The Quran treats family as one of God's blessings and one of His proofs. God made spouses "from among yourselves," and from them gave children and grandchildren (16:72). He did this "in order to have tranquility and contentment with each other," and He "placed in your hearts love and care" between husband and wife (30:21). So the household is meant to be a place of rest and affection. The believers pray for it to be that: "Our Lord, let our spouses and children be a source of joy for us, and keep us in the forefront of the righteous" (25:74). When a marriage is under strain, the Quran tells the couple to work things out, "for conciliation is best for them" (4:128). In Appendix 30, Dr. Khalifa points to Muhammad's twenty-five years with Khadijah as the model. A man, he writes, "must give his full attention and loyalty in marriage to his wife and children in order to raise a happy and wholesome family".
Of all family duties, honoring one's parents gets the most stress. In 17:23 it comes right after the command to worship God alone: "your parents shall be honored." The same verse rules out even the slightest sign of annoyance, "Uff," and any shouting. Children are told to "lower for them the wings of humility, and kindness," and to pray, "My Lord, have mercy on them, for they have raised me from infancy" (17:24). The Quran recalls what a mother goes through, carrying the child as "the load got heavier and heavier" and then two years of care until weaning, and it puts thanks to parents right beside thanks to God (31:14). Family duty also reaches beyond the home. Relatives come first in the list of those owed the due alms (17:26). Parents, for their part, are told to "enjoin your family to observe the contact prayers" and to keep at it themselves (20:132), and to "protect yourselves and your families from the Hellfire" (66:6). In the Quran's view, then, caring for a family includes caring for its souls.
These commands sit alongside a firm limit: family ties never outrank God. If parents push their child to set up idols beside God, "do not obey them" (29:8). Believers must not ally themselves even with parents and siblings who "prefer disbelieving over believing" (9:23). Verse 9:24 sets the test plainly: if parents, children, siblings, spouses and family are dearer to you than God, His messenger and striving in His cause, then wait for God's judgment. The Quran warns that "your money and your children are a test" (8:28, 64:15), and that spouses and children "can be your enemies." It pairs that warning with a call to "pardon, forget, and forgive" (64:14). In his footnote to 9:24, Dr. Khalifa notes that a whole family rarely believes together. Most believers therefore face the demand "Either me or God and His messenger," and he calls this "a mandatory test for all believers."
The Quran's stories show why that limit matters. Noah pleaded, "my son is a member of my family," and God answered, "he is not of your family" (11:45-46). The wives of Noah and Lot were married to righteous men, but "they could not help them at all against GOD" (66:10). Believers may not ask forgiveness for idol worshipers "even if they were their nearest of kin" once their fate is clear (9:113). On the Day of Judgment a person flees from his brother, his parents, his spouse and his children, because each one "worries about his own destiny" (80:34-37). Dr. Khalifa draws the lesson in his footnote: Abraham could not help his father, Noah could not help his son, and Muhammad could not help his own relatives (11:46, note).
This leads to the Quran's widest sense of family: "The believers are members of one family; you shall keep the peace within your family and reverence GOD" (49:10). In one of his recordings, Dr. Khalifa makes this point in his own way. Your genetic family is yours for sixty or seventy years and may not go with you to heaven. Your spiritual family, the people who worship God alone, is your family for eternity. That is why believers should treat one another with the best possible relations and with love.
Taken together, the Quran asks the reader to love and provide for spouse and children, to honor parents with humility and patience, and to support relatives. It also asks the reader to guide the family toward God and never to put any of them in God's place. As I read it, the two sides fit together. Caring for your family the way the Quran describes is part of devotion to God, and the only thing that can override that care is the call to worship Him alone.
SubmissionAI can make mistakes. Check the sources.
O people, observe your Lord; the One who created you from one being, and created from it its mate, then spread from the two many men and women. You shall regard GOD, by whom you swear, and regard the parents. GOD is watching over you.*
*4:1 This is the second longest sura, and the title indicates that it aims at defending the women's rights. Any interpretation must favor the women's rights, not the other way around.
GOD did not give any man two hearts in his chest. Nor did He turn your wives whom you estrange (according to your custom) into your mothers.* Nor did He turn your adopted children into genetic offspring. All these are mere utterances that you have invented. GOD speaks the truth, and He guides in the (right) path.
*33:4 It was a custom in Arabia to estrange the wife by declaring that she was like the husband's mother. Such an unfair practice is abrogated herein.
You shall give your adopted children names that preserve their relationship to their genetic parents. This is more equitable in the sight of GOD. If you do not know their parents, then, as your brethren in religion, you shall treat them as members of your family. You do not commit a sin if you make a mistake in this respect; you are responsible for your purposeful intentions. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.
The prophet is closer to the believers than they are to each other, and his wives are like mothers to them. The relatives ought to take care of one another in accordance with GOD's scripture. Thus, the believers shall take care of their relatives who immigrate to them, provided they have taken care of their own families first. These are commandments of this scripture.
