Religion, Family, and the Future: Overcoming Chaos with Resolve
Islam is not a set of rigid rituals or inherited customs; it is a comprehensive way of life which prepares the believer for the great Day — the Day of Judgement. Islam calls upon man to examine himself with the eye of accountability: to hold himself to account for what he has put forward, what he presumed of his Lord, and how he lived among people.
In worship, this balance between inwardness and outwardness becomes manifest. When a Muslim stands for prayer, he is not commanded to close his eyes. Rather, he remains wakeful and attentive, praying at every moment and in every place — even in the open street. The inner life is not to be cut off from the outer life; instead, the outward should honestly reflect what is in the heart. From this it follows that the believer must be deliberate, guided, responsible, and ever-conscious of God’s watch over him in his words, his deeds, and all his conduct.
God has blessed His servants in that He has not made this responsibility an unbearable burden, but rather a harmony between duty and blessing. Actions combine the enjoyment of His gifts with gratitude for them: like food, which strengthens the body and delights the soul. Similarly, sexual pleasure is not permitted except in its natural framework — marriage, the foundation of family life. And the family, in turn, is the firm bond linking past to future. Within it, the truth of faith is tested, and the example of character is passed on, so that one may come to the Day of Judgement having fulfilled his trust. But whoever abandons himself to his desires, as though God does not see him and as though His command does not run on earth as it runs in heaven, such a one is among the prodigals whom God condemns.
In our age, humanity is undergoing profound transformations that have shaken the foundations of human relationships, especially the family. Rapid technological advancement, shifting roles between men and women, and moral instability have all destabilised this crucial institution. The family in truth is a safeguard, a fortress of love, where kinship, responsibility, and shared destiny are bound together. It is a living body where emotions embrace and deeds support one another. If its structure is upright, it becomes the basis for social stability; if it collapses, the whole of society trembles with it.
The collapse of the family is not the private misfortune of its members alone, but a disease that eats into the very fabric of society. It often begins when parents — together or individually — fall short in fulfilling their natural roles. Then the bond between generations weakens, affection wanes, and the home begins to crack. One of the chief causes of such breakdown today is the severing of sexual relations from procreation and responsibility. Contraception is widespread, abortion is made easy, and intimacy between man and woman is cut off from its original purpose: the bringing forth and nurturing of life. Thus, what was once a covenant of partnership in building the future has become a fleeting indulgence.
The matter worsened when certain ideologies promoted this chaos as liberation, especially for women. Yet far from preserving their dignity, it often reduced them to commodities, neglecting their noble role as mothers, nurturers, and moral anchors for generations. Women were sometimes driven — even coerced — into imagining that independence must mean severance from the family. Harm and hardship followed, and instead of being honoured, women were exploited.
Since the mid-twentieth century, women have been pressed increasingly to leave their domestic roles in pursuit of financial independence. While this brought some economic gain, it weakened the place of motherhood and care. Pregnancy came to be treated as a burden to be postponed, and childbirth as an option to be disdained or even condemned. Many women who preferred their families were pressured by society to conform to the prevailing economic model.
Thus, the natural order of family life was disrupted. Children in their most tender years were consigned to nurseries, deprived of the affection by which their hearts are set right. A generation grew up attached to screens, estranged from parental guidance. With parents preoccupied, time with their children diminished, and toys and programmes replaced conversation and companionship. Emotional emptiness prevailed, behavioural disorders appeared, and the sense of belonging weakened.
The consequences were grave. Children deprived of a secure embrace grew up anxious, lacking self-confidence, and emotionally unstable, instead of being formed with firm character. Some carried hidden envy and resentment into adulthood, where it turned into anger, isolation, and fractured relationships. Society tasted the bitterness of this: violence, mistrust, and division.
This corruption is not only social but moral and spiritual. Much of modern civilisation has sought to defy the natural order and to exclude the wisdom of the Creator. God says: “No! Truly man transgresses when he thinks himself self-sufficient. To your Lord is the return.” (Q 96:6-8). When man deceives himself into believing he is independent, he exceeds all bounds and falls into ruin.
Here, faith emerges as remedy and guidance. It restores order to values. It reminds man and woman alike that marriage is not a struggle for domination but a covenant of shared responsibility. It restores to fatherhood and motherhood their honour — not as relics of a bygone age, but as pillars of civilisation’s survival. Through religion, the family retains its meaning, and the road to the future is illuminated.
For humanity to emerge from this chaos, three principles are essential:
First, that sexual relations be restored to their natural place — not to deny pleasure, but to bind it to its purpose: the continuance and care of life.
Second, that the family regain its central place, and that laws and policies which undermine it be corrected — so that the household is supported, not penalised, if one parent, usually the mother, chooses to devote herself to raising children.
Third, that spiritual and moral education be revived to resist excessive individualism and the consumerist mentality which turns relationships into transactions and children into afterthoughts.
Religion, family, and the future are interwoven threads in the fabric of civilisation. If religion weakens, the family weakens; if the family weakens, the future is endangered. There is no path to a secure, harmonious tomorrow, suffused with love, except by returning to the natural order — not blindly, but wisely. The family is not a relic of the past; it is the womb of the future. Whoever does not honour this womb will never build a civilisation worthy of survival.
Disclaimer: This article was translated by AI. Original post: https://t.me/DrAkramNadwi/6867
