Explanation of the words of Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) regarding what he quoted: "
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The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
These two hadiths are in explaining the virtue of maintaining family ties. As for the family (al-rahm), it has been mentioned to us previously that they are the relatives, and maintaining ties with them is by what has become customary and what people follow, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not restrict it to a specific thing. He did not restrict it to eating with you or drinking with you, or dressing with you or living with you. He left it general. So, what has become customary as maintaining ties is maintaining ties, and what people call severance is severance. This is the principle.
Yes, if it were assumed that customs became corrupt and people no longer cared about severance, and severance became considered maintaining ties in their view, then this custom would have no standing, because this is not an Islamic custom. Indeed, the families of the disbelieving states today do not get along, and some do not know others. So much so that when a person’s son grows up and becomes an adult, his status is like that of a stranger who does not know that he has a father, because they do not know maintaining family ties, nor do they know good neighborliness, and all their affairs are chaotic and corrupt, because disbelief has destroyed them completely, may Allah protect us from that. But our discussion is about the conservative Muslim society. So, what people consider maintaining ties is maintaining ties, and what they consider severance is severance.
In the hadith, in the first hadith of Abu Hurayrah, Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, has guaranteed for the family that He will maintain ties with the one who maintains ties with it and sever ties with the one who severs ties with it. In this is an encouragement and motivation to maintain family ties. If you want Allah to maintain ties with you, and every person wants his Lord to maintain ties with him, then maintain your family ties. And if you want Allah to sever ties with you, then sever your family ties, as a just recompense. And the more a person is connected to his family, the more Allah is connected to him. And however much he falls short, he will receive reward according to what he did. Allah does not wrong anyone.
And in the second hadith: it is in explaining who is the most deserving of a person’s good companionship. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made it clear that the most deserving of that is the mother. So he repeated the question to him and said: Your mother, then a second time, he said: Your mother, three times. Then after that, the father. Because the mother has endured hardship and difficulty regarding the child that no one else has endured. Her mother carried him with weakness and pain, she carried him reluctantly and gave birth to him reluctantly. And at night, she makes his bed comfortable and soothes him until he sleeps. And if something pains him, she does not sleep that night until he sleeps. Then she sacrifices herself for him in warming him, cooling him in the heat, and other things. So she is more caring of the child than the father. Therefore, her right is tripled compared to the father’s right.
And she is also weak, a woman who does not take her right. So for this, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) recommended her three times, and the father once. In this is an encouragement for a person to be good in his companionship with his mother and his father as well, to the best of his ability. May Allah help us and you in that.
And I pray and send peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment:
In yesterday’s lesson, the author (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned what concerns maintaining family ties, and they are the relatives. And we made clear that the type, nature, and amount of maintaining family ties were not specified in the Book and the Sunnah, so it is referred to custom, to what people have agreed upon as maintaining ties, for it becomes obligatory. And what is not maintaining ties but rather severance, then it is severance. And the author (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned His saying, Glorified is He:[Muhammad 47:22-23] : So Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, made clear that those who corrupt in the land and sever their family ties are cursed, may Allah protect us from that, meaning: expelled and distanced from the mercy of Allah. And Allah has made them deaf, meaning: He made them not hear the truth, and even if they heard it, they would not benefit from it. And He blinded their eyes, so they do not see the truth, and even if they saw it, they would not benefit from it. The paths of good are blocked for them, because hearing and sight convey information to the heart. So if the path is blocked, no good reaches the heart, may Allah protect us from that.
The scholars have mentioned, among the forms of maintaining ties, providing for relatives. They said: If a person has poor relatives and he is wealthy and is their heir, then it is obligatory for him to provide for them. Like a brother with his brother, like a full brother with his full brother. If this brother would inherit from him if he died, then it is obligatory for the heir to provide for his brother as long as he is wealthy and his brother is poor and unable to earn a living. For this is among the forms of maintaining ties.
They also said: And among the forms of spending is that if he needs to marry, he marries him. Because chastening a person is among the most pressing needs. So if a person has a full brother and his only heir is his brother, and his brother is wealthy and he is poor and unable to earn a living, it is obligatory for him to provide for him with food, drink, clothing, housing, and a vehicle if he needs it. And to marry him as well if he needs to marry, because chastening is among the most pressing needs, and this falls under maintaining family ties.
And these matters, a person must, if he knows nothing about them, ask the scholars so that they guide him to the truth, by His saying, the Exalted:[An-Nahl 16:43].
May Allah guide everyone to what is good and righteous, and connect us and you by His grace and kindness.
These two hadiths are in explaining the virtue of maintaining family ties. As for the family (al-rahm), it has been mentioned to us previously that they are the relatives, and maintaining ties with them is by what has become customary and what people follow, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not restrict it to a specific thing. He did not restrict it to eating with you or drinking with you, or dressing with you or living with you. He left it general. So, what has become customary as maintaining ties is maintaining ties, and what people call severance is severance. This is the principle.
Yes, if it were assumed that customs became corrupt and people no longer cared about severance, and severance became considered maintaining ties in their view, then this custom would have no standing, because this is not an Islamic custom. Indeed, the families of the disbelieving states today do not get along, and some do not know others. So much so that when a person’s son grows up and becomes an adult, his status is like that of a stranger who does not know that he has a father, because they do not know maintaining family ties, nor do they know good neighborliness, and all their affairs are chaotic and corrupt, because disbelief has destroyed them completely, may Allah protect us from that. But our discussion is about the conservative Muslim society. So, what people consider maintaining ties is maintaining ties, and what they consider severance is severance.
In the hadith, in the first hadith of Abu Hurayrah, Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, has guaranteed for the family that He will maintain ties with the one who maintains ties with it and sever ties with the one who severs ties with it. In this is an encouragement and motivation to maintain family ties. If you want Allah to maintain ties with you, and every person wants his Lord to maintain ties with him, then maintain your family ties. And if you want Allah to sever ties with you, then sever your family ties, as a just recompense. And the more a person is connected to his family, the more Allah is connected to him. And however much he falls short, he will receive reward according to what he did. Allah does not wrong anyone.
And in the second hadith: it is in explaining who is the most deserving of a person’s good companionship. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made it clear that the most deserving of that is the mother. So he repeated the question to him and said: Your mother, then a second time, he said: Your mother, three times. Then after that, the father. Because the mother has endured hardship and difficulty regarding the child that no one else has endured. Her mother carried him with weakness and pain, she carried him reluctantly and gave birth to him reluctantly. And at night, she makes his bed comfortable and soothes him until he sleeps. And if something pains him, she does not sleep that night until he sleeps. Then she sacrifices herself for him in warming him, cooling him in the heat, and other things. So she is more caring of the child than the father. Therefore, her right is tripled compared to the father’s right.
And she is also weak, a woman who does not take her right. So for this, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) recommended her three times, and the father once. In this is an encouragement for a person to be good in his companionship with his mother and his father as well, to the best of his ability. May Allah help us and you in that.
And I pray and send peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment:
In yesterday’s lesson, the author (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned what concerns maintaining family ties, and they are the relatives. And we made clear that the type, nature, and amount of maintaining family ties were not specified in the Book and the Sunnah, so it is referred to custom, to what people have agreed upon as maintaining ties, for it becomes obligatory. And what is not maintaining ties but rather severance, then it is severance. And the author (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned His saying, Glorified is He:
(22) So would you perhaps, if you turned away, cause corruption on earth and sever your [ties of] relationship? (23) Those [who do so] are the ones that Allah has cursed, so He deafened them and blinded their vision.
فَهَلْ عَسَيْتُمْ إِنْ تَوَلَّيْتُمْ أَنْ تُفْسِدُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَتُقَطِّعُوا أَرْحَامَكُمْ*أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ لَعَنَهُمُ اللَّهُ فَأَصَمَّهُمْ وَأَعْمَى أَبْصَارَهُمْThe scholars have mentioned, among the forms of maintaining ties, providing for relatives. They said: If a person has poor relatives and he is wealthy and is their heir, then it is obligatory for him to provide for them. Like a brother with his brother, like a full brother with his full brother. If this brother would inherit from him if he died, then it is obligatory for the heir to provide for his brother as long as he is wealthy and his brother is poor and unable to earn a living. For this is among the forms of maintaining ties.
They also said: And among the forms of spending is that if he needs to marry, he marries him. Because chastening a person is among the most pressing needs. So if a person has a full brother and his only heir is his brother, and his brother is wealthy and he is poor and unable to earn a living, it is obligatory for him to provide for him with food, drink, clothing, housing, and a vehicle if he needs it. And to marry him as well if he needs to marry, because chastening is among the most pressing needs, and this falls under maintaining family ties.
And these matters, a person must, if he knows nothing about them, ask the scholars so that they guide him to the truth, by His saying, the Exalted:
So ask the people of the message if you do not know.
فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ لا تَعْلَمُونَMay Allah guide everyone to what is good and righteous, and connect us and you by His grace and kindness.