Widows and Orphans

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Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep ones self unstained from the world. Who are the widows and orphans?

Widow

A woman who has lost her husband by death and has not married again.

Orphans

An orphan is a child permanently left behind by the death of their parents, or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan.

Many religious texts, including the Bible and the Quran, contain the idea that helping and defending orphans is a very important and God-pleasing matter. Two of the most important religious leaders, Moses and Muhammad, were orphaned as children.

Bible

“Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan.”

“Leave your orphans; I will protect their lives. Your widows too can trust in me.”

Quran

“And they feed, for the love of God, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive,”

“Therefore, treat not the orphan with harshness,”

“So woe to those who do prayer, and are forgetful of their prayer, those who show off and deny help to other.”

“Be good to orphans and the very poor. And speak good words to people.”

“…They will ask you about the property of orphans. Say, ‘Managing it in their best interests is best’. If you mix your property with theirs, they are your brothers…”

“Give orphans their property, and do not substitute bad things for good. Do not assimilate their property into your own. Doing that is a serious crime.”

“Keep a close check on orphans until they reach a marriageable age, then if you perceive that they have sound judgment hand over their property to them…”

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”