 We are assuming Ahadiths in regard to the importance of marriage. Now the second part of the topic is how to choose the spouse in Islam. And that is where the importance of marriage comes in. Because here it's very important because if you and I make a mistake here, it's not only that I'm putting myself into trouble. Also the generation to come also will be affected from my decision. And that is why it's very important. When we come to make a choice of choosing a spouse, I have to think far away. Not to think about today. No, because today I'm a single, I'm going to be a husband. But tomorrow I'm going to be and then become a generation that are coming. They will all be based on the decision that I make today. If that decision is made correctly, the children to come, they will benefit from that decision. If the decision was made wrong, also the children will be affected from that decision as well. That's why it's very important to make sure that when we make the choice, when we want to choose, we have to make the right choice. Number one, here the Prophet tells us that when you want to choose a spouse, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he started from man. He started from man. I said, if a man wants to choose a woman, the Prophet gave four qualities to look for. One of these four, if any of these four is found in a woman, the Prophet said, you are allowed to marry her on the Sunnah of the Prophet. The first condition, the first quality that Prophet mentioned, is the Tunkaul Maratu ala Arba'in. The first one, it says, lima lia. A person wants to marry a woman because she is wealthy. She has a lot of money, you don't want to work, you want to sit, relax, enjoy the money, why not? Tell Islam is so kind. You get a woman just rich, you sit on the couch, there is remote control, you flip all the channels of the wall, the tea is coming back and forth, credit card is working, no zero, no grief. The Prophet said, if that is what you are allowed to marry somebody, you cost her a wall, that's fine. You can marry a woman because of how she looks, her beauty. A woman is mashallah, she looks so super, super beautiful. One of the good things about Islam is this, Islam doesn't say that you have to marry somebody who is not comfortable. As a matter of fact, Islam wants you to marry a woman that when you walk in the house, you are happy that you are coming at home, you are happy when you look at her face, like Imam Ali said about Zahra, he said, He said, anytime I just take a look at Zahra, all my sorrow and pain disappears. That is how a man should be, that when you look at your spouse, when you look at your wife, you are happy by looking at her face because of her beauty, because of her love. The Prophet said, it's another reason a man can be based on to marry a woman. That's number two. Number three, The father is president of the country, the father is a minister, the position, and you know that if you marry her, mashallah, you get another position too. Next to her, as Namze, you have the right to do that. That is option number three. Number four, the Prophet says, You can marry a woman because of her dignity, her faith, her iman, her fear of Allah. He said, you can marry a woman because of these four reasons. Then the Prophet comes back and tells each one of us, he said, you know all the four options that I gave? Yes, y'all, it's on Allah. He said, if you ask me as an aspect, do you want to buy a car, you always look for an aspect in the car, right? So they can give you a good deal, so that we buy a good car, you want to buy a car, so that he can find a good deal. The Prophet said, I'm the aspect in these fields, when it comes to choosing a spouse. So if you want my opinion, I tell you, who is the best out of the four? He said, the best of the four is the one with the deal, the four four. Now, let's say we are Americans, right? We always ask why? We are Americans, anything that you say, you say, why? You tell our children, go to sleep, they say, why? Do you want to know why? Now, let's be Allah, why? Why not the first one? Now, he has the Prophet answered. He says that the reason why I tell you the fourth is the best of all? Yes, man, he said, you marry a woman because of money. He said there is no guarantee the man will stay forever. If the man finish, then the marriage finish, because the reason of marriage is gone. So the marriage is also, it's gone. So it's not a good reason to marry a woman because of that. Today she is 20, 21, Masha'Allah. She looks beautiful. Now, tell me the same thing, she becomes 75. It's the same person. You guys have to see it. So what happened to the marriage? Now the marriage is in trouble, because I don't see what I used to see before. That's what he promises. This is not a good reason. So what should I do? Neither, why? He said because position is always given by people and they can take it through. How many of us vote somebody in the office? The next I say, I didn't know that he's that bad. Next year I'm not voting him in. And then the next year he doesn't get to vote and he doesn't have the position anymore. Oh no, the people vote him. When he does something against their will, they say, you know what, you calm down. That's it, we don't want you anymore. That position is gone. So in all these three, there is no guarantee to base on that to make your marriage work. That's why the Prophet said, these three are not a good reason. Which one is the verse, yeah, Rasulallah? I say the religion. What is the base? He said because the religion is based on Allah and Allah is always and will always be there. Not like other three. And then he said, let me add another three also. And that is, he said, if a person married a woman because of a deen, he said Allah automatically tells the other three, go with this one, which is the fourth one. Which means if a woman, a man married a woman because of a deen, then Allah let the beauty come in. Then Allah send the position to come in. Then Allah, the other three automatically will follow because this is the best of all. That is the Prophet said. Now, this is if the person is a man. Now, what about if it's a woman, she is also looking to marry somebody who is, let's say for example, a woman just looking for, what's the quality that Islam has put in front of a woman to look in order to choose a right spouse? Also the Prophet says, If a man is a man, he will follow his religion. What's the point? He said, when any person, a man, walks into my house and asks my daughter's hand, the Prophet says, look at these two things. Number one, he says, deen, look at this religion. Meenai, is he praying? Is he fasting? Is he fearful of Allah? Not what we always look for. Unfortunately today, when somebody walks into our house for marriage, you know what we ask? We ask impossibles. Impossibles meaning, we ask in things that doesn't exist. Some of us, some of the sisters, and this is from the Prophet's side. Masha'Allah, they give you a list of a person they look like they want Allah to marry according to their ship. Like you go to the car company and you give the car company, oh car company, I want you to make this type of car. Design this car like this for me. They put some conditions, like they tell them Allah, ya Allah, you didn't create anybody with this quality, but this is the person that I'm looking for, so I want you to design a human being like this. For example, I want somebody to be, only say you, you say it's good, and it's not, there is no doubt about that. But it shouldn't be the only reason to base on marriage. Because remember our Prophet, and the Imam they will say it's true, but they marry outside the say it. Which means, it's okay to marry outside the say it. Yes, if a person is a say it, or a say it that I should marry somebody, a say it, it's good. However, that shouldn't be the only reason that if a person is not a say it, I'm not getting married to them. No, that is one problem. Number two, sometimes we even put height. He has to be six foot three. If it's six foot four, I don't want it. If it's six foot and two and a half, I don't want it. It has to be six, three. Allah, come on. Maybe I don't know where Allah swt has created somebody in that size, and looking that this has to be somebody that matches your intention. There's nothing like that. Sometimes we ask, he has. So this is from the brothers. She has to know how to cook Breanne. That's why I don't think she did it. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, brother, have you ever heard something called, she can learn to cook it? There's something called, she can learn how to do it? Why is that? She has to be a person who knows how to cook his food. Alhamdulillah, there's a recipe on all my to Google. She can Google and find anything and then she can learn. What's the big deal? That is one of the problem we have, that we think she has to know how to, and on top of that, he has to have American passport, Canadian passport or Australian passport. If he has, let's say, Ghanaian passport. No, no, no, no. Any other passport that is not these three countries, not in the Middle East. That is one of the choices. Some of the choices, they say he has to have this amount of money. How much? He has to have at least half a million in his account. Allah Akbar, that is one of the conditions. And so many, and so many, and so many, that if you go, we'll make it more complicated than Allah's plan what Allah ask us to do. The Prophet and Imam, they told us to make the marriage very easy so that people can get married. That is not something that Islam has taught us. For that marriage, the Prophet told us one Imam, he told us what you should look for, the religion, he said practicing, he said a Muslim, he said, is he oppressing who fears Allah? That is what is more important. Number two, look at his behavior. It's very important. Because they ask Imam Hussein alaihi salam. As-Suyah, Abba Abdullah, why did the Prophet put this condition for sisters that a man have to have a good character? Imam Hussein says because because when he becomes angry at her, he wouldn't oppress her. If he has a flaw, he always have a limit. He wouldn't go beyond that to oppress the wife. Wa-inah Abba, and if he loves her, when everything is normal, he always will treat her in the right way as well. That's why Akhlaq is very important. Today, one of the reasons why brothers, our marriage has a lot of problems and we have the need of divorce so hard is because we neglect all these things from the Prophet in Al-Bayah and we created our own. And that is the problem that we have. To the Prophet, say, Anyone who walks in and he is a Muslim and good practice Muslim, he say, look at his marriage, his character. If he has these two, the Prophet say, I love him to get married to your wife. Why? If you fail to konfiglatun wa fasadun kebir, the Prophet say, there will be a lot of corruption. And fitna will destroy you and troubles after that if we fail to do that.