Mawadda
Definition
Mawadda is the word the Quran uses in its description of marriage as one of Allah's signs: 'He created for you spouses that you may find tranquility in them, and He placed between you mawadda and rahma.' Mawadda is the warm, active affection that comes from the living of life together — not the initial infatuation but the deep liking that grows from shared history, mutual care, and conscious effort. Al-Ghazali argues that mawadda must be cultivated, not simply expected to persist: the spouses who invest in kind speech, physical affection, generosity, and forgiveness are the ones who find it flourishing.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Mawadda.
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"These two things — contentment with the world and heedlessness of the Lord's signs — never gather except in the heart of one who does not believe in the Return and does not hope for the meeting with the Lord of servants. Otherwise, had his foot been firmly planted in faith in the Return, he would not have been content with this world, nor settled tranquilly into it, nor turned away from the signs of God. If you reflect upon the conditions of people, you will find this kind to be the great majority; they are the inhabitants who build up this world. Fewest in number are those who are otherwise, and such a one is among the most estranged of people among them."
— Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Fawāʾid — Points of Benefit, Volume One
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"However, the deniers, the heedless, and those deceived by the dazzling mirage of worldly life neither see nor hear these signs. They are cut off from hearing and are veiled from their Lord's signs. As Allah says: "They know only the apparent of the worldly life, but they, of the Hereafter, are unaware. Here, hearing refers not to the outward hearing, for they are not cut off from that, but to the inner hearing, which perceives not only sounds but the language of states."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 17: Etiquettes of Travel
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"forth saying, �Perhaps we will follow the sorcerers if they are the victors.� Moses advanced towards the sorcerers and admonished them, forbidding them from engaging in deceitful magic that opposed Allah�s signs and proofs. He said, �Woe to you! Do not fabricate lies against Allah lest He destroy you with a punishment, for whoever fabricates lies has surely failed.� They disputed their affair among themselves."
— Ibn Kathir, The Story of Musa
Appears in
2 books in the library
Hear the term in context.
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