https://youtu.be/BBNLkC7RWoM Auto-generated transcript: Bismillah walhamdulillah wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah. Wa ba'd. My brothers and sisters, a friend of mine asked me to share some thoughts on what makes a happy marriage. And I guess I have some claim to speaking on this subject because my wife and I, we've been happily married now for 40 years. We got married in 1985 and now it's 2025. Very quick short list of what makes a happy marriage. And then maybe we'll talk about it. Maybe we'll talk a little more in detail. Very short list. Number one, marry after you start your career. I'm not saying after you achieve your long-term goals because that's, you know, takes a long time. You want to get married before that. You need a companion in your life who you can literally trust with your life. So you need a partner. Believe me, I'm all 100% for it. Believe me, I'm all 100% for it. Believe me, I'm all 100% for it. I'm in favor of getting married. I think there's people who are not married are really missing out a very, very major part of their life. So it's very important to get married. The question is when. So the first thing is when your career has started. I started working in 1979. I got married in 1985. So that's to give you some idea. And there's no compromise. There's no exceptions to what I'm about to say. Get married only, and only and only, if you can support your wife. Totally and completely. I'm talking to the men because in Islam, it is the job of the man to support his wife, not vice versa. So, make sure that you can financially support your wife. Not with anybody's help, yourself. If you say, well, you know, I can support my wife, I'm getting married, my parents said we could stay with them and my dad will pay the bills. No, sorry. You're marrying the woman, not your dad. Your dad will pay for the woman that he's married to. You pay for the woman that you're married to. And if you cannot pay, then take cold showers and fast. Because that is what Rasool Allah told us. They had this very clear, he said, when a person, when a young man is ready to be married, he should marry. He should not delay. They asked him, what is ready? He said, ready is when you can support your wife. That is ready. Ready is not when you are, you know, just full of emotions, full of hormones. No, that's not ready. So, ready when you… So, start your career and then get married. So, the number one age at which you get married, because then you need some level of maturity. I got married at the age of 40… at the age of 30. Presumably, I had some maturity. Women tend to be more mature and they get mature earlier than men. I am not talking about physical maturity. I'm talking about emotional maturity. Wisdom, understanding and so on. Women get that faster than men do. And so, if you compare two 90-year-olds, they are not that young. The man is 19 physically and… Morning! Morning! Physically and mentally and emotionally, the woman is at least 25. So, it's important to have parity in that. So get married when you are emotionally mature. And third thing is get married when you have the wherewithal, the means to support your wife. You, yourself. You, yourself. Without help from anyone, not parents, not anybody else. So three, in my view, very important criteria for success in marriage. So, I did that. Fourth criterion is to marry somebody who has… A personal interest, a personal, you know, career even, which she is serious about. And ensure that you give each other space to be able to fulfill yourselves in that area of your life, in the area of… Your career, your choices. Now, career doesn't necessarily mean that your wife has to work for some corporate organization, you know, traveling all over the world and so on. That is not a good idea because the whole point of marriage is to be together. And if you have… Some people have this weekend marriages kind of thing, you know. You see each other only on the weekends.
