All ascendants and descendants are prohibited, i.e. mothers and all the ascendants, the mother of the mother and the mother of the father, and your daughters, they are the descendants, In other words, it is not permissible for a person to marry his daughter, the daughter of his daughter, or the daughter of his son because these are descendants in sequence, just as it is forbidden for a person to marry his sisters, and aunts. The prophet (saws), as well, forbade marriage from the wife’s paternal aunts and the daughters of the brothers and the sisters.
وَأُمَّهَاتُكُمُ اللاَّتِي أَرْضَعْنَكُمْ {your [milk] mothers who nursed you, your sisters through nursing}: The woman who nursing you has become like your mother, and everything that is forbidden through lineage is forbidden through nursing, that is, the mother and her mother, the grandmother, the mother and her children, sisters through nursing are also prohibited.
وَرَبَائِبُكُمُ اللاَّتِي فِي حُجُورِكُم مِّن نِّسَآئِكُمُ اللاَّتِي دَخَلْتُم بِهِنَّ: {and your step-daughters under your guardianship [born] of your wives unto whom you have gone in}: The wife’s daughter is not permissible for a man to marry.
وَحَلاَئِلُ أَبْنَائِكُمُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ أَصْلاَبِكُمْ {And [also prohibited are] the wives of your sons who are from your [own] loins}: It is not permissible for him to marry his son’s wife, if he divorces her or even after her death.
وَأَن تَجْمَعُواْ بَيْنَ الأُخْتَيْنِ إَلاَّ مَا قَدْ سَلَفَ{and that you take [in marriage] two sisters simultaneously}: It is not permissible for a man to marry two sisters; this is out of respect for the woman.
Everything that is mentioned in this verse is forbidden for a man, and Allah (swt) does not forbid or permit a matter that except for the sake of the human being, whether you know the benefits behind it or are absent from you. In general, if you are just concerned about the wisdom of the commands or the permissible or the forbidden in every matter, in this case you are glorifying the wisdom and not worshiping Allah (swt) The commander. As long as we have believed in Allah (swt), it is part of the requirements and necessities of faith that we believe in what Allah (swt) has revealed and that they are, with no doubt, for our interest, and we have to apply them whether we know the reason behind them or not.
Some of Allah’s commands, whose reasons do not have to be known by a believer, for he would then glorify the reason instead. For example, if we say to anyone: Refrain from alcohol; Because wine leads to cirrhosis of the liver and disease. After that, if this person abstains from drinking the wine, then his commitment is not according to his faith, but rather because he wants to avoid the disease, then it has nothing to do with the issue of faith.
Likewise, if you fast only to keep your perfect health and pray only for doing exercises, then this is not of the faith at all. True faith means to implement the commands of Allah (swt), whether we know the reason or not.
فَمَن شَاء فَلْيُؤْمِن وَمَن شَاء فَلْيَكْفُرْ
{so whoever wills – let him believe; and whoever wills – let him disbelieve.} (al-Kahf: 29)
Allah (swt) gave the freedom of choice to human beings.
وَلَوْ شَاء رَبُّكَ لآمَنَ مَن فِي الأَرْضِ كُلُّهُمْ جَمِيعًا أَفَأَنتَ تُكْرِهُ النَّاسَ حَتَّى يَكُونُواْ مُؤْمِنِينَ
{And had your Lord willed, those on earth would have believed – all of them entirely. Then, [O Muhammad], would you compel the people in order that they become believers?} (Yunus: 99)
The religion is a belief, not culture, religion is doctrine, morals, values, legislation, rulings and controls, and it is based on choice and conviction. The Arabic word which refers to doctrine means to tie, so religion is a doctrine in a way that it is tied in the heart, so faith cannot leave it and polytheism cannot enter into it.
Verily, faith has requirements, as defined in the famous Hadith when Gabriel (Peace be upon him) asked the Prophet (saws) about faith and he answered that faith is:
“To believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Last Day and the divine decree, both good and bad,”[1]
This is the definition of faith in general, the Prophet (saws) also said:
“Iman has over seventy branches – or over sixty branches – the uppermost of which is the declaration: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah’; and the least of which is the removal of harmful object from the road, and modesty is a branch of Iman.” [2]
Even if you remove the thorn from the road and prevent harm to a person or an animal, then this is one of the branches of faith in Allah (swt). Faith is a relationship between a servant and his Lord.
[1] Sahih Muslim: Chapter of Faith, Hadith No. 8.
[2] Sahih Muslim: Chapter of Faith, Hadith No.35.