– “Falyasil” (“let him maintain [them]”): this is the apodosis of the conditional particle man; hence the verb is preceded by fa. Maintaining the womb-ties is accomplished by keeping in touch with one’s relatives, whether through financial help, personal service, visits, and the like.

– “Raḥimahu” (“his womb-kin”): raḥim originally means the place where a child is formed—the womb—then the term was transferred to the kinship that stems from birth.

The scholars have differed over what is meant by raḥim. Some said: every blood relative who is a maḥram; others said: every potential heir; still others held: any relative, whether maḥram or not.

Benefits drawn from the ḥadīth

1 – The Almighty says: “And those who join together what Allah has commanded to be joined, fear their Lord, and dread the terrible reckoning” (13:21). Al-Qurṭubī said: The plain sense concerns kinship bonds, as Qatādah and most exegetes maintained, though it also embraces every act of obedience.

2 – Al-Bukhārī (5989) and Muslim (2555) relate from ʿĀʾishah — may Allah be pleased with her — that the Prophet ﷺ said: “The womb is suspended from the Throne; it says, ‘Whoever maintains me, Allah will maintain him.’”

3 – Maintaining the ties of kinship is a powerful cause placed by Allah for the abundance of the maintainer’s provision, the blessing of his effects, and the lengthening of his life—so that he may earn righteous deeds and stock up in the transit abode for the abode of permanence.

Ibn ʿAllān, in his commentary on Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn, quotes Ibn al-Tīn: “The outward sense of the ḥadīth appears to clash with the verse: ‘For every nation there is an appointed term; when their term arrives they can neither delay it for an hour nor advance it’ (7:34). They may be reconciled in one of two ways:

First: to take the ‘increase’ as a metaphor for the blessing placed in one’s lifespan through success in obeying Allah and filling one’s time with what benefits him and draws him near to his Lord, Most High; this is supported by the report that the Prophet ﷺ lamented the shortness of his community’s lifespans compared to the lifespans of those