except the wife's acceptance. After that, which scarcely happens, both the man and the woman have to get married to another mates.
Marital relationships in Islam are based on just partnership in which both partners comply with the other's feelings, their relations with their family, their friends and relatives. Additionally, each should take into consideration the other's working conditions, as well as his or her financial and social position. Each also has to keep the other's secrets and vindicate his/her house in his/ her absence. This relationship is determined by God's rules as stipulated in His verses. It is a sacred relationship that pertains to the couple without the intervention of any third party in their peculiar affairs and relations or in the style of their life. Such a relationship is based first on the principles of intimacy and mercy confirmed by Islam because it is God's will, their Creator and their Lord. In request to reminding people of God's wisdom and the marvels of creation, the Holy Quran indicates:
"So glory be to Allah, ye when reach eventide, and when ye rise in the morning; Yea, to Him be praise, in the heavens and on earth; and in the late afternoon and when the day begins to decline. It is He Who brings out the living from the dead , and brings out the dead from the living, and who gives life to the earth after it is dead; and thus shall ye be brought out (from the dead).” (Surah Al-Roum ‘The Romans’, Verses 17-19)
And in the following verse, we read: "Among His Signs is this, that He created you from dust; and then behold, ye are men scattered (far and wide).” (Surah Al-Roum, Verse 20)
This is a premise and a reminder to everyone who embraces Islam and follows its doctrine to remind them that they are one of God's creatures equal to all others. This also reminds Muslims to acquire permanent feelings of the creator's strength and reminds them of their duty to perform good deeds and to treat all human beings with love and peace without distinction regarding their color or their race. Then we come to the provisions included in the Holy Quran regarding marital relations. In this respect, the Holy Quran states: "And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquility with them, and he has put love and mercy between your (hearts); verily in that are Signs for those who reflect." (Surah Al-Roum, Verse 21)
The rule and the basis on which the marital relationship in Islam should be based are represented in two words – ‘intimacy’ and ‘mercy’. The husband and the wife are but the man and the woman who form all the human community. This relationship is the family's umbrella and the framework within its limits the family survives and through which the parents become a pattern for the children to follow. The woman is the mirror from which an image of life reflects; an image that the sons and the daughters – fathers and mothers of tomorrow – will imitate. Islam identified a method and a light (intimacy and mercy) on which the marital relationship should rely. These two features are two of the most superior human moral principles. The other feature on which marital relationships should be based is the residence or the accommodation