Is a person considered to be maintaining kinship ties if they do not backbite their relatives or harm them, even if they do not visit them? And is one considered to be severing kinship ties if they maintain contact with their relatives but backbite them?

Maintaining kinship ties is not achieved merely by refraining from backbiting or harming relatives; rather, it requires visiting them and inquiring about them. Neglecting visits and inquiries constitutes abandonment and harm. One who maintains kinship ties through visits and inquiries but then backbites them has combined good deeds with bad deeds; he is rewarded for maintaining ties and sinful for backbiting. Jurists have differed on the definition of قطع الرحم (severing kinship ties): some have limited it to causing harm, while others consider it to be the abandonment of good deeds. Thus, maintaining kinship ties (الصلة) is the act of extending a form of kindness, and قطع الرحم (severing ties) is its opposite, which is the abandonment of kindness. One who abandons his relatives by neglecting to visit them and inquire about them is considered to have severed kinship ties.