The family is the oldest social institution in the history of humanity. The way different nations and cultures choose to regulate the family vary by tradition and throughout time. Mother and father and child coexist together interdependently and grow into a larger family unit as they merge with other families.

Regulating this complex merge takes careful observation and discipline and should be overseen by one who is wise and possesses standards and values. And every individual within that family should be aware of the standards and values and be willing to uphold them, which also takes discipline. The recent decline of the American family is attributed to a lack of the latter, a willingness to uphold the standard of family values.

On the other hand, there are some cultures that still uphold family values in ways that American culture has let slip into a historical family album. The Islamic family tradition would seem basically oppressive to anyone recently raised into the American family structure.

Apparently, Americans have strayed away from the communal style of family and adopted a more individualistic style, meaning, breaking off family ties is a normal practice today. This - breaking of family ties - is unheard of in Islamic tradition; in fact, Islamic families pride themselves on a more communal type family life, which they view as better for everyone in that family, and utmost society as a whole.

Allowing a family to break up and split off into many directions and believing and practicing different values means the destruction of that family. Families with no father figure, no mother figure, no extended ties, or that has no standards of living, behaving, or permanent plans or direction for the future is a family bound for disintegration.

Islamic family ties are much stronger than American family ties and will prove to be that way for years to come. When America's social structure falls to the point of rampant sexual exploitation, families of Islam and many other countries that still value the family structure, will remain standing.

Below is a look at the structure of Islamic families as compared to American families. Written by a practicing Muslim woman, she gives insight into how Americans misinterpret the Islamic culture and why a misunderstanding of basic family structure has led the American family to decay.

The Family System