Duty towards Family-Members and Relatives

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

"Reciting Salawath on our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is an activity that will be accepted by Allah, even if we don't have Ikhlas (piety)".

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Family consists of parents, children, wives, husbands, servants and slaves and therefore the duty towards each of them and vice versa has been mentioned in the proceeding sections in order of importance. Next comes the duty towards next kindred of family like brothers, sisters etc and other near relatives out side of family. This section has been devoted to them.

Fortune depends upon domestic peace and peace with relatives. National prosperity also mainly depends upon this family peace because families form a nation and unless individual families are prosperous, the nation cannot be prosperous. Family peace can therefore be said at the root of good fortune. It opens the gate of fortune and discards that of poverty. The Holy Prophet (pbuh), there fore laid special stress regarding duties towards family members and other near relatives. There is no greater charity than a man’s spending his money for the members of his family. Gift and Charity to poor kinsmen bring double rewards than to strangers, as in the farmer case there are tow motives – charity and keeping amity with relations. If the poor man of each family are maintained their poor relatives by charity and compulsory zakat, there will be an end of poverty and begging-nuisance; and beggars shall not be bound to beg from door to door meeting with reprisals and bad grace. The world in that case will be free from poor men. More over family-members and agnates will live in peace and happiness thereby ensuring prosperity and good fortune. It also causes prolongation of life.

Misfortune and sin lie in dispute with family-members and relations. The prayer of a Muslim is not accepted who breaks off the tie of relationship. The severer of connection with kindred and agnates shall not enter Paradise and will get his punishment in the World, as well as in the next. The most perfect form of connection and amity is to treat the kindreds well, even though they at asunder the tie of blood.

Maintenance of near relations. Persons who are not themselves poor are bound to maintain their poor relations within the prohibited degrees in proportion to the share which they would inherit from them to their death. But the obligation does not extend beyond those relations, as this world be rather impracticable. A poor man is not to bind to support any of his relatives except his wife and infant children and parents, and difference of religion forbids the obligation to the maintenance of any relations except wife, parents and children (Hedaya)

Best man. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) said that the best man is he who is best to his family and that he is the best among the Muslims to his family. The best dinar which a man spends is a dinar which he spends for his family and this will be considered as an act of charity. The duty towards relatives has been placed next to the duty towards parents. The inmates of Paradise are three a just, true and merciful king, a kind man soft of heart for every kinsman, and a contended beggar having a big family and abstaining from begging. The best man is he who removes harms from his relatives so long as he does not commit sin.

Quran about relatives. Surely Allah enjoins doing of justice and doing of good and giving in Charity to the kindred (16:90) O you who believe! Save yourself and your families from fire whose fuel is men and stones (66:6) And give the near of kin his due and to the needy and the way-farer (17:26) And warn your near relatives (26:214) It is therefore seen that duty towards relatives in order to do spiritual and religious benefit to them is greater. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) himself tried his utmost to reclaim his relatives from utter degradation.