In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
All praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His messenger, his family, companions, and those who follow his guidance:
The family in Islam is the basic nucleus for society and the nation. Its strength and cohesion mean the strength and cohesion of the Muslim nation. For that reason, Islam devoted unparalleled, honoring attention to the family, so much that the Quran – that doesn’t generally follow a method of going through details – has in fact tackled family-related rules and affairs with much detail and accuracy. Thus, the Quran left no point in each and every aspect without clarifying the ruling in its regard and explaining the means to cure it. It suffices to mention as proof of this God’s words: {If a wife fears cruelty or desertion on her husband's part, there is no blame on them if they arrange an amicable settlement between themselves; and such settlement is best; even though men's souls are swayed by greed. But if you do good and practice self-restraint, Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.} [Quran 4:128] where the Quran approached the issue of this woman and commanded reconciliation, clarified the good effects of reconciliation and in addition to this explained the psychological side which is the miserliness rooted in souls that requires patience from both sides and efforts to remove all that is entitled to disturb the peace in this relation.
Moreover, the Quran never mentions family in all its conditions unless accompanied by the fear of Allah so much that in some cases, the verses concerned with family begin with the mention of taqwa or fear of Allah and end with it like for example the first verse of Surat An-Nisaa.
Another issue that highlights the status of family and marital cohesion is how they are described as the "strong covenant”, and how separation and divorce were discouraged even in the case of dislike, mandating holding on to the partner with patience and perseverance saying { live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If you take a dislike to them it may be that you dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.} [Quran 4:19].
Much greater than all of this is how the Quran made household management a matter of consensus as the husband’s opinion, although he enjoys the qawama or caretaking rank, has no privilege over the wife’s opinion according to the text of the Quran. In this verse, interactive participation was used in a way that indicates complete equality between the two sides saying { If they both decide on weaning, by mutual consent, and after due consultation, there is no blame on them.} [Quran 2:233] and made consensus and mutual counsel of the two sides a condition without giving permission to any of them to act based on their own individual advice.
Due to this extreme importance, the whole family institution is subject to a fierce attack aimed at debilitating it and ripping it of its spiritual and religious values. Regrettably enough, some of these attempts originate in the international organization in charge of global peace and security where a document entitled the "Document on violence against Women - CEDAW 57” was issued including a number of alien concepts that contradict all religious values like for instance equating an adulteress with a wife, equating unlawful children with lawful ones, giving girls all freedom to practice sexual relations with a male or female and issuing laws to back these concepts.
Facing these challenges, the International Union of Muslim Scholars issued a statement clarifying Islam’s position regarding the topics tackled in this document. Yet the matter requires more than a statement, hence the Committee on Family and Women affiliated with the IUMS, under its head Dr. Fatima Naseef and its Executive Director Buthayna Abdullah Al Abdul-Ghani, organized the "International Forum for the Protection of the Family”.
We are optimistic to see that this forum will be concluded by issuing an Islamic declaration inclusive of the academic, legal, and religious counterarguments to the contradicting articles of the mentioned document and provide a complete substitute to be ratified by the Board of Trustees and distributed all over the world, particularly the Muslim world with its governments and civil society organizations.
And we turn to Allah with prayers to crown the work of this forum with success and Godspeed, and to grant all those who participated in it the best reward.
Dr. Ali Al-Qaradaghi
IUMS Secretary General