In Sunnah, can marriage be only based on love?

Question

Salam Alikoum,

Please do not take my question as "hollywoodean romantic" question.

I am a man in age to get married, and I guess for many young persons, this is a critical period, to choose the person with who you will have familly it is something that take a big part of my thinking.

I know the Hadith on this topic, and it is preferable to chose a woman that is religious (more than because of her beauty, money and familly).

With taking all distance with this modern idea of "love", did love, as we know it, got a place on our pure religion ? Is it a good idea to get married with a person just because there is "love"? And finally I wanted to know if Prophets, and Sahaba, they felt in love ? Was it something common?

Answer 1

Wa Alaikum As Salam.

Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said, ‏ لم نر للمتحابين مثل النكاح (There is nothing like marriage, for two who love one another) - Ibn Majah (1847). This hadith establishes that two people may be in love and the best thing for them proceeding forward is marriage.

A marriage based on just love, as long as it is conducted properly (per Sharia guidelines including Wali permission, witnesses, etc) is perfectly valid. There is no evidence that says it isn't legit.

However, love marriage is not wise if the person is lacking in key characteristics (e.g righteousness). But if two people love/respect each other based on each other's good character and honesty, much like how Khadijah (ra) was drawn to the Prophet's (ﷺ) beautiful character, the love is pure and the marriage is wise. SubhanAllah.