saying, “Whoever keeps me connected, Allah will keep him connected; and whoever cuts me off, Allah will cut him off.” This may be understood either as a statement of fact or as a supplication: the bond of kinship could be informing us of this reality, or it could be calling upon Allah in these words. In either case, the wording underscores the immense status of kinship ties and their maintenance, for it is suspended beneath the Throne, either proclaiming this message or invoking this supplication.

The author then cites the report about the man who treated his relatives kindly while they treated him poorly and who kept in touch with them while they severed relations with him. The Prophet ﷺ said to him, “If you are as you say, it is as though you are putting hot ashes into their mouths, and you will continue to have a supporter from Allah against them so long as you remain upon that,” meaning so long as you continue to join their ties while they cut you off. The term al-mal refers to burning embers, and tasuffuhum—“putting it into their mouths”—means forcing those hot ashes into their mouths as a form of humiliation and punishment.

All these hadiths, and others like them, show that a person is obliged to maintain his ties of kinship according to his ability and in a manner customarily recognized, and that he must beware of severing them.

14/325 — ʿAsmāʾ bint Abī Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “My mother, who was still an idolater, came to visit me during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I consulted the Prophet ﷺ, saying, ‘My mother has come to me and she is seeking something from me; shall I maintain relations with my mother?’ He replied, ‘Yes, maintain relations with your mother.’” Agreed upon.