As I put my daughter Isra to sleep I couldn’t help but reflect upon the love I have for her. Subhanallah it is amazing how Allah SWT has made the relationship between a mother and her child, and how he has filled a mother’s heart with unconditional love. What melted my heart even more was when Isra would hum herself to sleep and then randomly turn around to give me a kiss!
I remember before I had a kid, I would hear from parents of how much they love their children, and of course my own mom and dad would express their love to me. They would say, ” you will not understand the love of a parent until you become one inshallah”. I thought I did understand until the day came where I had my own child. Now I can say without a doubt, that one does not know that type of love until they experience it.
It is unfortunate that many people undervalue their parents until they themselves become parents. Parents are the ones who went through sleepless nights to take care of you, who would worry if you got sick, and they would feed you before themselves. The list of the things they have done for us is endless, so should we not show them the utmost respect? There are many verses in the Quran that state a child’s duty to be good to his/her parents. I find it quite amazing that in almost all of the verses the order of being good to your parents comes right after the order of worshiping Allah alone. That truly shows you the importance of parents in Islam doesn’t it?
“And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them in terms of honor.” [Surah Isra:23]
If your parents are alive, Alhumdulilah you still have a chance to earn great reward and make them happy. If your parents have left this world, you can still make dua for them.
A few years ago I took a class taught by Sh. Muhammad Faqih in Ann Arbor, MI. I remember we were learning about the importance of parents when he recited a beautiful poem in Arabic (I forgot the name of the writer). Below is the translation of the poem he recited…
One day a man with an evil intention
Deceived a boy with some money,
Wishing to cause him some harm.
He said to him “bring me the heart of your mother,
And I will give you a lot of reward.”
So this ungrateful boy went,
Stabbed her, cut her open.
He pulled the heart out, and was bringing it to the man
As he tripped and fell down,
The heart came out of his hand and got dusty.
As he looked up, he heard his mothers voice
Coming from the heart saying
“Oh my son, are you hurt?”
Upon hearing the voice he was shocked,
He thought to himself “what have I done?”
He grabbed the dagger, intending to stab himself
Suddenly he heard the heart scream out,
“Please stop, my son, do not stab yourself and kill me twice!”
Upon hearing this poem, my tears flowed uncontrollably. Soon after I called my mother and told her I loved her and asked her to forgive me for any hurt I may have caused her…
I ask Allah the All Mighty to protect our children from evil, to make their hearts firm in their deen, and to make them successful in this life and even more so in the hereafter. I ask Allah the Most Merciful to grant our parents Jannatul Firdous, and to have mercy on them. Ameen.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:55 am
asalamu alykoum, mA very nice article.
Would you be able to get the writers name for that poem? I have heard it so many times really and i don’t know who worte it.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Inshallah I will look into who wrote the poem, will post it here as soon as I find out.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I am sitting here sobbing. If you read my most latest entry on my blog, you will see why.
The love of a parent never fades. I was just telling my little girl the other day, even when she is 50 with kids of her own, she will still be my baby girl.
The part in the poem when the boy tripped and he heard his mothers voice, that is so profound.
Thanks for this post, the very first post I read on your blog.