Adab al-Mufrad

Benefits and Issues:
➊ Parents are the means for a person’s coming into this world, and it is proven by observation that as long as they have strength and ability, they strive for the sake of their children, even fulfilling their children’s needs beyond their own capacity. When parents, who have exhausted all their abilities for fifty or sixty years for their children, become dependent on support—and that too, perhaps only for a few years or months—and the children abandon them helpless and unsupported, then this is a clear sign of the children’s great misfortune.

➋ The supplication of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) against the one who does not serve his parents, that “he be humiliated and disgraced,” indicates that this is an extremely grave crime. Otherwise, the Mercy to the Worlds (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) would not have supplicated against him, that a person leaves his parents helpless in their old age.

➌ Your (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) drawing attention to this matter indicates that most of the time, children fall short in this regard, the result of which is nothing but humiliation and disgrace.

➍ There can be many ways to serve one’s parents: for example, if the parents are in need of wealth, then wealth should be presented to them. If they need physical service, that too should be provided. In the present era, there is a very complex situation in that children, for the sake of their livelihood or for some other reason, go far from home, and often parents do not wish to live with them or leave their ancestral area, especially the scholars who, being away from home, are engaged in the service of religion, face this issue. In such a case, if he is the only child, then it is necessary by all means to keep the parents with him or to go to them, because serving elderly parents yields more positive results than serving other people, and it also has a good effect on their health. And if there are multiple children and it is not possible for all to live together, then the parents should be served in whatever way possible, financially or physically.

In Europe, assigning separate people and places for the service of the elderly is not a remedy for the pains of their old age; rather, along with service, they also need the sincerity and love of their children. Therefore, children themselves should serve their parents.

➎ This is such a bright example of the protection of human rights that cannot be found in Europe; rather, there, the elderly die alone in old homes, sobbing, and there is no one to inquire about them. Recently, a columnist wrote in detail about an old woman in Europe, whom government officials buried eight days after her death due to the smell, while her children were living in their own separate residences. May Allah protect us from this!

➏ Muslims should value Islam and adorn their children with religious education so that tomorrow they may become a support for them in their old age. Merely acquainting children with Western education and keeping them away from Islam is an injustice to the children and to oneself, the true reality of which will be known on the Day of Judgment.

➐ Attaining Paradise and freedom from Hell is the greatest aspiration of a believer. The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) has stated that Paradise lies at the feet of the mother, and has described the father as the middle gate of Paradise. Therefore, by pleasing them and serving them, the attainment of Paradise can be made easy.