our parents our masters

A collection of quotes on the rights of the parents:

·         Ibn Abbas said: “There is not a single believer who has two parents and wakes up while he is good to them except that Allah opens up for him two gates to Paradise, and if he makes one of them angry, Allah will not be Pleased with him until that parent becomes pleased with him again.” It was asked: “Even if that parent was oppressive and in the wrong?” It was replied: “Yes, even that be so. And he never wakes up while he is bad to them except that Allah opens up for him two gates to Hell.”

·         As-Samarqandi said: “If Allah – the Exalted – had not mentioned the position and loftiness of the parents in His Book, and did not admonish regarding it, then it would have been realized by simple logic. So, it is obligatory upon the one with logic and intelligence to realize their high status and to fulfill their rights. How is it, then, when Allah has mentioned this in all of His Books: the Torah, the Gospels, the Psalms and the Qur’an, has commanded this in all of His Books, and revealed this to all of His Prophets and advised them regarding the honorable position of the parents and their rights, and has made His Pleasure dependent on their pleasure, and His Anger dependent on their anger?”

·         Farqad as-Sabakhi said: “I have read in many books that it is not for the son (or daughter) to speak in the presence of the parents except with their permission, or to walk in front of them, or to their right or left, unless they call him to walk next to them. Rather, he should walk behind them as a slave walks behind his master.”

 

·         A group of the Tabi’een said: “Whoever supplicates for his parents five times in a day has discharged their rights due, since Allah has said: “…thank Me and your parents. To Me is the final return.” (Qur’an, 31:14), and you thank Allah by praying five times in a day. Likewise, you would thank your parents by praying for them five times in a day.”

 

·         A group of the Companions said: “To leave off praying for one’s parents results in a tight and constricted life for the son.”

·         With regard to the duties of parents, Abu Hafs Al-Iskandrani – one of the scholars of Uzbekistan – said that a man came to him and said: “My son hit me and hurt me!” The scholar said: “Glory be to Allah! A son hitting his father? Have you taught him manners and knowledge?” The man said: “No.” “Have you taught him the Qur’an?” The man replied: “No.” “So, what does he know how to do?” The man replied: “Farming.” “Do you know why he hit you?” The man replied: “No.” The scholar then said: “It might have been that when he woke up in the morning, he went to the fields, was riding on a donkey, had a stick between his hands, had a dog behind him, and did not have any knowledge of the Qur’an (because you failed to teach him any of it). So, he started singing, you came out to him at that moment, he thought you were a cow, and hit you with the stick. So, thank Allah that your skull was not fractured.”

·         One of the early righteous people would not order his son. If he needed something, he would ask someone else for it. When he was asked about this, he said: “I fear that if I were to command my son with something that he wouldn’t be able to bear, he would not carry it out and would therefore be disobedient to me and would deserve Hell as a result, and I do not want to be the cause of my son burning in Hell.”

– As-Samarqandi, ‘Tambih Al-Ghafilin’, (p. 84-91)