Marriage is a sunnah, a practice of the prophets. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Marriage is my sunnah. Whoever does not follow my sunnah is not of me. So marry, for I will take pride in the size of my community on the Day of Judgement.” (Sunan Ibn Majah, hadith 1846)
The Prophet encouraged those who can afford to marry to do so at the right time. Through marriage a person guards their gaze and protects their chastity.
The Messenger of Allah said: “O young people, whoever among you is able to marry should marry, for it helps lower the gaze and guard chastity.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith 5066)
In Islam the bond between husband and wife is a sacred one of love, kindness, mutual support and trust, and on it the family is built.
In Bangladeshi culture a husband usually calls his wife by her name. In rural areas many say “ogo” or “ei”. Some address each other through their child, as “so-and-so’s father” or “so-and-so’s mother”. In modern urban life most couples call each other by name. Some, now and then, slip into calling each other brother or sister. So may a husband and wife call each other brother or sister, and what does Islam say?
Husbands and wives are forbidden from calling each other brother and sister, and should avoid it even in jest. Doing so does not, however, harm the marriage, and it does not amount to divorce. (Radd al-Muhtar, volume 3, page 470)
A hadith relates: “A man said to his wife, ‘O my sister.’ The Messenger of Allah said, ‘Is she your sister?’ He disliked this form of address and forbade it.” (Sunan Abu Dawud, hadith 2210)
This hadith shows that spouses should not call each other brother or sister. The Prophet would affectionately call Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) “Aish” or “Humayra”.
Answering a question on his YouTube channel, Shaikh Ahmadullah, chairman of the As-Sunnah Foundation, said: “There is a prohibition in the hadith on calling one’s husband brother or one’s wife sister. Calling the husband brother or the wife sister does not break the marriage, and calling the husband brother does not mean divorce. But it is not the better way.”
Where needed, spouses should call each other by name or address each other through their child, as “so-and-so’s father” or “so-and-so’s mother”, Shaikh Ahmadullah said.
A fatwa in the monthly Al-Kawsar says husbands and wives are forbidden from addressing each other as brother and sister. When a man addressed his wife as sister, the Messenger of Allah told him not to address her that way. Spouses should therefore avoid it even in jest. If it is said, it does no harm to the marriage. (Sunan Abu Dawud, hadith 2210; Fath al-Qadir, volume 4, page 91; Al-Bahr al-Ra’iq, volume 4, page 98)
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report