Where is Your Mother today?
Yes. Where is she? I ask you the same question I always ask myself whenever I find myself sitting around big tables full of appetitive pleasures and luxuries. Thus I ask you once again- where is your mother? When last did you visit her, ask after her welfare and seek her blessings? What roles and […]
Yes. Where is she? I ask you the same question I always ask myself whenever I find myself sitting around big tables full of appetitive pleasures and luxuries. Thus I ask you once again- where is your mother? When last did you visit her, ask after her welfare and seek her blessings? What roles and responsibilities have the child, male or female, to the bosom that suckled him or her while in the cradle? Is it not an exercise in futility for you to hope and pray for success in your earthly pursuits while your mother bewails the day she brought you to the world? Is it possible for the child to attain eternal redemption while his earthly ‘god’ –his mother- is angry with him?
Brethren, the idea of marking or celebrating ‘mother’s day’ could be described as a noble one. But a more passionate contemplation of the status of mothers across cultures and religion would compel the suggestion that dedicating a day to our mothers is not enough. Every day the sun rises and sets should be dedicated to their adoration and care. A man came to al-Rasul (s.a.w) and said, “O Allah’s Apostle! Who is more entitled to be treated with the best companionship by me?” al-Rasul said, “Your mother.” The man said. “Who is next?” The Prophet said, “Your mother.” The man further said, “Who is next?” The Prophet said, “Your mother.” The man asked for the fourth time, “Who is next?” The Prophet said, “Your father.”
In the above text, the Prophet expounds upon the Quranic instruction which reads: Your Lord has decreed this for you that: You shall worship none but Him, and you shall be kind to your parents; if one or both of them live to their old age in your lifetime, you shall not say to them any word of contempt nor repel them and you shall address them in kind words. You shall lower to them your wings of humility and pray: “O Lord! Bestow on them Your blessings just as they cherished me when I was a little child.” Your Lord knows best what is in your hearts. If you do good deeds, certainly He is most forgiving to those who turn to Him in repentance” (Q17:23-25).
The reason mothers occupy such an iconic status in Islamic weltanschauung is simple. It derives from the major responsibility they shoulder in preserving the human race. Theirs is the task of experiencing a combination of pain and pleasure that is at conception.
Theirs is the task of going through indescribable pain in the labour room. To the mothers the responsibility of suckling and nurturing the child for a maximum period of two and a half years (Q2: 233). Once again, someone asked the Prophet- is it possible for the child to recompense the good did to him by his mother? The Prophet said ‘No’. He said your mother loved and nurtured you while you were in the cradle because she wanted you to survive and be successful. But you care and nurture her at her old age because you know she would soon pass into eternity! Thus no matter the care we give our mothers such shall remain inferior to the care they gave to us while we were non-entities.
Further, Ibn Al-Jawzî (d. 1201CE) explicates on Q2: 23-23 thus: To be kind to one’s parents is to obey them when they order you to do something, unless it is that which the Almighty has forbidden; to give priority to their orders over voluntary acts of worship; to abstain from that which they forbid you to do; to provide for them; to serve them; to approach them with gentle humility and mercy; not to raise your voice in front of them; nor to fix your glance on them; nor to call them by their names; and to be patient with them.
But what about those whose mothers have passed on to eternity? Glory be to the Almighty for Islam. I guess you know that the death of your parent does not mean the cessation of your responsibility to them. Those whose parents have died are still expected to do the following for them and their behalf: offering of prayers for them and embarking on noble projects in their names and with the intention that the Almighty should reward them for the good deed.
When you recite chapter112 of the glorious Quran and request that your lord bring its reward to them in their graves, you are sure that it shall be accepted. The Almighty specifically commands us to pray for our dead as follows: Rabbir ham ummah, kama rabbayyani saghiran –O my Lord! Bestow your mercies on them the same way they were merciful unto me while I was in the cradle”.