The Quest for Love & Mercy: Regulations for Marriage & Wedding in Islam by Muhammad al-Jibaly is Book 1 of The Muslim Family series, and it opens the series at the natural starting point: not the wedding day, but everything a Muslim needs to know before it.
Why the Title
Allah describes the bond between spouses in the Qur’an as one built on mawaddah (love) and raḥmah (mercy) — and al-Jibaly takes that pairing as his frame for the whole book: marriage in Islam is a legal contract, but it is also a relationship Allah built on affection and compassion by design, and the regulations exist to protect that, not to override it.
What the Book Covers
The book moves through marriage in the order a Muslim actually encounters it: the importance and advantages of marriage, selecting a spouse, the courting process within Islamic limits, the marriage contract itself, celebrating the wedding, the valīmah (wedding feast), and the marriages Islam forbids. It also gives a practical, step-by-step procedure for conducting a marriage contract, together with a sample marriage certificate — useful for imams and officiants as much as for the couple.
Why English-Speaking Muslims Specifically
Much of the classical fiqh literature on marriage was written for readers already living in a majority-Muslim setting, where custom and law reinforce the Sunnah by default. Al-Jibaly wrote The Muslim Family series to fill the gap that leaves — addressing the questions and complications that come up specifically for Muslims marrying and raising families in English-speaking, non-Muslim societies.
The Muslim Family Series
Quest for Love & Mercy is Book 1 of a four-part series that follows a Muslim family from the wedding through raising children:
All four books are also sold together in the Marriage Series 4-Book Set.
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