The importance of good family ties in Islam

Assalamu alaikkum ww…….

Bismillahirrahmanirraheem……

Honorable judges and my dear friends.

Today I am so privileged and proud to be here with you to address and show you
some thoughts about the relevant topic “The importance of good family ties in
Islam”

First and foremost I praise to the almighty the most gracious and the most
merciful who blessed me with the nice opportunity.

Dear friends,
Islam places a great importance of (silatur- rahim) keeping family ties and being
good to parents and family relatives. Maintaining the bonds of kinship indeed
enjoys extraordinary importance in Islam.

Silatur-rahim has been defined as politeness, kind treatment, and concern for all
one’s relatives even if distantly related, corrupt, non-Muslim, or unappreciative.
While nearly every religion has emphasized good family relations, Islam has taken
it to unprecedented heights. It is a duty to be discharged without an eye for
reciprocity.

Allah, Exalted be He, has stressed the importance of maintaining the ties of
kinship in many places in the Quran. He says:

". . . and fear Allah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and (do not
cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship). Surely, Allah is ever an All-Watcher over
you." (An-Nisa’: verse No.1)

Due to the great importance of the ties of kinship, being one of the fundamentals
of moral character and one of the pillars of virtue and good, Allah has enjoined
the followers of every religion which He has revealed to maintain them.
Many people ask this question: “how to maintain family ties when the family
doesn’t even make an effort to keep ties with me?

What to do about that?”

It seems that this issue has become more and more common lately.

The issue is, however, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has already answered this
question perfectly for us!

The Beloved said:

“The person who perfectly maintains the ties of kinship is not the one who does it
because he gets recompensed by his relatives (for being kind and good to
them), but the one who truly maintains the bonds of kinship is the one who
persists in doing so even though the latter has severed the ties of kinship with
him“. [Al-Bukhari].

So the issue of having difficulties with certain family members that make
maintaining ties hard is not a reason or an excuse to break family ties. The reality
of the matter is that breaking those ties have much more severe consequences on
the individual and the Ummah at large than the momentary relief we get from
avoiding uncomfortable relations.

This is a major issue that we need to pay attention to.

Therefore, my dear friends, fear Allah, Exalted be He, and reconcile our relatives
to one another. Do not be the cause of severing the ties of kinship, for nothing is
hidden from Allah.

May Allah bless you and me with the Great Qur'an and make us benefit from its
verses and wise words. Ask Allah for forgiveness. He is the Most Forgiving, the
Most Merciful.