Forms of the Family in Islam

Question

What are the forms of the family in Islam?

Answer

Our definition of family makes no reference to the residential factor because the family members may or may not occupy the same residential unit. As far as their mutual expectations are concerned, it makes no fundamental difference how or where they reside.

The residential confines may be shared by all members included, or they may be separate and independent. This fact, among others, precludes the unqualified applicability to the family structure in Islam of the sociological concept of nuclear family, where unity of residence is one of the basic characteristics.

But it does not necessarily follow that, since the family in Islam is not fully of the nuclear type, it must be “extended” or “polygamous.” Neither extendedness nor “polygyny” is a condition to or prerequisite for the foundation of the family in Islam.

The Muslim family may be extended, polygynous, both extended and polygynous, or neither. There is no specific provision in Islam that it must be of one type or the other, just as there is none in favor of, or opposition to, the nuclear family type.

The organizational form is an open question, unlike the mutual expectations of the membership. Such expectations remain, no matter what form the family may assume. The nature and extent of these will become clear as the discussion proceeds.