that Allah has sent.
Imam Ghazali v in his book; Mukaashafatul-Quloob, writes that Allah said to
Sayyiduna Musa , ‘O Musa whoever is
respectful and obedient to his parents, even if
he slips here and there in my obedience, still
I write him into the list of righteous people.
If somebody is obedient to me but he is
disobedient to his parents then I write him in
the list of the disobedient people.’
Adab of Parents
Allah has given a lot of respect to the parents.
In fact if you look into the Quran, He has
mentioned about Himself , that do not associate
any partners with Me. The next order that
Allah has given is about the parents. Our
ulema have said that one of the reasons that
Allah has mentioned the parents right after
mentioning himself is because He has given
parents a few attributes that are very close to His
own self.
For example; Allah , He gives life and the
parents become the source of giving the birth.
Allah is Raaziq (The Provider) and the father
becomes the source of provision. Allah is
Murabbi (the one who does the tarbiyah of
people) and the parents are also the first murabbi.
Our house is our first madrasah, (islamic school)
our house should be our first khanaqah (place
where the dhikhr of Allah I is done). Of course
the Shaykh (spiritual guide) also becomes the
murabbi (guide) as he also does the tarbiyah
(spiritual training and development) of people.
So this is why Allah has given a lot of respect
to parents. There are adaab of dealing with
parents and this is something Allah has given
to every prophet, in every shariah (Islamic law)
In Seerut-un-Nabi by Allama Shibli Nomani v
he writes that once Sayyiduna Yaqub went to
meet his son Sayyiduna Yusuf and when he
came, Sayyiduna Yusuf did not stand up in
respect of his father. Allah sent revelation
to Sayyiduna Yusuf , He said, ‘You did not
respect your father the way you should have
respected. He said, ‘By my izzah (honour) by my
jalal (dignity) I will not send any prophet in your
generation.’ So if somebody doesn’t show adab
to his parents then it also has an effect on the
generations to come. Allah says in the Quran,
ْ
َ
َض
َُو َق� َر ُّبك َأ َّل َت ْع ُب ُدوا إ َّل إ َّ ي�ه
ِ ِ ُ
َ َ َّ َ
ًْ ن ْ َ ن
َو ِب�ل َوا ِل َد ْي� ِإحسا� ِإ َّما َي ْبلغن عندك
ِ
ّ ُ َ ُ َّ ُ َ َ َ َ ُ َ ْ َ َ ِ ُ ُ َ َ َ َ ْ
الك ب� أحدها أو ِكها فال تقل لمآ أف
ٍ
ِ
ً َ ً َ ُ َّ ُ َ ُ َ َ َ
َوال ت نْ� ْرها َوقل ل َما ق ْوال ك ِر ي�ا
“Don’t associate partners with Allah, be good to
your parents, if one of them or both of them reach
old age then don’t even say ‘uff ’ to them and don’t
reject them and talk to them in a sweet tone, in a
generous tone, in a beautiful tone and you spread in
front of them the wings of mercy in humbleness and
say, ‘O Allah have mercy on both of them as they
showed mercy on me when I was young.” (17:23)