An exploratory study into the perceptions of young Muslim South African adults regarding marriage.

[摘要] Marriage is an important phenomenon that occurs in most societies across the world.Within the Islamic belief system, marriage is regarded as a sacred union and isobligatory on all Muslim people. This qualitative study explored the perceptions thateight young Muslim South African adults have regarding marriage, using semistructuredinterviews. The data was analysed by following a thematic contentanalysis framework which highlighted aspects such as the extent to whichparticipants ascribed to their religious beliefs regarding marriage, any societalinfluences that may have shaped their views on marriage as well as the factorsthey believed lead to the success as well as the breakdown of marriages. From theresults, it was evident that young Muslim South African adults had positive views onmarriage, and expected to get married at some point in their lives. This was primarilydue to their religious Islamic backgrounds and family upbringings. Moreover, theresults indicated that young Muslim adults are more flexible with regard to engagingin pre-marital romantic relationships, yet continued to hold marriage in highregard. Participants outlined factors such as teamwork from spouses, trust,commitment, understanding, honesty as well as communication between spouses asintegral in achieving and maintaining a successful marriage. These perceptions arediscussed in relation to findings from other studies. The need for pre-maritalprogrammes for young Muslim adults is highlighted.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand