Our Parents: Our Masters

<blockquote>Our Parents: Our Masters
These are collected from as-Samarqandi’s ‘Tambih al-Ghafilin’ (p.
84-91):</blockquote>

From the chapter on the rights of the parents:

1 – Ibn ‘Abbas said:

“There is not a single believer who has two parents and wakes up while
he is good to them except that Allah opens up for him two gates to
Paradise, and if he makes one of them angry, Allah will not be Pleased
with him until that parent becomes pleased with him again.” It was
asked: “Even if that parent was oppressive and in the wrong?” It was
replied: “Yes, even so. And he never wakes up while he is bad to them
except that Allah opens up for him two gates to Hell.”

2 – as-Samarqandi said:

“If Allah – the Exalted – had not mentioned the position and sacredness
of the parents in His Book, and did not admonish regarding it, then it
would have been realized by simple logic. So, it is obligatory upon the
one with logic and intelligence to realize their sacredness and to
fulfill their rights. How is it, then, when Allah – the Exalted – has
mentioned this in all of His Books: the Torah, the Gospels, the Psalms
and the Qur’an, has commanded this in all of His Books, and revealed
this to all of His Prophets and advised them regarding the honorable
position of the parents and their rights, and has made His Pleasure
dependent on their pleasure, and His Anger dependent on their anger?”

3 – Farqad as-Sabakhi said:

“I have read in many books that it is not for the son (or daughter) to
speak in the presence of the parents except with their permission, or to
walk in front of them, or to their right or left, unless they call him
to walk next to them. Rather, he should walk behind them as a slave
walks behind his master.”

4 – It was said by a group of the Tabi’in:

“Whoever supplicates for his parents five times in a day has fulfilled
their rights, since Allah has Said: {“…to thank Me and your parents. To
Me is the final return.”} [Luqman; 14], and you thank Allah – the
Exalted – by praying five times in a day. Likewise, you would thank your
parents by praying for them five times in a day.”

5 – It was said by a group of the Companions:

“To leave off praying for one’s parents results in a tight and
constricted life for the son.”

And let’s not forget about the rights upon the parents:

6 – as-Samarqandi related that Abu Hafs al-Iskandrani – one of the
scholars of Uzbekistan – said that a man came to him and said:

“My son hit me and hurt me!” The scholar said: “Glory be to Allah! A son
hitting his father? Have you taught him manners and knowledge?” The man
said: “No.” “Have you taught him the Qur’an?” The man replied: “No.”
“So, what does he know how to do?” The man replied: “Farming.” “Do you
know why he hit you?” The man replied: “No.” The scholar then said: “It
might have been that when he woke up in the morning, he went to the
fields, was riding on a donkey, had a stick between his hands, had a dog
behind him, and did not have any knowledge of the Qur’an (because you
failed to teach him any of it). So, he started singing, you came out to
him at that moment, he thought you were a cow, and hit you with the
stick. So, thank Allah that your skull was not fractured.”

7 – It was narrated by one of the early righteous people:

…that he would not order his son with something, and if he needed
something, he would ask someone else for it. When he was asked about
this, he said: “I fear that if I were to command my son with something
that he wouldn’t be able to bear, he would not carry it out and would
therefore be disobedient to me and would deserve Hell as a result, and I
do not want to be the cause of my son burning in Hell.”