similar to what I thought before I married. I figure I was going to be real careful about who I marry, did everything right to maximise my chances of ending up with someone reliable and with whom I could be happy in the long term. While this probably helped, it does NOT mean the marriage itself will be any less challenging though! i am growing up very painfully, and unexpectedly, via the medium of my marriage.

now I think that – aside from its necessity in propagating a community of Muslims that would mutually assure our ability to practice the deen – marriage is probably the most common crucible through which Allah tests and moulds souls, so as to be fit for heaven.