relative is extremely close—such as a father, mother, brother, or paternal uncle—he deserves more frequent attention. Likewise, if he is poor he needs you to reach out more often, and if he falls ill he likewise requires greater care, and so on.

In short, because the Quran leaves the command to maintain family ties unrestricted, its application follows customary practice. Custom, however, varies with the factors we have mentioned: degree of kinship, a person’s circumstances, the time, and the place. Whatever people ordinarily regard as an act of connection counts as connection, and whatever they commonly view as abandonment is indeed abandonment.

Numerous texts extol the virtue of maintaining the bonds of kinship and sternly warn against severing them.

57 — It is narrated from Abu Thabit—some say from Abu Saʿid, others from Abu al-Walid Sahl ibn Hunayf, who fought at Badr—may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever sincerely asks Allah for martyrdom will be granted the rank of the martyrs, even if he dies in his own bed.” (Muslim)

[Explanation]
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—cited this hadith in the chapter on truthfulness. The point of relevance is the Prophet’s words, “Whoever asks Allah for martyrdom sincerely.” Martyrdom occupies a lofty station, second only to that of the ever-truthful, as Allah the Exalted says: “Whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, those will be with the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of truth, the martyrs, and the righteous.” (Q 4:69).