Marriage (nikāḥ) is central to Islamic moral, legal, and social thought. This study conducts a qualitative content analysis of the Holy Qur’an to explicate both the importance of marriage—its purposes, ethics, and social function—and the procedure of marriage—its core elements, conditions, and safeguards. Guided by a maqāṣid al-sharīʿa (higher objectives of the law) lens integrated with family-sociological theory and principles from uṣūl al-fiqh (legal theory), we analyse a purposively sampled corpus of verses (notably from Sūrat al-Baqarah, al-Nisāʾ, al-Nūr, al-Aḥzāb, al-Ṭalāq, and al-Rūm). Using an a priori coding scheme refined inductively, we identify and interpret thematic clusters: companionship and tranquillity; consent and contract; mahr (dower) and property protections; guardianship and publicness; prohibited degrees and modesty norms; financial responsibilities; dispute resolution and reconciliation; divorce procedures and waiting periods; and child welfare and lineage protection. Findings show the Qur’anic discourse frames marriage as a covenant oriented to compassion (raḥma) and equity (ʿadl), while embedding procedural rules that promote clarity, consent, and community accountability. The study clarifies doctrinal anchors for contemporary policy and pastoral guidance and suggests avenues for further work integrating hadith/fiqh jurisprudence and empirical sociological data. Qur’anic citations are reported throughout using Abdel Haleem’s English translation.
Mannan et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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