2- The boy and the girl whose life responsibilities were...

2- The boy and the girl whose life responsibilities were, up until now on the shoulders of the parents, do not have the readiness to shoulder that at once, therefore a gap is necessary so that they may prepare themselves to shoulder the weight of joint life responsibilities. The style of birds' lives is very beautiful and based upon wisdom in this respect. The mother bird trains her offspring for a long time to fly and live independently.

She prepares them to organise their own lives and does not let them go away from her until this readiness comes into existence. 3- It is difficult for the boy and girl who were strangers only sometime ago to adjust beside each other without any preliminary stages and all of a sudden start an independent life. It is necessary for them to get familiar and develop attachment to be ready for their common life together.

4- It is possible that the girl and the boy, due to certain reason like those described in chapter four, such as: continuing education or military training, are not prepared to begin a joint and independent life, but do have the readiness to get engaged. So they get engaged, and remain so until such time as the hurdles and restraints are removed and they can marry. 5- The parents of the girl and the boy also need to get prepared for the marriage of their dear ones.

The duration of the engagement provides them with the necessary opportunity to be ready for it. The Benefits of the Engagement Period and the Duties of the Girl and the Boy During It In addition to the needs and benefits, which have been described in the above discussion, i.e.

the need of the engagement period', and the benefits of marriage previously described, the engagement period has independent benefits and, at the same time, the boy and the girl have some duties to perform which are described as follows: 1- The Enhancement of Mutual Recognition and Understanding Although the boy and the girl should have gained sufficient mutual recognition in the phase of selection (described in chapter 6), they must also develop a much closer and intimate recognition, with more knowledge of one another's spirits, morality and views.

In fact this familiarity and recognition of the engagement period accomplishes the recognition developed during the phase of selection. Thereafter, they prepare themselves for and understanding and homogeneity in their joint life, in the reflection of this close and complete recognition.