Commentary on the hadeeth, “A woman may be married for four things…”

 

I have read your Article No. 22 on ( Rulings on Marriage ) I particularly did not understand the following phrase. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: (Women may be married for four things: wealth, beauty, lineage or religious commitment)


Does this mean the woman has to be wealthy, beautiful, come from a good ancestral family and be religiously committed? The final one on religious commitment is very clear to me and I too firmly believe in it; but the others arent. Please clarify. .

Praise be to Allaah.

This hadeeth was narrated by al-Bukhaari (4802) and Muslim
(1466) from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) from the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) who said: “A woman may be
married for four things: her wealth, her lineage, her beauty and her
religious commitment. Seek the one who is religiously-committed, may your
hands be rubbed with dust (i.e., may you prosper).” 

There is nothing in this hadeeth to suggest that it is
enjoined or encouraged to marry a woman for her beauty, lineage or wealth.
Rather what it means is that these are things that people look for in
marriage. Some look for a wife who is beautiful, some look for a wife who is
descended from a noble family, some look for a wealthy wife, and some look
for a wife who is religiously-committed – and this last is what the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) encouraged when he said:
“Seek the one who is religiously-committed, may your hands be rubbed with
dust (i.e., may you prosper).” 

Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in Sharh
Muslim: 

The correct view
concerning the meaning of this hadeeth is that the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) spoke of what people usually do, for they
seek these four characteristics, the last of which in their view is
religious commitment, but you who are seeking to follow the right way should
seek the one who is religiously committed.  This is not a command to do so…
This hadeeth encourages us to seek the company of religiously-committed
people in all things, because the one who keeps company with them will
benefit from their good attitude and good ways, and will be safe from any
bad influence from them. 

Al-Mubaarakfoori said in Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi: 

Al-Qaadi (may Allaah have
mercy on him) said: It is the people’s custom to seek certain
characteristics in women and to choose a wife for a certain quality. It
befits those who are religiously-committed to base their actions on
religious guidance, especially with regard to matters that are serious and
have lasting effects. 

The scholars differed greatly as to the meaning of the words,
“May your hands be rubbed with dust.” Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on
him) said in Sharh Saheeh Muslim: 

The most correct view is that of the muhaqqiqeen, that this
is a phrase which originally ‘May you become poor’, but the Arabs
customarily used it in a sense other than its original meaning, so they
would say things such as, ‘May your hands be rubbed in the dust,’ ‘May
Allaah kill him, how brave he is!’, ‘May he have no mother,’ ‘May you have
no father,’ ‘May his mother be bereft of him,’ ‘Woe to his mother,’ and so
on which they would say in the context of denouncing, rebuking, criticizing,
expressing outrage encouraging an action, or expressing admiration, and so
on.

And Allaah knows best.