As Long as the Opportunity Persists
Sometimes, in the ups and downs of our daily lives, we forget important matters. Or in some other instances, some advantages and blessings of Allah (SWT) are taken for granted so that we hardly think about them, and we start to acknowledge them only when we miss them and when it’s too late…
To whom do we truly owe our accomplishments? By simply looking back at the past, we realize that we owe much to people who we have forgotten. Those who with all the problems and difficulties, and with the least expectance, have paved the way to our progress, but we have rarely appreciated them. In general, it is indecent to be unthankful to anyone, nevertheless some specials are more important to not to be forgotten even through all the problems and daily matters. Yes, they are our parents.
Among the divine teachings regarding the parents’ respects and rights, the Ahl-ul- Bayt (PBUH) School has a subtle and profound look at the matter. For example, when we refer to the school of the eighth Imam, Imam Ali Ibn Musa al-Reza (PBUH), he teaches as such,
“Be aware that the right of the mother is of the most obligatory and necessary rights; because she has carried you when she was pregnant of you in a condition that no one would bother to hold. She has kept you with her life, and heart, and eyes, and ears, and all her entity with full affection and willingness. Despite all the discomforts she carried you, an act which no one will tolerate. She was ready to stay hungry to keep you full. She was ready to be thirsty to keep you quenched. She was ready to be without proper cloth to keep you covered, and wait in the sunlight to keep you in the shadow.
Therefore thanking the mother and being lenient to her should be in relative amount to her services. However, you are unable to compensate her smallest favor unless with the merci and help of God, God has put her right aligned with His own right, and has said,
‘And we enjoined on man to give thanks to Me and to your parents, unto Me is the final destination.”(1)
Also the father is highly respectable and deserves significant rights. Therefore Imam Reza (PBUH) says,
“You must obey your father, and be humble against him, and observe his dignity, praise and compliment him, and speak softly in his presence as the father is the root and origin of the child. If there was not a father, there would not be a child.
O Children! With the power of God, use your wealth, honor, and life to earn your fathers’ satisfaction. I narrate you from the Prophet of Allah (PBUH&HP) that he said, ‘You and your wealth belong to your father. So sacrifice yourself and your wealth to your father.’
(O Children!) In their lifetime be kind and beneficent to your fathers, and after their death pray for them, and remember them. Because it has been narrated from the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HP) that, ‘The one who does good to his father in his lifetime, but forgets to pray for him after his death, God would name him rebellious and insubordinate.”
We hope that it may not happen that we get stuck by the hectic daily life. We hope that it may not happen that we forget our parents that have been our bridge to progress and success. We hope that it may not happen that there is a father or a mother waiting for our compassion.
(Taken from the book “Fiqh al-Reza” attributed to Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Reza (PBUH))
Footnote:
1. The Holy Qur’an, (31:14)
Other links:
Paying visits to relatives
Relationship and Friendship
Blessings of Solid Relations with Relatives
