PARENTS’ RIGHTS CANNOT

Be Repaid

As it states above, a child’s kind behavior towards parents is both a privilege and a duty. This right can never be repaid or sacrificed for anything else, and there is certainly no tolerance for the neglect of these rights. Indeed, the noble Prophet signified this when he said, “No child repays his father fully unless he finds him as a slave, then buys him and sets him free.” The noble Prophet mentioned the sacrifices of a mother in many of the traditions. According to a narration by Abu Hurayra, one day a Companion came to the Messenger of God and asked, “Who deserves my companionship the most?” He replied, “Your mother.” The Companion asked the question three times, and three times the noble Prophet gave the same answer. However, when the Companion asked the fourth time, he replied, “Your father.” By conveying these words, the Messenger of God emphasized that the rights of a mother are greater than those of a father.

In an article titled “Mother,” the eminent scholar Fethullah Gülen spoke of a mother’s sacrifices in these words:

Think about it, what a long process of preparation they undergo for us, what insurmountable hardships they have come up against and what things they overcome. What challenges they struggle with, and what dreams and weariness they live with. What reveries and dreams their hearts are filled with, and emptied of, what hopelessness and disappointment they suffer. What hardships and burdens they stand firm against and how many ordeals they undergo. What pains they suffer and how they moan. How many times they cry, screaming out and how many times they console our crying. How many times they overflow with compassion and how many times they are in need of compassion. In short, what valuable things they spend for us and what efforts they make, expecting nothing in return.

If there is someone who hugs, cuddles, kisses, and caresses us, who relieves our feelings of sadness and dejection, who shares our worries, who prefers us to eat in her place, us to be dressed well instead of her, who feels her hunger or fullness when we are hungry or full, who bears unimaginable hardships with a superhuman effort for the sake of our happiness and joy, who shows us the way for our body to develop, our will to strengthen, for our intelligence to become sharp and perspicacious, for our horizons to be oriented on the Hereafter, a person who does all these without expecting—openly or secretly—anything in return, that person is none other than our mother.

A mother and father are the means of a child coming into this world. As defined in this verse of the Qur’an—“Let human, then, consider from what he has been created. . . . It [that fluid] proceeds (as a result of incitement) between the (lumbar zone in the) vertebra and the ribs” (at-Tariq 86:5–7) they were both created as the means. Therefore, as they were the means, the reason for the birth, parents have rights over their children. Thus, when offspring are as yet nonexistent in the material realm, a mother and father are the cause of them coming into existence, and following the certain stages, directing them to the path leading to life and nurturing their children, who are, in a sense, captives, attaining identity. Indeed, it is impossible to repay the rights, because “From the moment a human begins to exist while still a tiny seed, it is the responsibility of the parents, and the parents bear the burden of their development. In these terms, it is neither possible to define the depths of a mother’s and father’s compassion towards their children, nor the limits to the difficulties they endure for the sake of their children. Due to this, a child’s respect towards parents is both a human obligation and a duty.

Supplications of Those Who Please Their Parents Are Accepted

According to a narration by Abdullah, the son of Umar ibn al-Khattab, the noble Prophet related an event that befell three people of past nations:

While three persons were walking, rain began to fall and they had to enter a cave in a mountain. A big rock rolled over and blocked the mouth of the cave. They said to each other, ‘Invoke Allah with the best deed you have performed (so Allah might remove the rock)’. One of them said, ‘O Allah! My parents were old and I used to go out for grazing (my animals). On my return I would milk (the animals) and take the milk in a vessel to my parents to drink. After they had drunk from it, I would give it to my children, family and wife. One day I was delayed and on my return I found my parents sleeping, and I disliked to wake them up. The children were crying at my feet (because of hunger). That state of affairs continued till it was dawn. O Allah! If You regard that I did it for Your sake, then please remove this rock so that we may see the sky.’ So, the rock was moved a bit. The second said, ‘O Allah! You know that I was in love with a cousin of mine, like the deepest love a man may have for a woman, and she told me that I would not get my desire fulfilled unless I paid her one-hundred Dinars (gold pieces). So, I struggled for it till I gathered the desired amount, and when I sat in between her legs, she told me to be afraid of Allah, and asked me not to deflower her except rightfully (by marriage). So, I got up and left her. O Allah! If You regard that I did it for Your sake, kindly remove this rock.’ So, two-thirds of the rock was removed. Then the third man said, ‘O Allah! No doubt You know that once I employed a worker for one Faraq (three Sa’s) of millet, and when I wanted to pay him, he refused to take it, so I sowed it and from its yield I bought cows and a shepherd. After a time that man came and demanded his money. I said to him: Go to those cows and the shepherd and take them for they are for you. He asked me whether I was joking with him. I told him that I was not joking with him, and all that belonged to him. O Allah! If You regard that I did it sincerely for Your sake, then please remove the rock.’ So, the rock was removed completely from the mouth of the cave. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Anbiya, 50).

Indeed, as we see in this tradition of the noble Prophet, deeming their sincere acts as a form of intercession, these three desperate individuals supplicated to God, and He opened the gate of salvation to them. Each of their acts was extremely virtuous. In particular, if we begin with the example relevant to our present topic, we see that even during the gloomiest periods in a person’s life, serving and pleasing parents can open the secret gate to salvation. God accepted the supplication of a man who served his parents and preferred them over his own children, and allowed him to escape from the cave.