Kindness to Parents, Relatives, Kinsfolk and Severance of Ties — Hadith 20

21. Al-Ḥasan ibn Maḥbūb narrated from Mālik ibn ʿAṭiyyah, from Abū ʿUbaydah, from Abū Jaʿfar (a) who said, “In the book of ʿAlī, Amīr al- Muʾminīn, (a) [we find the following]: There are three traits whose possessor never dies until he has seen their evil consequences: aggression, severing ties with near relatives, and giving false testimony under oath, by which He proceeds to fight against Allah. Indeed the act of obedience that brings the quickest reward is keeping ties with near relatives. A community may be sinners but they keep ties with each other and [as a result] their wealth grows and they thrive. Verily [giving] false oaths and severing ties with near relatives ruins abodes, turning them into wastelands for their inhabitants, and removes mercy – and verily in the removal of mercy lies the severance of one’s lineage. ”[1]