National Muslim Marriage Week–First Week of Ramadan

Mark Your Calendar!

By Dr. Cheryl El-Amin, PhD

National Muslim Marriage Week is designated by the first week of Ramadan. Given that this is a time of spiritual renewal and self-reflection for the Muslim community, the Islamic Social Services Association (ISSA-USA) developed this campaign to promote and encourage the community to reflect on their marital and family lives especially at the onset of this blessed month.

What is working in your marital life? What could be improved upon? Take this opportunity to strengthen your bond with your spouse by learning new skills and incorporating positive aspects from the family life of the Prophet Muhammad (s) that will add harmony and love to your own family life. Remember that Allah has promised to put love and mercy into our marriages; we just have to seek it. Healthy marriages lead to healthy families, healthy communities, and thus a healthy society!

For the singles out there, National Muslim Marriage Week is for you too! This campaign encourages communities to make it a priority to assist those single Muslims who wish to marry, to find compatible spouses and build healthy marriage unions. Resources should be available in every community to provide premarital education, advisement, and counseling to men and women. An infrastructure that helps marriage-minded single Muslims meet other marriage-minded single Muslims in an appropriate atmosphere should be developed and encouraged.

During this week ISSA-USA encourages community members to host events or attend a National Muslim Marriage Week event in your area. We also appeal to Imams to incorporate the topic during one of the Friday Ramadan Khutbahs. Check out our National Muslim Marriage Week Facebook page for thought provoking articles and tips to improve your married life or future married life.

We hope you will adopt National Muslim Marriage Week into your respective communities and host an event that celebrates healthy Muslim marriages. Last year, The Muslim Center of Detroit asked married couples to share their tips for a healthy marriage in a brief pre-iftar gathering. It was a great success! A young couple in their thirties (married just out of high school) reflected on the marriage of 17 yrs. Another couple celebrated how Allah brought them together after both had been divorced a number of years…one tip “take care of your health because it will ultimately fall upon your partner to take care of you.”

Please share your ideas for events, and tips in the comment area of our Facebook page.

Happy first day of fasting to all! May Allah accept our fasts, prayers, and efforts to improve Islamic Social Services Association, USA

(adapted from Abuturab’s Allah Centric article, 8/2011)

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