Pars Today

Welcome to this week's episode of the series "Iranian Family". One of the factors, contributing to maintaining solid emotional bonds among family members is establishment and reinforcement of happiness within family.

Marriage saves one from loneliness, and leads to the survival of one's generation. The refusal to get married leads to one's imbalance, behavioral abnormality, corruption, and even physical illness. Hence, the best of blessings for any given man and woman is establishment of one's family. The sacred religion of Islam has put emphasis on marriage more than any other divine religion and school of thought. In the view of divine religion of Islam, marriage has been introduced as one of the traditions of divine prophets, and youths who get married have taken a step in line with the innate nature of mankind, and have paved their way to prosperity.

Now, why does Islam place such a significant importance on marriage? Undoubtedly, one of the main reasons is reproduction. The secret behind the survival of creatures and mankind in nature, is the sexual instinct. The other topic of importance is achievement of independence in life. When a youth gets married, he forms a family, and in fact feels a sense of independence, leading to peace of mind, which in turn highly contributes to the individual and the community's growth and development. Maintenance of one's chastity, and immunity from commitment of sins is also an important point. The fact of the matter is that marriage safeguards one's religion. Therefore, marriage is of paramount importance. The majority of criminals are singles, and married individuals are less likely to commit sins or crimes.

Establishment of peace of mind among married individuals also grants importance to marriage. All of the development plans of any given country are granted meaning within the framework of establishment and maintenance of safety and security. Even benefitting from freedoms is tied to establishment of security. Lack of security impedes development. As the result of marriage, social security is shaped, because when the individual gets married, his thoughts and ideas for maintenance of his family's health are developed, which in turns leads to maintenance of the community's health and safety.

Within the contemporary human community, surging personal and social needs have mounted problems within families, and the members of community have developed further individualistic tendencies. Somehow, individuals do not maintain sufficient patience for solving problems, and the foundation of family has become vulnerable due to individualism. Now, what should one do to solve this problem? Some wrongly opt for divorce. Some others get to the root of problems and solve them. Others opt for a logical dialog. At this point, we consider another approach for reinforcement of the foundation of families.

One of the contributors to maintenance and reinforcement of the foundation of family, is happiness. Happiness plays a major role in the growth and development of married couples, and in actualization of the individuals' talents and creativities. In fact, one of the mental and innate needs of mankind is to be happy. Lack of attention to this important human need leads to depression of the members of the family. Family provides the best environment for fulfillment of the spiritual and mental needs of mankind, and is the best means for attainment of peace of mind and a sense of security.

Generally speaking, happiness plays a decisive role in provision of the health of the individual and the society. Happiness can promote physical health. Happy individuals feel safer, can make decisions easier than others, and are more cooperative. Happiness is coupled with content, optimism, hopefulness, and trust, and can therefore play a fateful role in the sustainable development and growth of the families and communities.

Happiness raises the number of white cells after a meal. Experts opine that the mental benefits of happiness are no less than the physical benefits of cheerfulness. In a happy mood, the individual feels empowered, while vague and painful sentiments, headaches, indolence, never-ending imaginations, and concerns rooted in selfishness are wiped out upon formation of a sense of happiness. Even genetic ailments are highly tied to our beliefs and lifestyles. Holy Quran considers happiness as a divine blessing bestowed upon mankind.

The individual attains true happiness if he avoids sins, complies with divine rules and regulations, and establishes immunity from commitment of sins within one's family.

MR/ME