Definitions of Family
• Some of the definitions of “family” (from Latin: familia) are as following:
A group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head or household.
The basic unit of society traditionally consisting of two parents raising their children.
A family is a group of two people or more (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together; all such people (including related subfamily members) are considered as members of one family.
• With the rise of “single parent families”, “same sex
couples” and “live together outside of marriage” ,
traditional definitions of family are being widely broken
in the western world.
Types of Family
• As the basic unit of society anthropologists generally classify most family organization as
Matrifocal family (a mother and her children);
Conjugal/nuclear family (a husband, his wife, and children;
Avuncular family: kind, tolerant, babacan (for
example, a grandparent, a brother, his sister, and her children);
Extended family (parents and children coreside with
other members of one parent's family).
Functions of Family
• The primary functions of the family involves
• providing a framework for the production and reproduction of persons,
biologically and/or
socially: the principal institution for raising children and their socialization
• This can occur through
the sharing of material substances (such as food);
the giving and receiving of care and nurture (nurture kinship);
jural/legal rights and obligations; and
moral and sentimental ties.
Family Quotes
• You are a garment to them, and they are a garment for you. Qur'an 2:187
• “Nikah (marriage) is my Sunna. He who shuns my Sunna is not of me.” Hz.
Muhammad
• "When a man marries, he has fulfilled half of his religion, so let him fear Allah regarding the remaining half." Hz. Muhammad
• "A man marries a woman for four reasons: for her property, for her rank, for her beauty, and for her religion (and character). So marry the one who is best in the religion and character and prosper". Hz. Muhammad
• “You don’t chose your family; they are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” Desmond Tutu
• “Family is not important, it is every thing.” Michael J. Fox
Muslim Family
• A Muslim family consists of
a legally married couple (husband and wife) and
their children.
• It also includes
their parents,
siblings and other relatives.
• A Muslim family comes into existence through two means:
blood relationship and
marriage.
Allah says, “And it is He Who has made man from water: Then He has set up relationships of family and marriage.” [Furqan: 54]
The First Family in history
• The first family came into existence with the creation of first man and woman, Adam and Hawa (Eve). Allah says,
• “And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels; “I will create a vicegerent on earth.” They said: “Will You place in there, one who will make mischief and shed blood in there? While we (indeed) celebrate Your Praises and glorify Your Holy (Name)? He said: “I do know what you do not know.” [Baqarah: 30]
• Then Allah created for the first man his pair (zawj) in the
form of the first woman. That’s how the first family of
husband and wife came into being.
Muslim Women
• the Quran, says: men and women are equal before God.
Muslims offer these practices as evidence of equality:
– Islam accepts a woman, whether single or married, as an individual in her own right, with the right to own and dispose of her property and earnings.
– A marital gift (mahr) is given by the groom to the bride for her own personal use,
– She may keep her own family name rather than adopting her husband's.
– Roles of men and women are complementary and collaborative.
– Rights and responsibilities of both sides are equitable and balanced in their totality.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A MUSLIM FAMILY
• 1.0 RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES
• 1.1 Balance between rights and responsibilities: Each member of the family husband wife, or child, has both rights and responsibilities.
• 1.2 Child rearing: Both parents are jointly responsible for
the upbringing of their children (aqidat, emotional, physical, psychological, and social)
• 1.3 Division of labor: Women are emotionally and
psychologically equipped for child rearing. There has been no corresponding increase in men's home responsibilities with the result that the family ends up as the ultimate loser.
• 1.4 Conjugal rights: Each of the spouses has rights and responsibilities to the other.
