Family Ties in the Holy Quran and Hadith
The Holy Quran and the Noble Hadith of Nabi ﷺ are replete with the importance of Silatur Rahim or the maintaining of family ties, and in fact the harms of breaking family ties are severely warned against in both Noble texts.
To cover all the verses and hadith that deal with this very important topic will certainly take a month itself, so we will thus suffice on just a few.
Just the fact that the Holy Quran and Hadith are filled with instructions and admonitions in this regard, is already a clear indication of the importance of this issue, because most definitely neither Allah nor His honoured prophet ﷺ will delve so deep into a matter if it was not important.
Let`s begin with some of the verses of the Holy Quran.
The importance of maintaining harmonious relationships with all family members is highlighted in the following verse:
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱتَّقُوا۟ رَبَّكُمُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَٰحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَآءً ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ٱلَّذِى تَسَآءَلُونَ بِهِۦ وَٱلْأَرْحَامَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا
O humanity! Be mindful of your Lord Who created you from a single soul, and from it He created its mate, and through both He spread countless men and women. And be mindful of Allah—in Whose Name you appeal to one another—and ˹honour˺ family ties. Surely Allah is ever Watchful over you. [An Nisaa 4: 1]
In this verse, Allah first gives us an instruction that we should fear Him, this instruction is of paramount importance in a Muslims relationship with Allah, but directly after that Allah immediately reminds us of our relationship with our families and the importance of keeping family ties, hence highlighting its importance in the sight of Allah.
In another verse of the same Surah, it is mentioned,
وَٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَلَا تُشْرِكُوا۟ بِهِۦ شَيْـًٔا ۖ وَبِٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ إِحْسَـٰنًا وَبِذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَٱلْيَتَـٰمَىٰ وَٱلْمَسَـٰكِينِ وَٱلْجَارِ ذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَٱلْجَارِ ٱلْجُنُبِ وَٱلصَّاحِبِ بِٱلْجَنۢبِ وَٱبْنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَـٰنُكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ مَن كَانَ مُخْتَالًا فَخُورًا
“And worship Allah and do not assign partners with Him and be favourable unto parents and family members and the orphans and the destitute and the near neighbour and the distant neighbour and the traveller and your slaves. And Allah does not love one who is haughty and proud.” (An Nisaa 4: 36)
Yet again we see Allah instructs us to be dutiful and maintain our family relationships immediately after speaking about Tauheed and worshipping Him alone.
The great number of Ahadith that instruct family kinship emphasizes the matter even further.
عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: ” من كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فليكرم ضيفه، ومن كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فليصل رحمه، ومن كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فليقل خيراً أو ليصمت” ((متفق عليه))
“Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him maintain the bonds of kinship.” [Bukhari and Muslim]
Hadhrat Anas RA narrates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
مَنْ سَرَّهُ أَنْ يُبْسَطَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقُهُ أَوْ يُنْسَأَ فِي أَثَرِهِ فَلْيَصِلْ رَحِمَهُ
He who is desirous that his means of sustenance should be expanded for him or his age may be lengthened should join the tie of relationship. [Muslim 2557]
We will suffice on this, making dua at the same time that Allah grants us the understanding of the importance of this matter.
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