Family in Islam

Islam has placed tremendous emphasis on the establishment, maintenance and preservation of family kinship and relationships. The Noble Qur’an as well as the Ahaadith of Nabi ﷺ is replete with verses and advices instructing Muslims to be kind, merciful, affectionate and caring towards their parents and to all their relatives.

Although almost all religions advocate maintenance of family ties, Islam has taken it to unprecedented heights. A Muslim is commanded to be kind even to his non-Muslim relatives. Similarly, he is required to be kind to those relatives who are unpleasant or harsh towards him.

Maintaining the bonds of kinship or often described as silatur rahim enjoys extraordinary importance in Islam. Conversely, the severing of family ties which is regarded as qat’ur rahim can lead one to a disastrous end.

Due to the importance Islam has accorded to maintaining family ties, the rewards and benefits of doing so are indeed great. Similarly, neglect and severing family ties can have disastrous consequences on a person’s life. It therefore becomes imperative that every Muslim is soundly educated regarding this important obligation.

Islam calls for the upholding of the ties of kinship because of the great effect that this has on achieving social cohesion and perpetuating cooperation and love among the Muslims. Upholding the ties of kinship is a duty upon every Believer; male or female.

Mutual dependence is an important facet of human existence on earth. Mankind could not have survived without this co-existence. This can be clearly understood from the creation of Hawwa RA, the mother of mankind. Adam AS was in the heavens and he was surrounded by the angels, the pure and celestial beings whom never disobey or violate any command and order of Allah. The angels were engrossed in their worship of Allah while others were occupied with carrying out the instructions and responsibilities which Allah had entrusted to them. Adam AS was thus lonely and longed for companionship. It was at this time that Allah created Hawwa RA as a partner for Hadhrat Adam AS. This is a classic example to prove the need for interdependence. This reality is manifest in every facet of human existence.

Communication, interaction and interdependence between human beings is an essential requirement for a normal and harmonious society. At every point in one’s life a person will be interacting with other people. Generally, the people one will come into contact with more often are his family folk. Due to the frequent contact resulting from a family relationship, it is imperative that one is always on good terms with family members.

There is an incident mentioned about the great Sahabi Abu Huraira RA. A man went to attend the weekly Hadith lecture of Sayyidna Abu Huraira RA but stopped when he heard him saying “If anyone sitting here has severed any ties of kinship (qata-ur-rahim), he should leave.”

He recalled that he had not been on speaking terms with his aunt living in the same town. The young man quietly left the gathering and went straight to his aunt’s house and asked for forgiveness for his past behaviour and sought rapprochement. When the aunt inquired about the reason for this change of heart, he narrated the incident. She accepted the apology but asked him to inquire from Abu Huraira RA the reason for this unusual statement. Why did Abu Huraira RA leave all the other major sins and focus only on this? What was so special about ties of kinship? Sayyidna Abu Huraira RA replied that he had heard from the Prophet ﷺ that our deeds were presented to Allah every Thursday night and anyone who has severed family ties has all his good deeds rejected. He did not want any such person sitting in his gathering, which was held on the same night, for fear that it could deprive the entire gathering of blessings. Another Hadith explains further the reason for this fear: “Allah’s mercy will not descend on people among whom there is one who severs ties of kinship.” [Baihaqi, Shuab Al-Iman].

Tomorrow in sha Allah we will take a look at some of the verses of the Holy Quran and Hadith that explain the importance of family ties in Islam.