Why are divorces increasing, and how can a young couple avoid it?

Many marriages break down because the partners were used to a freedom without commitment beforehand, which sits badly with the duties of marriage. Whoever wants to protect marriages has to go to the root, the decline of morals in society.

The rise in divorce does not only affect young couples. It runs through every age group. It reveals a deeper dissatisfaction that has to do with society as a whole, not only with individual marriages.

One important cause lies in the time before marriage. Many people live together with a partner as husband and wife without being married, and they also change partners. They grow used to a freedom without firm rules. When they then marry, duties and limits suddenly apply. The old habit disturbs the new life, and many marriages break down over it.

That is why Islam not only forbids adultery but teaches people not even to come near it, as the second verse above says. This protects more than the individual. It prepares people to live faithfulness as something natural, even before they marry.

For a young couple this means seeing marriage as a bond in which both are meant to find peace in each other. According to the first verse, love and tenderness are a gift from God that needs to be cared for. According to the hadith above, good conduct towards one another is a measure of faith itself. And when conflict comes, the Holy Qur’an provides for arbiters from both families to help before anyone gives up.