Contact between relatives is an obligation. It was reported that the Prophet of Allah said: “If one likes to have his fortune increase and his life be long he must get in touch with his relatives” and, “No one who ever breaks with his relatives shall ever enter Paradise”. In addition, he said: “The actions of my nation will be exposed on Thursday evening Friday night, and no ones action which ever displays a break with relatives shall ever be approved”.

These traditions prove that contact between relatives is an obligation, for they are associated with praise and warning, and that is an indication that this contact is a decisive order, or simply a duty and its violation is a taboo.

The relatives who are intended are those whom Allah points to in his words: “Give his kinsman his due”. So contacts with relatives is recommended and their adequate support is a duty imposed on those who are capable of doing it.

Relatives are all those who are close to a person for some reason; they include mother’s brother, mother’s sister, mother’s father, sister’s children, brother’s daughter, female cousin on the father’s side, paternal aunt, mother’s cousin, the son of the mother’s brother; these are the relatives of whom Allah(the Almighty) points to in His words: “And those who are akin are nearer one to another in the ordinance of Allah”. Some of them are marriageable such as paternal aunt, and some of them are non-marriageable such as the brother’s daughter. Contact with relatives is concerned with non-marriageable relatives and does not include marriageable ones. Thus getting in touch with marriageable relatives is not an obligation. The evidence that can be cited to affirm that the contact of relatives excludes marriageable ones, is twofold:

1. That Allah prohibits a person to be alone with his marriageable relative, or to look at any part of her except her face and the palms of her hands; he prevents one from mingling with her. This contradicts the different acts of contact with a relative such as visiting, mixing and sitting with her. This contradiction between the nature of contacting a marriageable relative and what Allah prohibits, makes contact confined to non-marriageable relatives.

2. That the Prophet forbids a man to be the husband of a lady and her mother’s cousin, or a lady and her mother’s sister at once. He said: “If you that do, you shall break with your relatives.” So he described marrying a lady and her mother’s cousin or mother’s sister as a break with relatives; this means that the permission of marrying relatives brings about a break, and this sufficiently confirms the fact that the relatives concerned are the ones whom on is not permitted to marry.

These two points, therefore, prove that “contact” in the Prophet’s words “contact your relatives” concerns only non-marriageable relatives.

Contacting relatives may take the form of a visit during a feast or on a n occasion, checking and looking after their status, ignoring their errors, ever if they are many, giving them gifts, defending them and answering their demands and their son’s needs. Generally, relatives are simply doing all that a person can do of good to and for them, and driving all that can of evil away from them. If one falls short of doing what he can, whether of doing good or driving away harm, he is not said to have done the duty of getting in touch with relatives. Breaking relations with relatives appears in not doing a favor done for them and in refusing a favor done by them.

These are some specimens which I have tacked in the preface, specimens which the believer of the 20th Century needs to understand so that he can know Allah’s judgment about them. Thus, he will not be a victim to confusion, misinterpretations and distortion.