Islamic Quotes About Family: 17 Verses and Hadith, With References and Grades

A man named al-Aqra' ibn Habis once watched the Prophet Muhammad kiss his grandson al-Hasan and said, a little proudly, that he had ten children and had never kissed one of them. The Prophet looked at him and answered: "Whoever is not merciful to others will not be treated mercifully." The exchange is recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari (hadith 5997, narrated by Abu Huraira), and it is a good way into this page, because most Islamic teaching about family works the same way: short, concrete, and tied to a real moment rather than a slogan.

Below are 17 Islamic quotes about family, eight from the Quran and nine from the hadith, each with its exact reference, the translation used, and (for hadith) how scholars have graded it. After them you will find a table matching each line to an occasion, and a short list of lines that circulate online with the wrong wording or no reliable source.

Before you copy a line: what the reference tells you

Islamic quotes come from two very different kinds of text, and the reference after each one tells you which. A Quran verse is cited by surah and verse number (17:24 means chapter 17, verse 24); Muslims regard it as the word of God, so it is quoted exactly, and the only thing that changes is the English translation. A hadith is a report of what the Prophet said or did, passed down through a chain of narrators and later collected in books such as Sahih al-Bukhari, completed around 846 CE. Hadith scholars grade each report: sahih (sound), hasan (good) or da'if (weak).

Every quote below was checked against those translations. Square brackets are part of the Sahih International text: they mark words the translators added for sense, and it is cleaner to keep them than to silently remove them.

Parents: the verses most often read aloud

"And your Lord has decreed that you worship not except Him, and to parents, good treatment. Whether one or both of them reach old age [while] with you, say not to them [so much as], 'uff,' and do not repel them but speak to them a noble word."

The verse sets kindness to parents directly after the command to worship God alone, which is why Muslim teachers so often quote the two halves together. "Uff" is a small sound of irritation, about as mild as a sigh; the point is that even that is ruled out once a parent is old and dependent. This is the line people reach for when they are caring for an elderly mother or father and the patience is wearing thin.

"And lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy and say, 'My Lord, have mercy upon them as they brought me up [when I was] small.'"

The image of a bird lowering its wing over its young is reversed here: the grown child now shelters the parent. The second half is a prayer that many Muslims learn as children and say for their parents for the rest of their lives, so it works well on a card for a parent's birthday or in a memorial message, where it reads as both a thank-you and a dua.

CopyShareSave image

"And We have enjoined upon man [care] for his parents. His mother carried him, [increasing her] in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years. Be grateful to Me and to your parents; to Me is the [final] destination."

Surah Luqman is framed as the advice of a wise father, Luqman, to his son, and this verse sits in the middle of it. It pairs gratitude to God with gratitude to parents in a single sentence. The next verse (31:15) adds the limit: if parents push a child toward associating partners with God, the child should not obey them in that, "but accompany them in [this] world with appropriate kindness." Disagreement in faith does not cancel the duty of kindness.

"His mother carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship, and his gestation and weaning [period] is thirty months."

Where 31:14 speaks of "weakness upon weakness," this verse counts the months. The full verse goes on to describe a person reaching forty and praying to be grateful for the favours given to them and their parents, and for righteous children of their own, so it suits a Mother's Day card or a fortieth-birthday message to a parent equally well.

"Your mother, your mother, your mother"

"A man came to Allah's Messenger and said, 'O Allah's Messenger! Who is more entitled to be treated with the best companionship by me?' The Prophet said, 'Your mother.' The man said. 'Who is next?' The Prophet said, 'Your mother.' The man further said, 'Who is next?' The Prophet said, 'Your mother.' The man asked for the fourth time, 'Who is next?' The Prophet said, 'Your father.'"

This is probably the most widely shared hadith about family, and it is in the most authoritative collection. People usually cut it to "your mother, your mother, your mother, then your father", which keeps the meaning; the repetition is the whole point. It pairs naturally with 31:14 and 46:15 above, which explain why the mother comes first three times. For a son writing to his mother, our sourced mother and son quotes give non-religious lines in the same spirit.

"Do you have a mother?" He said: "Yes." He said: "Then stay with her, for Paradise is beneath her feet."

The popular saying "Paradise lies at the feet of mothers" comes from this report. The context matters: a man named Jahimah came to ask the Prophet whether he should go out to fight, and was told to stay and look after his mother instead. Quote the shortened form if you like, but if someone asks for a source, this is the one, and the original is about choosing your mother's care over a heroic-looking alternative.

Silat al-rahim: keeping ties with relatives

The Arabic phrase for maintaining family ties is silat al-rahim, literally "connecting the womb." A hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari (5988) links the word rahm, womb, to ar-Rahman, the Most Merciful, one of the names of God. The lines in this section are the ones people send when a family has split.

"O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs."

This is the opening verse of the surah on family law, and "the wombs" here means family ties. It is recited in many Muslim marriage sermons. Its first half also makes a quiet argument: everyone descends from one soul, so every family is a branch of the same one.

"So would you perhaps, if you turned away, cause corruption on earth and sever your [ties of] relationship?"

A rhetorical question rather than a ruling, and sharper for it: cutting off relatives is placed next to spreading corruption on earth. It is a hard line to send to someone, so it belongs more in a talk or an essay than in a text message.

"Al-Wasil is not the one who recompenses the good done to him by his relatives, but Al-Wasil is the one who keeps good relations with those relatives who had severed the bond of kinship with him."

Al-wasil means "the one who joins." The hadith says that keeping in touch with relatives who are kind to you is just repayment; the real virtue is reaching out to the ones who cut you off. This is the line people quote when a sibling or cousin has stopped calling. It does not tell anyone to accept abuse, and scholars distinguish between keeping a tie (a greeting, a visit, help when needed) and putting yourself in harm's way. Our page on cutting ties with family covers the harder cases.

CopyShareSave image

"The person who severs the bond of kinship will not enter Paradise."

Recorded in both of the two most trusted collections, this is the strongest warning on the subject. Sufyan, one of the narrators, explained "the severer" as "one who severs the tie of kinship." Scholars read it as a warning about deliberately and permanently cutting family off, not about an argument or a season of distance.

"Whoever loves that he be granted more wealth and that his lease of life be prolonged then he should keep good relations with his Kith and kin."

The positive side of the same teaching: keeping family ties brings blessing in provision and in life. It is the gentlest line in this section and the easiest to put in an Eid message to relatives you have not seen in a while.

Marriage, home and the daily work of it

"And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought."

This is the verse most often printed on Muslim wedding invitations. The three key words are sakinah (tranquility), mawaddah (affection) and rahmah (mercy), and many couples use the Arabic words alone on a card or a ring. The verse names mercy, not only love, as something placed between spouses, which is a realistic thing to wish a couple.

CopyShareSave image

"Our Lord, grant us from among our wives and offspring comfort to our eyes and make us a leader [i.e., example] for the righteous."

"Comfort to our eyes" (qurrata a'yun) is an Arabic idiom for a person who makes you glad just to look at them. The verse is itself a prayer, which is why it is the usual answer to the question "what is a good dua for a family?" It fits a new-baby card, a wedding or a family photo caption.

"The best of you is the best to his wives, and I am the best of you to my wives."

You will often see this as "the best of you are those who are best to their families." Both readings come from the same Arabic word, ahl, which means a man's household and is often used for his wife. The Darussalam translation quoted here says "wives"; translations that say "family" are not wrong, but if you want the wording that matches the reference, use this one. A similar line in Tirmidhi 1162 ("the best of you are those who are best to your women") is graded hasan sahih.

"If a man spends on his family (with the intention of having a reward from Allah) sincerely for Allah's sake then it is a (kind of) alms-giving in reward for him."

Groceries, rent, school fees: this hadith counts all of it as charity when it is done with the right intention. It is a useful line for a father or mother who works long hours and wonders whether it means anything. Alongside it, 'Aishah's description of the Prophet at home is worth knowing: asked what he did in his house, she said he "used to keep himself busy serving his family" until it was time for prayer (Sahih al-Bukhari 676).

Children, daughters and elders

"He, who brought up two girls properly till they grew up, he and I would come (together) (very closely) on the Day of Resurrection," and he interlaced his fingers.

In a society where many people preferred sons, this promised the highest closeness to the Prophet for raising daughters well. A related report in Sahih Muslim (2629) tells of a poor mother who split her only date between her two daughters and ate nothing; when 'Aishah told the Prophet, he said that whoever is tried with daughters and treats them well will have them as a protection from the Fire. Both are good lines for a father of girls.

"He is not one of us who does not have mercy on our young and does not respect our elders."

Tirmidhi records the occasion: an old man came to speak to the Prophet and people were slow to make room for him. The saying covers a family's whole span in one sentence, from the youngest to the oldest, which makes it a natural fit for a grandparents' gathering or a family reunion. Abu Dawud (4943) has the same teaching in slightly different words.

Which line fits which moment

A few practical points. Write the reference after the line (Quran 30:21, Sahih al-Bukhari 5991) rather than "Islamic quote," so anyone can look it up. Don't rewrite a verse in your own words and keep the quotation marks; paraphrase is fine, but say it is a paraphrase. And because many Muslims handle printed Quran text with care, a verse is better suited to a card someone will keep than to a paper napkin or a balloon. For the same occasions in a Christian setting, see our blessed family quotes from the Bible; for a thank-you card that isn't religious, our grateful for family quotes.

Lines shared online that need care

• "Whoever has a child, let him play with him" / "let him become a child with him." Widely shared as a hadith. We searched the English translations of all six canonical collections (Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i and Ibn Majah) and did not find it; Treat it as unverified (no primary source found) and use the Bukhari 5997 report about kissing al-Hasan instead.
• "The most perfect in faith is the one who is most kind to his family." A version close to this is in Tirmidhi (2612), but al-Albani and others grade that chain da'if (weak). The sound version is Tirmidhi 1162: "The most complete of the believers in faith is the one with the best character among them. And the best of you are those who are best to your women."
• "Paradise lies at the feet of mothers." A fair shortening of Nasa'i 3104 (above), but not its exact words. If you quote it as a hadith, give the reference and, ideally, the original wording.
• Quran 13:23 with "fathers." The verse on families reunited in Paradise reads, in Sahih International, "Gardens of perpetual residence; they will enter them with whoever were righteous among their forefathers, their spouses and their descendants." Versions with "fathers" are paraphrases. Note the condition, too: "whoever were righteous."

Questions people ask

What is a good dua for a family?

The two most used are Quran 25:74 ("Our Lord, grant us from among our wives and offspring comfort to our eyes and make us a leader for the righteous") for spouse and children, and Quran 17:24 ("My Lord, have mercy upon them as they brought me up [when I was] small") for parents. Both are quoted in full above.

What is the Arabic term for maintaining family ties?

Silat al-rahim, literally "connecting the womb." Sahih al-Bukhari 5988 links rahm (womb) to ar-Rahman (the Most Merciful), and 5984 and 5991 above set out the warning against cutting ties and the virtue of reconnecting.

Why is family so important in Islam?

Because the texts treat it as part of worship, not just private life: kindness to parents is placed directly after the worship of God (Quran 17:23), spending on your family counts as charity (Bukhari 55), and cutting off relatives is one of the most serious warnings in the hadith (Bukhari 5984). The family is where faith is practised every day.