Family Life

The problem of family relations in our times is not so simple that it may be resolved by arranging opinion polls of young boys and girls, or by holding seminars. It is neither confined to any one country, nor has any country so far claimed to have solved it successfully.

Will Durant, the well-known philosopher and author of "History of Civilization", says: "If we suppose that we are living in 2000 A.D. and want to know what was the biggest event of the first quarter of the 20th century, we shall notice that it was neither the First World War nor the Russian Revolution. It actually was the change in the position of women. History has seldom witnessed such an exciting change in such a short time. The home, which was the basis of our social organisation, the conjugal system, which prevented debauchery and gave stability to family life, and the complex moral law which helped us in advancing from barbarism to culture and orderly social behaviour, all have been upset by this revolutionary change".

Even now, when we are living in the third quarter of the 20th century, we, more than ever, hear complaints that the domestic system is collapsing, the basis of matrimony is weakening, the young men are evading marriage, the young women are hating motherhood, the relations between the parents (especially mothers) and the children are deteriorating, modern woman is getting vulgar, love is being replaced with cheap sensuality, cases of divorce are ever growing, the number of children born of unregistered wedlock or marital ties not formally legalised is on the increase and sincerity, respect and cordiality between husband and wife are becoming rare.

Adapted from the book: "Woman and Her Rights" by: "Shahid Murtaza Mutahhari"