People often marry without ever having put into words why. Yet intention is not a devotional detail: it changes the value of the act, and it changes how the years that follow are lived.
Sheikh Sulayman ar-Ruhayli states the principle: marriage has purposes the servant should hold in mind at the moment of the contract, and the way a man or a woman looks at marriage must not be a mere look of desire. He adds the reason, and it is valuable: so that the believer's intention matches that of the Legislator, and so that the reward increases.
In other words, aiming at these purposes turns a permitted act into a rewarded one.
Offspring
This is one of the greatest. The sheikh relies on the verse of Surah an-Nahl, whose meaning is that Allah gave you spouses from among yourselves, and from your spouses children and grandchildren.
The hadith he cites points the same way: marry the loving and fertile woman, for I will take pride in your numbers before the prophets on the Day of Resurrection.
Tranquillity, affection and mercy
Here Sheikh ar-Ruhayli says something few discourses on marriage state so plainly: the soul has an emotional need that must be met, and if it is not met through what is lawful, it will demand it through what is unlawful.
The verse of Surah ar-Rum is the reference: Allah created spouses so that you find tranquillity with them, and He placed between you affection and mercy.
Emotional need is therefore not a weakness to be corrected. It is a fact of creation, and marriage is the framework provided to answer it.
Mutual comfort
The same sheikh distinguishes a neighbouring but separate purpose: mutual comfort between the spouses, and through them within the whole family. That is not the same as affection. It is presence, support, not crossing life alone.
Chastity and modesty
It runs both ways, and the sheikh insists on it: for the man as for the woman, preserving chastity and realising modesty is a purpose of the Legislation. That is the sense of the hadith addressed to the young, which we cover in our article on marrying young.
What marriage does to society
Sheikh ar-Ruhayli widens the frame: the preservation of the human race, but also the strengthening of society, by bringing near those who were distant and tying families to one another.
A marriage does not only join two people. It creates kinship where there was none.
A favour that calls for gratitude
Sheikh Muhammad Said Raslan adds the dimension of the heart: when Allah grants a servant marriage, he must acknowledge that favour. And he lists what is really at stake: chastity for oneself and for those in one's care, and righteous offspring, the delight of the eyes in this life and a treasure after death.
What this changes in practice
If you are searching, this list is a filter. A suitor who projects himself into none of these purposes is not looking for a marriage, he is looking for something else. And if you are married, it is a reminder: what you are living has a named aim, and that aim is lost sight of faster than one thinks.