This Ramadhan our theme is Family “Happiness is Homemade.”

Big or small, happy or sad, united or sundered, we all belong to a family.

Whether you like them or love them, hate them or loathe them, value them or appreciate them, or whether you even know who exactly they are, YOU are still part of a family.

So, no matter how fast you run or how far you try and hide, or how much you try and severe your ties and disassociate yourself from them, you can never escape your family.

You will always remain a part of them.

So, when family plays such an important role in who we are, it is imperative that we try and understand “what is family.”

What is Family?

An intimate and relatively permanent domestic group connected by blood or marriage that live together and share social and economic responsibilities is called a family.

It is the smallest and most basic social unit and also the most important primary group found in any society. It is the most immediate group a child is exposed to. In fact, it is the most enduring group, which has a tremendous influence on an individual`s life from birth until death.

It is a basic social institution of social structure. Its evolution was thought to be at the ancient time, while family and kinship relationships were developed through marriage. It is the most basic of all social groupings. It is the first and the most immediate social environment to which a child is exposed.

It is an outstanding primary group because it is where the child develops their basic attitude. Every one of us grow up in a house and every one of us too are a member of a family. We join other groups for longer or shorter periods of time for the satisfaction of different interests but family is with us always.

The family, in general, is a small group consisting ordinarily of a father, mother, one or more children, and sometimes near or distant relatives.

Literally, the English word family is made up of ‘famulus’ which means servant. Extending this word, what we understand is that when people act as servants to each other such relationship is defined as family, each of the members in the house have distinct status and roles, under which familial tasks are performed. Reproduction, nourishment, education, and socialization processes happens through the family. It is an institution of interconnection between two or more people through which social behaviour, customs, beliefs pass from generation to generation.

It is a primary social group, universally recognized to be the basis of all human endeavours and activities. Anthropologists and other social scientists have debated over its origin, functions, and other important aspects of this important social institution. It has been, however, believed that it would be impossible to conceive the progress of man without family organizations.

Tomorrow in sha Allah we will take a look at the definition of family and some of its main characteristics.