Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 247
247 children’s maintenance, and if she does not marry,—of which Islam does not approve,—she has only herself to maintain out of her property. If a man marries, and Islam bids him do so, he will become responsible for the maintenance of his wife and children. Keeping this in view Islam has fixed the share of a male as double that of a female, and this is perfectly equitable. Children are required to honour and obey their parents, and to support and maintain them in their old age. They are particularly enjoined not to speak harshly to them or to injure their feelings in any way, and to pray to God constantly for their welfare. Brothers are required to maintain such of their brothers as have no one else to maintain them, and in such a case they would also be entitled to succeed to them. Similarly, other relatives are required to support and maintain those relatives to whom they would have succeeded as heirs had they died possessed of property. Next to the immediate members of one’s family come one’s neighbours and countrymen. Regarding these the Holy Quran says: 'Be good to your parents and near of kin and or- phans and the needy, and the next-door neighbour, and the distant neighbour, and your partners in