TEHRAN – The family in the West, as in the past decades, does not have its strong and former position, and this has even raised the concern of Western thinkers.

The crisis of family collapse in the West is rooted in a series of historical factors such as wars, social changes (emergence of the third wave of feminism, hippies, etc.), economic crises, and especially the psychological situation of society.

In a hopeful and fearless society, members bravely try to create a committed relationship (marriage), while in societies that are anxious about the future, people try to calm themselves with fleeting issues one of its most sinister effects is the emergence of an illegitimate generation in these societies.

On the other hand, the lack of will of the governments has made the West unable to deal with this crisis in a radical way. Therefore, it is forced to legalize and recognize some of these issues including same-sex marriage in various Western societies.

With the recognition of other inappropriate relationships by governments, the collapse of the family in the West will intensify.

Highlighting the importance of the family in society, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in a speech delivered on February 3, 2021, on the occasion of the birthday anniversary of Hazrat Fatimah Zahra (greetings be upon her) in the meeting with a number of panegyrists of the Ahlul Bayt said, “The family is declining in the west. The family is a warm and blessed center in which the strongest foundations of human education are laid. It is in the center of the family that the first and most important foundations of human spiritual and intellectual education are established. Home is the best place for the comfort of body and soul, it is the best center for relieving the fatigue of body and soul, it is the most real environment for intimacy. No intimacy is imagined or exists in any environment as much as in the family and between the mother, children, the father, and the wife in the family.”

Western culture, by promoting immorality, corruption, diversity, and sexual promiscuity, weakens the foundations of the family and makes marriage difficult, divorce easy, and childbearing difficult.

“In the Western world today, the family has a very weak foundation. Families – especially women – suffer from separations and breakups. If a family, God forbid, breaks up, both the man and the woman in the family will be left wondering what to do, upset, and suffering. However, the woman will suffer the most. In the Western world today, women are suffering from this, because families easily break up and are abolished. Sometimes, women want to break up the family themselves, yet they end up suffering the most from this separation,” Ayatollah Khamenei noted. (September 18, 1996)

The lack of strong families can lead to the downfall of modern society in many ways. The importance of the family in modern society is evident when examining research on topics such as crime, the economy, and social services.

Families are basically the building blocks of society. Families act as a platform for raising citizens who become the population of society.

“Now, regarding the issue of the family, if we look at the issues in the West, it is a disaster, a disaster! The West has broken up families. It has truly destroyed them. Although, when I say that they have destroyed families, I do not mean that families don’t exist in the West. They do. Some families are actually good families. They truly are families. Others appear to be a family, but on the inside, they are not. I was reading in a Western, American text that in order to really see the children and be a so-called family, the husband and wife set a time to be together. So, you come from your office and your wife comes from her office at such and such time to have tea together in the afternoon, at a set time – for example from 4 to 6 p.m. The children come from school too, and they all have a cup of tea together. That is what they call a family.

One person goes off and does his own thing. The other stays up late and goes out with friends. This is not a family. It is the appearance of a family,” the Leader of the Islamic Revolution noted during a meeting with hundreds of prominent Iranian women in the Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah on January 4, 2023. 

The family in the West, as in the past decades, does not have its strong and former position, and this has even raised the concern of Western thinkers.

Ayatollah Khamenei in this regard said, “The West has truly broken up families with the various issues that I mentioned earlier. And this has led to the gradual collapse of families. It has even caused Western scholars to raise their voices. They themselves – many of their well-wishers, reformists – are paying attention to this and are trying to call people’s attention to it. However, I think they do not have a choice anymore. In some Western countries, the downhill slope has become so steep that it can no longer be stopped. They are going downhill. That is, the families cannot be reformed anymore. This was about the issue of the family.” (January 4, 2023)