Islamic Teachings on Ideal Family Life — Page 40
~ 40 ~ with kith and kin. Even though each unit may live separately, this larger family concept is supported and promoted by Isl ā m for many reasons. Some of which are as follows: 1. It prevents imbalances from occurring in society. 2. If strong love and affection were promoted in the family between brothers and sisters, father and daughters, mother and sons, etc. , it would naturally lead to the consolidation and protection of a healthy family unit. This natural bonding is further strengthened by a system of relationships surrounding it in the form of genuine affinity and closeness between aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, grandchildren and grandparents. New avenues of seeking warmth and healthy pleasure would open up for this larger family system. 3. The institution of family in such cases is less likely to be fragmented. To share a common roof in the name of a family would no longer be as meaningless as we generally find today. The members of the family would continue to gravitate towards the central beacon of family elders. Most family activities would rotate around this axis. There would be no lone individuals forgotten, dejected and relegated to the attic or basement of social order, or, knocked out of families as useless articles… This is exactly the Isl ā mic concept of homes and families which is regarded as the most important central unit in society. It is mainly because of this difference in attitudes that today we find in the modern societies of the world a much greater incidence of abandoned, old, or disabled parents considered as burdens on families. ” (Isl ā m’s Response to Contemporary Issues pages 109-110)