"And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents." [17:23]
SubhanAllah....look at the importance of being dutiful to your parents, look at the status of your parents. SubhanAllah being dutiful to your parents has been commanded in the same verse as worshipping Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone, in the same verse as the very purpose of our life. And yet we are so heedless and neglectful....
"We have enjoined upon man to treat his parents with kindness. With much trouble his mother bore him, and with much pain did she give him birth. His bearing and his weaning took thirty months. When he reaches the age of full strength and becomes forty years old, he says: 'My Rabb! Grant me the grace that I may thank You for the favours which You have bestowed on me and my parents, and that I may do good deeds that will please You, and grant me good children. Surely I turn to You in repentance and surely I am those who are Muslims.'" [46:15]
All of us, I'm sure, have grown up with our parents and adults trying to make us listen, trying to drill into us the importance of listening to them, of obedience and respect to them. But did we ever stop to think that it was not only them telling us this? Our Lord, our Creator, our Master is telling us to obey them, to listen to them, to be kind to them...
My dear brothers and sisters, the very nature of our parents, as per the design of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is to be merciful and loving and sacrificial towards their children. But it is something we take for granted, it is something we over look falling into the dark well of ingratitude. Our parents raise us, provide for us, nurture us, sacrifice for us, they make us who we are, and if they didn't they would still deserve our utmost respect. It is an issue of importance, an aspect of our lives worth contemplating over... how many times have we put others before our parents, put ourselves before our parents, put our pety needs and wants before those of our dear parents. Our parents have rights upon us and it's quite easy to lose sight of their rights and focus on our own... let us emerge from this blinded perspective of arrogance into the light of humility and embrace our role as the children of our parents.
Do not forget that serving our parents is not only beloved to our Lord, it is commanded by our Lord. Have we neglected those souls that cannot for a moment forget us and our needs? Every moment of our parents lives are spent caring and worrying and working for us, yet are we burdened by their small requests? Are we too busy to bring a small smile to their face, bring a bit of joy to their hearts and support them with strength for their weary bodies that have weakened in long hours spent taking care of us? Let us not be consumed by selfishness, it is not a large task which I remind myself and all of you of, even a gaze of mercy and love towards your parents is worthy of great reward inshaAllah ta'ala.
I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grants us forgiveness for the times we may have neglected our parents and grants us the tawfeeq to improve our relations with them from here on in.
Islam and Parents: A short video reminder - May Allah make it of benefit (click)
wa salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullah.
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