Stories from Early Islam — Page 151
Kindness towards Parents One of the principal teachings of the Holy Qur’an is that one should show great respect to one’s parents. In Islam, the love of parents and the duty owed to them stands higher than the love of children and the duty owed to them. The Holy Qur’an says, ‘Your Lord commanded that you worship none but Him, and that you show kindness to parents. If one or both of them attain old age in your life-time, never be harsh to them, nor reproach them, but always speak gently to them. Be humbly tender with them and pray, My Lord, have mercy on them, even as they nourished me when I was a child’. (Holy Quran 17:24–25) This shows that in old age, parents need to be tended as carefully and affectionately, as little children are looked after in their childhood, by their parents. The Holy Prophet saw has said, ‘Paradise lies at the feet of your mother’. Once a man came to him and asked, ‘Messenger of Allah! Which of my relations has the prior claim to my devotions?’ The Holy Prophet saw replied, ‘Your mother’. The man asked, ‘And after her?’ The Holy Prophet saw replied, ‘Your mother’. The man asked a third time, ‘And after my mother’. He still replied, ‘Your mother’.