Absolute Justice, Kindness and Kinship — Page 383
— Part IV 374 Your Lord has commanded, 'Worship none but Him, and show kindness to parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age with you, never say unto them any word expressive of disgust nor reproach them, but address them with kind words. ' (S u rah Ban i -Isr a’i l; Ch. 17: V. 24) The first part of this verse deals with justice and describes a fundamental obligation of man, without paying respect to which no man is worthy of being called a man. Having said that, in the second part of the same verse the Holy Quran advises, 'address both of the parents with a word of great respect. ' This is a step forward from justice and enters the area of kindness. This implies that to speak rudely to them should, of course, be out of the question. It behoves you to address them always with profound respect. Then moving forward, in the following verse the Holy Quran teaches how to truly behave towards them like their next of kin: And lower to them the wing of humility out of tenderness. And say, 'My Lord, have mercy on them even as they nourished me in my childhood. ' (S u rah Ban i Isr a’i l; Ch. 17: V. 25)