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If a person is wronged by his family and siblings and they insist on their stance, is it permissible for him to minimize interaction with them to the extent of merely exchanging greetings, and would this be considered the forbidden abandonment?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A woman's maintaining ties of kinship with her brothers and sisters is an Islamic obligation and should not be neglected, even if they neglect her or mistreat her. She will be rewarded for it, based on the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying: "(If you are as you say), then it is as if you are feeding them hot ashes, and there will always be a supporter from Allah against them as long as you persist in that." If their company causes harm, she can limit herself to greetings and reduce visits and conversations. Islam prohibits the forbidden abandonment, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "It is not lawful for a Muslim to abandon his brother for more than three (days), meeting each other and each turning away from the other, and the better of them is the one who initiates the greeting." The jurists have agreed that a greeting severs abandonment and removes sin.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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