The family was the starting point of all divine messages and the cradle for preparing leadership, as well as the very birthplace of humanity. The Quran’s discussion of Adam, peace be upon him, and his wife is essentially a discussion about a family chosen by Allah for a noble mission—to populate the earth with His guidance and teachings. The Quran’s reference to the family of Noah and his descendants is a discussion of the roots of guidance that branched out to fill the world. Generations that we carried with Noah, for he was a grateful servant. The Quran’s mention of the families of Ibrahim, Imran, and Yaqub is a reference to families that grew in obedience to Allah, producing generations that carried the message and fulfilled the trust, as expressed in the verse: "And He made it a lasting word among his descendants so that they might return." (Az-Zukhruf: 28)
The chapters "Al-Baqarah," "Aal-Imran," "An-Nisa'," "At-Talaq," "Al-Hujurat," and others all discuss family laws in the Quran, highlighting the guidance, stability, and success factors necessary for the family to fulfill its mission.
Thus, the Quran comprehensively addresses everything related to the family—choosing, establishing, documenting, protecting, and safeguarding it.
Based on the methodologies of the Quran and inspired by its teachings, we begin, with Allah’s help and strength, to write a blessed series on family laws in the Quran. Through this, we will understand where the flaws lie in the social structure of humanity, realizing that these flaws are natural consequences of deviating from the Quranic laws that ensure society’s stability and success. We will also understand that there is no solution to societal problems, and indeed no solution to humanity’s problems, except by returning to those laws and adhering to them.
The first of these laws is the "Law of Masculinity and Femininity." Like all Quranic laws that we will discuss according to the methodology we have adopted, this law consists of three components: a component for clarification and explanation, a component for regulations and rulings, and a component for reward and consequence.
The first component clarifies Allah’s law in His creation, where He decreed that His creation of the universe and everything in it would be based on the principle of masculinity and femininity. Allah says: "And of all things We created two mates; perhaps you will remember." (Adh-Dhariyat: 49). He also mentions that He has blessed humanity with this gift, without which existence would be impossible: "And that He creates the two mates – the male and female." (An-Najm: 45).
Disregarding this principle has led humanity astray, with genetic confusion, the corruption of innate nature, and the rise of deviant groups who promote self-sufficiency, leading to a society where relationships are animalistic, devoid of legal bonds, societal ties, or moral values. This inevitably results in humanity being deprived of the means for its survival, the factors for its continuation, and the sources of its tranquility.
The second component is a governing regulation for the principle of pairing. Allah says: "And the male is not like the female." (Aal-Imran: 36). This regulation establishes that masculinity and femininity each have their requirements, standards, and roles. Neither has intrinsic value over the other; the value lies in fulfilling the intended role. The verse clarifies that men are not suited for women’s roles and vice versa. Humanity was created from a single soul, as Allah says: "He created you from a single soul, then made from it its mate." (Az-Zumar: 6).
They are nothing but souls created by Allah, and He determined that they be placed in bodies that are suited to the tasks assigned to each according to their respective qualities and requirements. These are divine souls in which Allah has embedded the secrets of His creation and the wonders of His craftsmanship, naturally aligning them with their inherent dispositions and attributes, as Allah says: “[And say, Ours is] the religion of Allah. And who is better than Allah in [ordaining] religion? And we are worshippers of Him.” (Al-Baqarah: 138).
Thus, by His wise decree, Allah placed certain souls in male bodies, which naturally aligned with them, and He placed other souls in female bodies, which naturally suited the tasks they were created for. This was without any choice on their part, for it was solely by His decree: “To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He creates what He wills. He gives to whom He wills female [children], and He gives to whom He wills males, or He makes them [both] males and females, and He renders whom He wills barren. Indeed, He is Knowing and Competent.” (Ash-Shura: 49-50). When Allah said, through the words of the wife of Imran, "And the male is not like the female" (Aal-Imran: 36), it was not a statement of superiority of male over female, or vice versa; rather, it was an affirmation of the different roles and tasks assigned to each creation.
The neglect of this principle has caused humanity to be engulfed in artificial conflict, intense competition, and imagined disputes between men and women. Women have formed organizations and institutions to defend their rights, while men have raised armies and platforms to demand their own. Distorted feminist ideologies have emerged, losing their identity, calling women worldwide to abandon their natural identities, reducing women to beings without clear features, lost without direction, mere bodies devoid of spirit, and a meaningless existence without purpose.
Similarly, men have also lost their psychological masculinity, their intellectual strength, and the soundness of their reasoning. As a result, they have lost their qualifications for leadership and the basis of their guardianship, becoming beings without distinct features, unreliable, and lacking in firmness and stability!
The third component is a reminder of the divine punishment that befalls humanity when they violate the laws of their Lord and turn away from His guidance. Allah says: "But whoever seeks beyond that, then those are the transgressors." (Al-Mu’minun: 7).
Anyone who disregards the principles of gender roles and does not adhere to their requirements, and who adopts contrary behaviors, has become an enemy of Allah, His prophets, His scriptures, and His righteous servants.
This is evident today, as we all witness how advocates of moral decay, who have deviated from the right path, corrupted human nature, and sought to tarnish the divine essence with which Allah created creation, have become fierce enemies of religion and values. The recent events at the Olympic Games in France are a clear example of this distortion. The depraved and immoral individuals at this global event portrayed a grotesque and perverted image of Jesus and his disciples, reflecting their own intellectual and spiritual corruption and animosity toward all that is sacred and virtuous.
This enmity has led them to oppose Allah, depriving them of His guidance, turning them away from His path, and preventing them from hearing the truth, thereby misleading and blinding them, as He says: "Have you seen he who has taken as his god his [own] desire, and Allah has sent him astray due to knowledge and has set a seal upon his hearing and his heart and put over his vision a veil? So who will guide him after Allah? Then will you not be reminded?" (Al-Jathiyah: 23).
This divine punishment, outlined in the Quran, stems from their enmity towards Allah and His values, which has led them to ruin. When a creature seeks its value apart from the nature Allah created in it, it will only find misery: "And whoever turns away from My remembrance – indeed, he will have a depressed life, and We will gather him on the Day of Resurrection blind." (Taha: 124).
They will continue to descend into confusion and loss until they lose themselves entirely, searching for an identity they cannot find. At that point, they may see no option but suicide, having lost their sense of existence. They effectively committed suicide the day they sought to escape the role Allah created them for and rebelled against the nature suited for that role, searching for an alternative identity.
The laws of the Quran regulate human life. Muslims must hold onto them, implementing them as educational methodologies, promoting them as content for advocacy, using them as tools for outreach, and embodying them as ethical characteristics. They must carry these laws as a means of saving humanity from confusion, purifying it with the garments of chastity, and preserving its innate nature as Allah intended.
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