Family and its Structure

Human beings had been inculcated with the knowledge of good and bad. They have been provided also with freedom of choice and then provided with a reprover in the shape of nafsi-l-lawwama (guard) for warning on wrong doings.  The existing of a reporver proves that man is imperfect and need a constant guard. In the same manner he is also in need of assistance from external world to strengthen his natural faculties/potentials and suppress evil. It is the institution of family which provides him such a support.

Family occupies focal point. He considers it the basic unit which promotes social and political development in a society. Society not only flourishes the strength of man, it controls and takes care of human weaknesses. Family is a multi-faceted institution performing the role of educating individuals in social, moral, political and economic fields. The establishment of family has divine sanction. The holy Qur’an elaborated the teachings regarding family in more detail than any other social and political institution.

The word family means man, his wife, his parents, and children. Husband and wife are the originator of family. Among Muslims, the relationship starts with nikah (marriage). The bond of nikah is the firm contract of rights and duties between husband and wife. This bond brings them together to live for the entire life and both get equal rights and are assigned equal duties. The bond is termed as mithaq-i-ghaliz (solemn agreement) in the Qur’an. It is not an ordinary bond but a very firm one. Each party has certain rights and duties and are required to abide by the convention and rules agreed between them during the time of nikah.

The contact between man and woman is natural. God has created things including human beings in pairs in this universe. Reason for the creation in pairs, according to Islahi, is that one part complements and completes the other to form a whole. Man and woman, when they join in nikah, complete humanity.

Sexual desire and lust is pointed out, as one of the characteristic of human beings and it is possible that they can be detracted by this urge for fulfilling it through inappropriate means. Marriage bond is provided to solemnise the fulfilment of sexual desire in a most appropriate way. Institution of family becomes sacred as its establishment and maintenance is decreed by God.  Also considered family as a basic unit for social and political life. How should relationship between man and woman be established in the light of Qur’an and Sunnah of the prophet.