To awaken our consciousness, we require three things—study, observation and intellectual exchange with other people. Books are the greatest source of knowledge we can study that we have, the world of nature is the greatest source of knowledge that we can observe, and in the matter of intellectual learning, it is essential for us to form the habit of learning from others, and continue in this learning process. A spouse is an immediate intellectual partner. From this point of view, marriage is a great opportunity for intellectual development, as both people can interact with each other and make intellectual progress together. Intellectual development is essential for everyone. Marriage offers just such an ideal opportunity for intellectual partnership.
Islam is a religion of nature. Copy Arabic text (Sahih al-Bukhari 1385) Copy Arabic text (30:30)
The Quran and Hadith state clearly that Islam is a religion of nature. Every religion that came to the world was religion of nature.
What is religion?
Religion is a spiritual expression of nature. When the phenomena of nature are expressed in relation to human life, we call that religion. Since thousands of years humans have been unaware that husband and wife are life partners for each other. They avail the opportunity of two different minds coming together and doing exchange for their intellectual development. In this way they turn into superhuman. The greatest task of religion is that it turns man into superman. Your potential is awakened and reaches a higher level. Humans are initially at the animal level. We are born on the animal level: we eat, drink and sleep. This is our life. This is living at the animal level. Raising this level is the work of religion. This is what Islam does. This is transforming a person from man to superman. This happens through intellectual development. There is no other way. You may eat delicious food and grow fat or stay in a beautiful house. But intellectual development doesn’t come from material comfort. You may gather a lot of material comfort around you, but this will not give you intellectual development. The Creator's plan is to create men and women different. Then they become life partners. Unfortunately, there are hardly any pairs these days who become intellectual partners for one another.
I don’t know of any such family yet. Why? People don’t know the value of intellectual partnership. They know of things of the lower level, such as shopping, outing, etc. These are activities of the lower level. They don’t know that there are higher opportunities of intellectual exchange with their partner. I do intellectual exchange daily. A price has to be paid to allow intellectual exchange to carry on in a healthy way. You cannot do intellectual exchange without that price. You will remain deprived of the greatest blessing.
What is that?
It is to kill your arrogance. If you are egoistic, then every exchange will become an ego clash. Instead of a dialogue, there will be ego clash. This is why, ego clashes happen in every home. Then there is separation or endless quarrelling. When a husband and wife come together in a house, ego clash happens. This ego clash leads to separation. If there is no separation, the two keep on fighting.
