Areas › Your marriage › Affection and touch
Kiss, hold, and touch each other daily, at partings, reunions, and before bed. Learn the touch your partner likes.
Affection is not only for special moments. Small, regular touch keeps warmth and closeness alive.
Qur’an and Sunnah
He created spouses for you to live with in tranquillity, and ordained love and kindness between you (Quran 30:21). Affection is a sign of the love He placed between you.
وَمِنۡ ءَايَٰتِهِۦٓ أَنۡ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنۡ أَنفُسِكُمۡ أَزۡوَٰجࣰ ا لِّتَسۡكُنُوٓاْ إِلَيۡهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيۡنَكُم مَّوَدَّةࣰ وَرَحۡمَةًۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَأٓيَٰتࣲ لِّقَوۡمࣲ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
Another of His signs is that He created spouses from among yourselves for you to live with in tranquillity: He ordained love and kindness between you. There truly are signs in this for those who reflect
Qur’an 30:21read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
Regular, welcomed affection, a lingering kiss, a held hand, keeps the physical bond warm; couples who keep touching stay closer through the ordinary days.
Gottman, J.; Coan, J.; Carrere, S.; Swanson, C. (1998). Predicting Marital Happiness and Stability from Newlywed Interactions. Journal of Marriage and the Family doi
Newlywed interaction patterns; accepting influence; soft start-up.
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
Frequent, wanted physical affection sustains the bond of closeness between partners.
Where this sits: Gottman method, Turn Toward; Small Things Often (affection).
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.