Rights of non-Muslim relatives

Question :

What are the rights of a person who is a disbeliever who is a relative upon one of us? meaning if you have a disbeliever who is a relative ,what are the rights that he has upon you?

Answer :

The Shaykh he responded by saying that the relatives who are disbelievers, they have different levels.From them,are the two parents, the mother and the father and the two parents they have rights upon him ,and he mentions the statement of Allah azza wa jall :

وَصَاحِبْهُمَا فِي الدُّنْيَا مَعْرُوفًا

“And accompany (or behave with) them in the dunya in goodness” (Surah Luqman :15 )

So he is gentle towards them and he is good towards them and he calls them to Al-Islaam. However, if they are persistent upon that which they are upon ,then he does not obey them in the disobedience of Allah.However, if they seek from him something which is of the affairs not connected to any form of disobedience to Allah then it is from the goodness that he does (by obeying them).

As for other than the two parents ,such as the uncle or the brothers or so on and so forth,then these people they do not have the rights that the two parents have upon the child. So, if he sees from them that they don’t accept (the truth) or that they are against the daw’ah then he can boycott them and he does this if he sees that there is no response from them. However, if he sees from them or he notices that if he calls them and (if) he is patient upon this that they are liable to accept and enter into Islaam then he does not boycott them rather he is patient and he calls them. However, he said repeating again , if he sees from them that they are a people who are obstinate and they are in opposition to the dawah and they do not have any real care of this, then he boycotts them. And he also said that the disbelievers, from them are those who have the right of being a neighbor so he gives his neighbor the neighborly rights which he has (to give) and the disbelievers are from them is a neighbor and from them is that individual who is deserving of Ihsaan to what you’re calling him,you call him with goodness.

Answered by : Shaykh Abu Amr Al Hajoori

 

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