Why Marriage is 'Half of Faith'

There is a hadith (a report) of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) that goes "man tazawwaja faqad istakmala nisfa al-imaan falyattiqi Allaha fi an-nisf al-baaqi." Translated, it means that "whoever marries has completed half of his faith. So let him beware of Allah regarding the other half."

What does it mean that marriage leads to the completion of half our faith? 

When one is married one never feels alone. Even if one is in a bad marriage, one always has in the back (or the front) of one's mind one's other half. One's other half is thus a constant in one's life. Is this not the role that God should play in our lives? Is not God meant to be the constant that anchors our restless souls struggling to main equilibrium whilst being tossed around in the turbulent dunya (worldliness) that surrounds us? 

The relationship of marriage is thus analogous to the relationship a creation has with its Creator. Marriage trains us in how we should relate to God. In this training we learn about how to cultivate a deep relationship with God, so deep that it may be said to equal 'half of faith.'


For a more scholarly view, we turn to Abdur Rahman Doi, who writes:

The Prophet (s) considered marriage for a Muslim as “half of his religion” because it may shield him from promiscuity, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, and the life which ultimately lead to many other crimes including slander, quarrel, homicide, loss of property and finally the disintegration of the ideal family system on which so much stress has been placed by the Holy Prophet (s). (Shariah: The Islamic Law by Abdur Rahman Doi; p. 119)