Family Matters

Contents & notes: what this topic covers

Under Family Matters, the JAMB Islamic Studies syllabus expects you to study:

• 11. Family Matters
• (a) Marriage
• (i) Importance (Q.16:72) (Q.24:32) (Q.30:20-21)
• (ii) Prohibited categories (Q.2:221) (Q.4:22- 24)
• (iii) Conditions for its validity (Q.4:4) (Q.4:24-25)
• (iv) Rights and duties of husbands and wives (Q.4:34-35) (Q.20:132) (Q.65:6- 7)
• (v) Polygamy (Q.4:3 and 129)
• (b) Idrar ill-treatment of wife (Q. 65:1-3)
• (c) Divorce
• (i) Attitude of Islam to divorce (Q.2:228) (Q.4:34-35) Hadīth “of all things lawful … most hateful to Allah.” (Abu Daud 15:3)
• (ii) Kinds (Talaq, Khul; Faskh, Mubara’ah and Licān) (Q.2:229-230) (Q.24:6-9)
• (iii) Iddah, kinds, duration and importance (Q.2:228 and 234)
• (iv) Prohibited forms of dissolution of marriage. (Ila and Zihar) (Q.2:226- 227) (Q.58:2-4)
• (v) Custody of children (Hadanah)
• (d) Inheritance
• (i) Its importance
• (ii) Heirs and their shares (Q.4:7-8, 11-12 and 176)

Study notes & guidance

Study Family Matters using a recommended Islamic Studies textbook that follows the JAMB syllabus. Work through the contents listed above one by one, make brief notes in your own words, and then practise as many questions on this topic as you can — in Islamic Studies, understanding and steady practice matter far more than memorising. Use the objectives below as a checklist: if you can do each one confidently, you have mastered this topic.

Objectives — candidates should be able to

After studying Family Matters, you should be able to:

1. (i) analyse the importance of marriage; (ii) list the category of women prohibited to a man to marry; (iii) examine the conditions for validity of marriage; (iv) explain the rights and duties of the spouse; (vi) evaluate polygamy and its significance. (i) examine the ill-treatment of wife in marriage Islamic Religious Studies (i) analyse the attitude of Islam to divorce. (i) examine the different kinds of divorce; (i) differentiate between the various kinds of iddah; (ii) analyse its duration and significance. (i) explain the prohibited forms of ending marriage. (i) examine who has the right to custody of children. (i) evaluate the significance of inheritance. (i) identify the categories of the Qur’ānic heirs; (ii) explain the share of each heir;

These objectives are from the official JAMB syllabus. Use them as a checklist — if you can do each one confidently, you have mastered this topic.

Source: official JAMB UTME Islamic Studies syllabus (IBASS, jamb.gov.ng). Reproduced for study use. Last checked: 17 Sept 2026. Always confirm the current syllabus on the official portal.