Bertrand Russell says...

Bertrand Russell says: According to the theory of Sann Paul, the generation production was only a partial goal of marriage, while its main objective was prevention of adulteration and libertinism.

This was the main role of marriage, which lies in fact warding off the more corruptive with the depraved.[^1] Al-­Ghazali, a sunni eminent thinker, takes into consideration five benefits for marriage as follows: production of children, defeating the carnal lust, giving calmness to self, bringing settlement to the heart, and self ­disciplining.

Among all these he regards survival of offspring to be the most important advantage, saying: “Procreation “walad”: is the origin, and for it marriage “nikaah” is enacted and legalised, with the purpose of maintaining the nasl “offspring, seed” and so as to keep the world from being devoid of mankind.

And lust “shahwah” was created only as a compelling and inciting force for keeping the Nasl.”[^2] The noteworthy point in al-Ghazali's speech being his genus ­inclined view toward issue of marriage, because his explanation of the last three benefits goes on as if all the profits of marriage are gained by men.

In the third advantage, which is giving calmness to self, he says: The human soul becomes fed up and wearied with continual persevered worship and sociability “uns” with women causes the self to get rid of this weariness. In the fourth benefit he says: Since housekeeping is entrusted to the woman, so the man's heart be disengaged and free for worship, with some of his disturbances being eliminated.

In explaining the fifth benefit he said: practising strict self-discipline can be achieved by guardianship of children and family members and providing all their needs and requirements.[^3] Hence, out of these five advantages of marriage two are common between woman and man, but the other three ones pertain only to men. al-Allamah At-Tabataba'i, a great shi'i exegete, takes the main objective of marriage and copulation to lie in permanence of species and procreation of the same offspring.

At the same time he considers subsiding and satisfying the lust and partnership in material living and housekeeping to be out of real essence of marriage, viewing them as preliminaries and preludes for marriage or advantages consequential to it.[^4] He also says: Nature of men pushes them to try to obtain and desire female sex and vice versa.