8/2/2019 Religion and Family Ties1-Harun
Yahya-Www.islamchest
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TTo p u r o p u r c h a s e t h e w o r c h a s e t h e w o r k
s o f H A R k s o f H A R U NU N YY A H Y A H Y A , p l e a s e v i
s i t : w w w A , p l e a s e v i s i t : w w w . b o o k g l o b a
l . n e t . b o o k g l o b a l . n e t
IIn an environment where Qur'anic principles aredisregarded,
various unreliable criteria are em-ployed to discern the difference
between good
and evil. Reliance on such diverse criteria results in
er-roneous conduct and harmful consequences. For in-stance, a
person who attempted a crime only once is re-garded as more
innocent than others who have com-mitted several crimes. A burglar
describes himself as aharmless person compared to a murderer
Thesame also holds true of those who, al-though not criminals, are
un-ethical inconduct. One who gossips sees thisoffence as a minor
one since hedoes so with no bad intentions.One bearing malice
towardsanother thinks he is good
deep in his heart, since hebears malice only whenhe is right. It
is possibleto extend the list ofsuch arguments. Inbrief, all these
peoplethink themselves in-nocent and neveraccept the wicked-ness of
their of-fences. However,their excuses areall invalid andthey are
all seri-ously in thewrong. This is be-cause, what makesan
individualfaultless is his com-plete adherence tothe book of
God.Conversely, when heacts against themorality of the
Qur'an, he is guilty, nomatter what he claims.
As we know, the hu-man soul has two sides: theconscience and the
lowersoul (ego). The conscience al-ways inspires man to do thegood
and the right thing, while thelower soul (nafs) drives man to
ill-be-haviour, of which God does not approve.
Religion enables man to acquire the con-sciousness to
distinguish between good and evil. Onlyhaving faith in what is
revealed by God and completecompliance with it can endow man with a
sound facul-ty for thinking and a decision-making mechanism.
Forinstance, a believer who fears God, as meant in theQur'an, is
granted a criterion by which to judge be-tween right and wrong:
You who believe! If you fear God, He will give youa criterion
(by which to judge between right andwrong) erase your bad actions
from you and forgive
you. God's favour is indeed immense. (Surat al-Anfal: 29)
In the Qur'an, God provides a detailed descriptionof right and
wrong and how to use our conscience andconsciousness. For instance,
in a specific verse, a com-prehensive description of the concept of
righteousnessis given:
It is not righteousness to turn your faces tothe East or to the
West. Rather, those with
true righteousness are those who be-lieve in God and the Last
Day, the
angels, the Book and theprophets, and who, despite
their love for it, give awaytheir wealth to their rela-
tives and to orphans andthe very poor, and totravellers and
beggarsand to set slaves free,and who attend totheir prayers
andgive alms; thosewho honour theircontracts whenthey make them,and
are steadfastin poverty and ill-ness and in battle.Those are
thepeople who aretrue believers.Those are thepeople who go infear
of God. (Suratal-Baqara: 177)Each belief one in-herits from
one's
family or forefathers,or imbibes from one's
social environment, isinherently untrustwor-thy as long as it
does not
comply with Qur'anicprinciples. One example is
certain phrases commonlyused in society to describe a
good man. "He wouldn't hurt afly" is one such phrase. However,
if
a man avoids hurting a fly, but fails tocomply with the
commandments of the
Qur'an, it is hardly proper to say that he is agood person. What
really matters is to avoid wickeddeeds established as such by the
Qur'an and to do whatis praised as good. For some, feeling pity for
the poorand helping them and children are sufficient reasons
toqualify a person as "religious". Yet, the Qur'an informsus that
these activities do not entitle a person to becalled a true
believer. The true believer is a person whometiculously complies
with the commandments of theQur'an and devotes his whole life to
earning God's ap-proval.
AA
strong and successful social structure is based on families
withstrong ties. The degeneration of society becomes inevitableonce
family ties disintegrate. Ideologies like communism or so-
cialism, which rest on anti-religionist grounds, primarily
target the fam-ily. There, the intention is to eradicate
institutions like marriage; and toerode such values as the precious
nature of motherhood; fidelity, priva-cy and honour. Thus,
philosophers and advocates of such ideologiespresent these values
as worthless and vain. For instance,living together without
marriage was formerly totallyrejected by society while, today, it
is regarded as com-monplace. Furthermore, the average age of people
liv-ing together without the bond of marriage is
steadilydecreasing.
Society's outlook upon marriage is generally flawed.Girls often
see marriage as a sort of life insurance. Withthis in mind, their
basic criterion is material wealth. Attimes, status, good looks and
environment also becomeimportant factors in the decision to marry a
man. Yet,most frequently, the most important criterion is moneyand
possessions. Not surprisingly, the soaring divorcerates reveal the
hollowness of marriages resting on elu-sive factors such as money,
status or good-looks.
Another common threat to marriage is the expecta-tions of men
from their spouses. Generally, good-looksis what a man considers as
a must for his marriage. Ahigh level of education, the mastery of
various skills al-
so contribute to a man's decision. Doubtless, there isnothing
wrong in possessing these "assets" which cou-ples seek in one
another. However, if marriage, whichshould be based on concrete
grounds, is solely foundedon these factors, the collapse of the
family becomes in-evitable whenever one of these factors is found
to bemissing.
Marriage demands fidelity, love and respect, thetype of concepts
that become binding and solid valuespurely through religion.
Consequently, it is only reli-gion that ensures that a marriage
will last.
Built upon such irrational understanding, marriagesgenerally
lack a sound premise. In consequence, cou-ples soon lose the love
and respect as well as the inti-macy they feel for each other. No
sooner do they startliving together than they start to see the
negative sidesof one another. This leads to arguments, fights and
se-vere accusations. Some time later, they accept things asthey are
and start experiencing the same classical vi-cious circle as other
people. Born into such families,
new generations also become psychologically unstable. In
compliancewith their parents' teachings, they grow into adults who
are bereft oflove and respect.
In societies where religious values are not adhered to as a
guide,family ties often break down. Money, in particular, plays a
considerablepart in the relations between immediate family members.
A generoushusband is always loved by his wife and paid due respect
by his chil-
dren, thanks to his money. Surely, it is easy to understand the
true na-ture and the sincerity of this love, however. But if, one
day the fatherceases to support the family properly due to his
failing business, this
love and respect are suddenly replaced by anger. Money becomes
aconstant reason for tension and conflicts in the family. There is
no guar-antee that one day his wife will not leave him when her
husband facesbankruptcy or when he cannot make money as he used to.
Usually, in
such cases, the marriage comes to an end. This is sure-ly one of
the consequences of not living by the princi-ples of the
Qur'an.
How a believer sees marriage is totally different tohow a
disbeliever sees it. Being aware that an eternallife awaits man
after death, a believer intends to re-main married for all
eternity. What such a person seeksin his or her prospective spouse
is merely closeness toGod. In other words, the person with whom he
willlive for all eternity has to live by the Qur'an. This is
be-cause it is known that all the traits man possesses inthis world
are temporary. Where both spouses turn tothe Qur'an as a unique
guide, love and respect pre-dominate throughout their married life
and the couplelive in perfect harmony. In the event that one of
themmakes a mistake, the other reminds him or her of thevalues of
the Qur'an, and thus the problem is solved,since it is unlikely
that a believer would not respond tothis call. For all these
reasons cited above, people hav-ing faith in and fear of God build
their marriages onsolid ground.
But it is not correct to limit the concept of the fami-ly only
to relations between husband and wife. The at-titude children take
towards their parents and oldermembers of the family is also
important, and in an en-vironment where religious principles
prevail, love andrespect govern these relationships. Disrespectful
andrude manners of speaking, shouting and fights, whichare all very
common in almost every home today, areentirely absent. Instead,
peace and joy prevails. Nomore family disasters happen. Everyone
cherishes hisfamily, which constitutes an incomparable model
offamily living. Children see their parents as a blessingand feel
great attachment to them. Likewise, parentsfeel that their children
are given into their protectionby God. "Family" means warmth, love,
trust and soli-darity. Yet, it should once more be emphasised
thatsuch a healthy family environment demands a com-plete and
sincere devotion to religious values as well asa profound fear of
and love for God.
Science can advance rapidly and serve humanity better only when
it is guided inaccordance with the facts communicated in the
Qur'an.
The main thrust ofThe Qur'an Leads the Way to Science, is to
supply an answer tothe long-held notion that religion conflicts
with science. The book is divided into twoparts, One and Two.
The first chapter of Book One, headed "Religion Encourages
Science," explains
with verses from the Qur'an how God has summoned people to
reflect on all beingsand systems. Some of the topics covered in the
chapter "Religion helps science to beproperly guided" are: The
Losses the "There is No Design in Nature" Claim HaveInflicted on
Science, The Losses The Hopeless Efforts to Prove The Theory
ofEvolution Have Inflicted on Science, The Negative Influences on
Evolutionist andAtheist Scientists From Knowing that They Strive In
Vain.
The chapter headed "Science and Religion are Always in Harmony"
contains in-formation on noted scientists in Islamic history and
their researches. This chapter thenfocuses on the approach of the
Medieval Church towards scientists, which material-ists often quote
as an example to the conflict between science and religion, and
onthose sections of the Torah and the Bible which conflict with
scientific findings. In thechapter headed "The Scientific Miracles
of the Qur'an", it is explained that many sci-entific facts
discovered in the 20th century were proclaimed in the Qur'an 1.400
yearsago and this is an important proof showing that theQur'an is
the revelation of God.
The second part of the book deals with believingscientists from
the past and today. In this part,which includes short pieces of
information aboutdozens of scientists and quotations from themabout
their faith, the incorrect idea that scientistsare supposed to be
atheists are destroyed.
Published by:
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THE QUR'AN LEADS THE WTHE QUR'AN LEADS THE WAAYY
TO SCIENCETO SCIENCE
www.miraclesofthequran.com - www.darwinismrefuted.com
www.harunyahya.com
[email protected]
www.evidencesofcreation.com
God calls to the
Abode of Peace
and He guides
whom He wills to a
straight path.
(Qur'an, 10:25)
