Is the stepmother sinful if she does not care for her husband's daughter and makes her feel the emptiness of her mother's absence?

The Sharia has granted the stepmother a great status. The children are her mahrams (unmarriageable kin), and it is forbidden for them to marry her, as Allah Almighty says: "And do not marry those [women] whom your fathers married, except what has already occurred. Indeed, it was an immorality and hateful [to Allah], and was a wretched way." Therefore, both parties should observe this relationship, so that the children honor her, and she is to them like a mother.

If the stepmother does not do so, and they perceive hatred or lack of interest from her, this is contrary to what should be. However, she is not to be blamed for matters of the heart over which a person has no control, as Allah Almighty says: "And there is no blame upon you for that in which you have erred, but [only for] what your hearts intended."

However, if she causes harm through word or deed, she incurs sin thereby, for harming a Muslim is forbidden, as Allah Almighty says: "And those who harm believing men and believing women for [something] other than what they have earned have certainly borne slander and manifest sin." And in the Hadith: "Abusing a Muslim is a fusuq (disobedience) and fighting him is kufr (disbelief)."

The questioner is advised to strive for marriage, for Allah may bless him with a righteous spouse who will aid him in his religious and worldly affairs. It is permissible in Sharia for a woman to seek out a righteous man or to offer herself to him within the bounds of Islamic etiquette.