Bismillāh.
Imam al-Sādiq (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever fasts three days at the end of Shaʿbān and connects them with the month of Ramaḍān, God — the Exalted — records for him the fast of two consecutive months.”
Wasā’il al-Shī’ah, vol. 10, p. 504
إِنَّمَا ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ
The faithful are indeed brothers.
Sūrat al-Hujurāt, No. 49, Āyat 10
Family relationships such as who is a child or a sibling, can be defined by nature or they can be a construct, considered by people and thereby given importance. In Arabic this idea of considering a concept and deeming it to be something that otherwise has no apparent reality is referred to as i’itibār. In an earlier reflection, we had discussed how concepts like money and power are examples of i’itibār that people give a reality to. Similarly, when it comes to relationships, it is interesting to note that Islam has done i’itibār of certain relationships that are not defined by nature nor were they defined by previous cultures.
Take for example the idea of a child. Clearly, there is a natural biological reality of who is one’s offspring. This has a physical reality, for example, characteristic traits are naturally inherited in this manner. However, many societies have expanded the concept of child and considered an adopted child to also have the rights of a biological child. To use the Arabic terminology, such cultures have done i’itibār of a broader concept of a child that includes both a biological and an adopted child.
When we look at the teachings of Islam we can see that Islam has also done i’itibār of certain relationships beyond the natural relationship. What is important to recognize is that these relationships and their respective Arabic terms have to be understood from Islamic tradition, not based on how the Arabic word was used in pre-Islamic Arabia!
For example, let us go back to the idea of a child. The opening verses of Sūrat al-Ahzāb clearly negate the idea that an adopted child is considered to be one’s child in Islam:
وَمَا جَعَلَ أَدْعِيَاءَكُمْ أَبْنَاءَكُمْ
nor has he made your adopted sons your [actual] sons (Q 33:4)
As a result in Islamic law an adopted child is not mahram to the family that adopts them and they do not inherit. Islam also does i’itibār of a new concept of a child: a child who is born in wedlock. While a child born out of wedlock is still a natural child, they are denied certain rights that a child born in wedlock has such as inheritance.
Similar is the case with the concept of brotherhood that is seen in the above verse from Sūrat al-Hujurāt. It is not the case that this connection between two believers is being symbolically compared to the relationship between natural brothers. Rather this is a relationship that Islam has done i’itibār of, and the term has been coined as ‘brotherhood’ due to certain similarities between this relationship and the natural relationship between two brothers.
In the famous epistle attributed to Imam al-Sajjād ‘alayhis salām he describes the right of a brother saying, “And the right of your brother is that you know that he is [your helper just like] your hand which you expand, he is [a support like] your back against which you lean, he is your honour that you rely on, and he is your strength with which you attack” (Tuhaf al-‘Uqūl, p. 263.) Such a description should naturally apply to two biological brothers who come from one biological family, who grow up together and come from one household. But Islam has also instilled such a sentiment amongst believers, that their hearts are connected, they have been taught to help one another, etc.
We pray that Allah fills our heart with love and concern for all of our brothers around the world, especially those who are suffering in countries like Palestine and Sudan. May Allah relieve them of suffering and bring justice to their oppressors.
Sources: Allāmah Tabātabā’ī, Al-Mīzān.