Listen, you who play with your children's lives based on ethnicity and personal preferences

Listen, you who play with your children's lives based on ethnicity and personal preferences!

What a strange joke, what an amazing irony that parents consider themselves the greatest benefactors, but by tightening the noose of their ego around their children's lives, they don't even let them breathe. That offspring, whom Allah made a trust, sacrificing them in the name of their stubbornness, their desires, their pride, and the supposed honor of their family, is considered an act of worship. However, the Quran declares, *وَلَا تَكْسِبُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ إِلَّا عَلَيْهَا (No soul earns [evil] except against itself)*, but looking at the behavior of our parents, it seems that perhaps this verse was not revealed to them, but was revealed to the people of some other galaxy. And these same parents, *when they erect walls of caste, ethnicity, community, and family in the matter of marriage, they are not only committing injustice but also openly rebelling against the Sharia of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ*, even though the Quran has clearly declared *﴿هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ﴾ (It is He who created you from one soul)*, but it seems that some people are still not ready to abandon the idols made in their family factories.
Those who force marriage have a strange sarcastic wisdom, that they themselves talk about the commands of Allah and His Messenger, but they trample upon the clear command of the same Allah in which He said *فَلَا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ (Do not prevent them [women] from marrying)* and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said *لَا تُنْكَحُ الْأَيِّمُ حَتَّى تُسْتَأْمَرَ وَلَا تُنْكَحُ الْبِكْرُ حَتَّى تُسْتَأْذَنَ (A widow should not be married without her order, and a virgin should not be married without her permission)* but alas, according to some parents, perhaps these hadiths are also fake statuses on social media. Not only this, but the Quran has plunged those who are proud of their ethnicity into the darkness of ignorance *﴿إِذْ جَعَلَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فِي قُلُوبِهِمُ الْحَمِيَّةَ حَمِيَّةَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ﴾ (When those who disbelieved put in their hearts pride - the pride of [pre-Islamic] ignorance)* but today some people are keeping that same ignorance alive in the name of tradition, honor, and family, even though Allah has declared *﴿إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ﴾ (Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you)*, not the one with the big family.
If ethnicity and personal preference really have such a big role, then what will you say about the Holy Prophet ﷺ, and the Companions, and the Followers, the Saints, etc., who married from other ethnicities, other castes, and other tribes? If there is any family most honored in the entire universe, it is the Holy Prophet ﷺ, *Quraysh*, but many women of Quraysh are in other tribes and many Qurayshi men are married to women of other tribes. Do you understand the Sharia more than Allah's Prophet ﷺ and the Companions رضوان الله علیہم اجمعین, or have you taken a contract that you will do as you please, is the Sharia your father's estate?
*Some examples are presented: man from another tribe, woman from another tribe* The greatest revolution of Islam was that it trampled underfoot ethnicity, race, language, color, tribe, and gave man the status of being human. Many marriages took place in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that if today's community-ridden society existed, there would have been riots in the name of these marriages, but the Messenger ﷺ broke all the doors of ethnicity.
*Hazrat Bilal Habshiؓ's marriage in an Arab family* Bilalؓ was a black slave from Abyssinia, considered the lowest rank in Arab society, but Islam gave him such a status that the Arab family accepted him as a son-in-law. This was a clear declaration that Islam does not look at color, race, or property, it only looks at piety.
*Hazrat Salman Farsi رضی اللہ عنہ* marrying into an Arab family in Medina. From Persia, different language, different culture, different ethnicity, but the Prophet ﷺ made him a part of the people of Medina and uprooted the wall between the non-Arab and the Arab.
Hazrat Safia's marriage to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ *Umm al-Mu'minin Hazrat Safia رضی اللہ عنہا* was from the Jewish tribe of Bani Nadir. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ showed the whole world by marrying her that Islam is based not on ethnicity and race, but on faith and humanity. *Umm al-Mu'minin Hazrat Juwairiyah رضی اللہ عنہا* marrying the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Banu Mustaliq was a separate tribe, a separate civilization, but the Prophet ﷺ married her and hundreds of people from her tribe accepted Islam because of this blessing. Islam never made ethnicity an obstacle to marriage.
*Hazrat Umar Farooq رضی اللہ عنہ* marrying his daughter *Hafsa رضی اللہ عنہا* to the religious disciple Nafi رضی اللہ عنہ, not being a Qurayshi was a problem, nor the difference between freedom and slavery, Hazrat Umar only saw religion, not lineage.
Hazrat Abu Hudhaifa رضی اللہ عنہ's sister marrying Salim رضی اللہ عنہ, the freed slave of Abi Hudhaifa, is the most powerful example of Islam. A slave found a place in the family that was placed in the ranks of the nobles in the days of ignorance. This is proof of Islam's revolutionary equality.
*Hazrat Fatima bint Qais* marrying *Usama bin Zaid رضی اللہ عنہ*, Usama was born in a slave's house, and Fatima was a Qurayshi, but the Holy Prophet ﷺ arranged their marriage. This was a declaration that the standard of marriage is righteousness, not lineage.
What a strange joke it is that parents trivialize the feelings of their children as foolishness and call every stubbornness of theirs experience and violate their rights. They forget that if, as a result of forced marriage, the offspring keeps breaking down throughout their lives, then they will be accountable on the Day of Judgment. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said 
*مَنْ ضَارَّ مُسْلِمًا ضَارَّهُ اللَّهُ (Whoever harms a Muslim, Allah will harm him)* but here, causing harm is considered the birthright of parents, while the Quran gives precedence to faith over lineage and says *﴿إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ﴾ (The believers are but brothers)* and here brotherhood is through faith, not through community, the essence is faith, but our society believes more in the stamp of community than in faith.
Some parents consider the building of their ego to be a mountain, that if even one brick is removed, the world will shake, but the Quran shouts out *إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْتَكْبِرِينَ (Indeed, Allah does not like the arrogant)* and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ trampled on ethnicity-based pride in this way *دَعُوهَا فَإِنَّهَا مُنْتِنَةٌ (Leave it, for it is foul-smelling)* That is why the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not set any condition of community but said *إِذَا أَتَاكُمْ مَنْ تَرْضَوْنَ دِينَهُ وَخُلُقَهُ فَزَوِّجُوهُ (When someone comes to you whose religion and character you approve of, then marry him)* The Companions set examples by breaking ethnicity, the Followers and Saints also adopted the same path, but today's parents, they think that perhaps the standard of faith is not determined by Allah but by the head of their community.
Finally, listen to that sarcastic truth as well, that when the offspring, after ruining a forced marriage, asks one day, "Why did you ruin my life?" then in response, a very radiant sentence is heard, *We did it for your betterment* as if Allah sent them not as humans but as prophets who write destiny, although the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has clearly stated *إِنَّمَا الطَّاعَةُ فِي الْمَعْرُوفِ (Obedience is only in what is good)* Since when has oppression, coercion, murder of emotions, the idol of ethnicity become good? The Quran called the decision based on ethnicity ignorance, the hadith called it foul-smelling, the Companions broke it, the Followers rejected it, the Saints considered it insignificant, and today you are making your caste greater than the command of Allah? Those who stop relationships based on ethnicity and community are oppressors, heirs of ignorance, and deserving of Allah's severe punishment. Alas, they neither see this oppression nor do they know its consequences.

               *✍️Student of Al-Jamia Al-Ashrafia✍️*