside themselves for some love, tolerance, and mercy for their wives and children. Children need BOTH father and mother to be saved from going astray in this harsh reality.