الآية رقم (83) - وَإِذْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ لاَ تَعْبُدُونَ إِلاَّ اللّهَ وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَاناً وَذِي الْقُرْبَى وَالْيَتَامَى وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَقُولُواْ لِلنَّاسِ حُسْناً وَأَقِيمُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَآتُواْ الزَّكَاةَ ثُمَّ تَوَلَّيْتُمْ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً مِّنكُمْ وَأَنتُم مِّعْرِضُونَ

(83) - “And [recall] when We took the covenant from the Children of Israel, [enjoining upon them], ‘Do not worship except Allah; and to parents do good and to relatives, orphans, and the needy. And speak to people good [words] and establish prayer and give zakah.’ Then you turned away, except a few of you, and you were refusing.”

Allah U has named the marriage contract a solemn covenant, thus describing it with the greatest term. This is due to the extent of responsibilities found in it. Observe the greatness of Islam and the rights it gives to women through marriage!

Allah U had taken the covenant from the Israelites regarding 8 things:

The first item in the covenant:

لا تَعْبُدُونَ إِلاَّ اللَّهَ﴿ “Do not worship except Allah.”

Every single one of the Divine Messages from Allah U enjoins people to worship Him, not to associate partners with Him and not to worship anything else along with Him. They were given these enjoinments through the Book that was revealed to them and the Prophet who had been sent to them. Musa u and the Torah too were included in this covenant. So, Allah U had asked them to take the covenant not to associate any other Deity with Allah U. “Shirik” or associating partners with Allah U, does not necessarily mean the worshipping of idols, the sun or the moon. The other deity could be the desire, wealth, lust or power. Allah U says:

أَرَأَيتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلٰهَهُ هَواهُ أَفَأَنتَ تَكونُ عَلَيهِ وَكيلًا﴿

“Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire?”

 [Surah Furqan: 43]

Taking the desire as god means that you make yourself as the one you worship other than Allah U, as worshipping Allah U means obeying His Commands.