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What is the brothers' duty towards their orphaned, unmarried sister, and what is the ruling on their negligence in caring for her due to their fear of their wives? Are the rights of the wife and family to be given precedence over the rights of the orphaned sister? Will a person be punished for this negligence?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The brothers must maintain ties with their sister and not sever them, for Allah Almighty says: "Then, should you turn away, is it to be expected that you would cause corruption in the land and sever your ties of kinship? Those are the ones whom Allah has cursed, so He made them deaf and blinded their vision." If the sister has no wealth, her expenses become the responsibility of her brothers, who must provide her with suitable housing. The wife is not obligated to accept the husband's sister living with her in the same house, but it is commendable for her to do so. If she refuses, the brother must allocate a separate room for his sister out of righteousness towards her. The husband must balance the rights of his Lord, himself, his family, his wife, and his children. Those who have rights must help the husband in this. Whoever falls short in his duties is sinful.

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

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