Parents are a great blessing of Almighty Allah and those who recognize their importance are also great people. As there are a lot of favors on every person from parents so there are a lot of rights of parents on every person. To fulfill the rights of parents is necessary for the success of every person in this world and the hereafter and the negligence certainly leads to a huge loss. No one of us can be free from the rights of parents and these rights cannot be fulfilled even we spend the whole life for it. Parents are reason for the existence of a person in this world so every blessing a person has is by virtue of the mercy of parents. In addition, the difficulties they face while looking after their children, especially the sufferings of mother in carrying her child in womb, giving birth to him, feeding him milk, to what extent can we pay thanks to these favors of his parents. Islam being a complete guidance about life lays great stress on fulfilling the rights of parents. The way in which Islam defines the rights and status of parents leads towards a good society. We can understand the importance of rights of parents in Islam by the fact that Allah has discussed their rights along with His own rights Allah has commanded: “Worship only Allah and show kindness to parents”. If one of them or both of them attain old age with, never say unto them any word of disgust nor reproach them, but address them with excellent speech. There are a lot of sayings of the Prophet (SAW) about the importance of rights of parents: Abu Darda reported that the Prophet (SAW) said: “A father is the main gate of Paradise. Now it is up to you to preserve or waste it.” At another place Prophet said: “Every righteous child who casts a look of mercy and affection upon his parents shall be granted, for every look of his, rewards equivalent to that of an accepted Hajj.”
Obedience to parents is a very important lesson of Islam. To obey every order of parents by living within the limits of Islam is necessary for us. We should try to obey their orders happily.
Islam teaches us to give respect to our parents. We should not raise our voices before them. We must give them a respectful place to sit. When they come to us we should stand up for their respect. When they are sitting with us we must sit in a respectful manner, address them with respectable words and talk to them softly with love and kindness. Saad Ibn Musaib said: “One should talk to his parents as if a slave talking to his strict master”. It is our duty to love our parents. We must show love in our behavior to them. When we look towards our parents, there must be love in our eyes for them. Obedience to parents is a very important lesson of Islam. To obey every order of parents by living within the limits of Islam is necessary for us. We should try to obey their orders happily. The Prophet has said: “Goodness towards (one’s) parents is the greatest obligatory act”. Serving our parents is our duty. We should serve them by fulfilling their needs of life. We should take care of the proper rest of our parents. We should give them proper clothing, food, room and other things they need. Spending on parents has also lots of reward. Allah says in Quran: “They ask you as to what they should spend. Say, “Whatever you spend of good is (to be) for parents”. We should also visit our parents, sit with them, talk to them, and also listen to them. There are still deeds that can be done to benefit those who have lost either one or both of their parents. Similarly the disobedience leads towards a great loss and humiliation.
