Kindness to parents

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Allah says (in close meanings)

"And We have charged man concerning his parents -- his mother bore him in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning was in two years -- 'Be thankful to Me, and to thy parents; to Me is the homecoming." [Qur'an, Luqman 31:14]

"We have charged man, that he be kind to his parents; but if they strive with thee to make thee associate with Me that whereof thou hast no knowledge, then do not obey them; unto Me you shall return, and I shall tell you what you were doing. And those who believe, and do righteous deeds assuredly We shall admit them among the righteous." [Quran, The Spider 29:8-9]

When we contemplate upon these verses and many similar verses regarding this serious matter (kindness to parents), we will find that we fall short in the practice.

InshaAllah we have no problem showing kindness and gratitude to our parents. But how about our children? Are our children good to us? Often we don't put much effort to make sure that our children are also kind to us and to the absent parent (whether the absence is due to work or divorce or disinterest/irresponsibility).

It is our duty to Allah to teach our children this commandment the proper way. We owe to our children this teaching. In the midst of our daily struggles in life, it is not difficult to forget. So we need reminders to put this as top priority. And who is best to remind us? The righteous around us--having righteous companionship is a vital element in drawing you closer to Allah.

So, regardless of what kind of person the other parent is, we must teach and remind our children to follow this commandment of Allah--be good to their parents no matter what, whether their parents are good to them or not, putting our feelings aside. This is the path to Allah. As my dear learned teacher said, "our responsibility is for us to worship Allah by doing what is demanded of us and if our children then make wrong decisions, that is between them and their Lord. They are His and we can only deal with them as He has commanded and leave the results up to Him."

I leave you to contemplate on this. May Allah protect our children and make them a source of comfort for us in this world and the Hereafter. Please keep me and my family in your prayers.

Recommended lecture: Being the best to our parents by Nouman Ali Khan