Life is like a journey in which we enjoy ourselves but at the same time we lack the comfort that we are accustomed to at our homes—we face numerous difficulties while being out of the home. It is an arduous and sapping journey that requires perseverance, courage and patience. In this journey of life, we come across many people—belonging to different walks of life and having varied interests, ideologies and prejudices. Given the difficult nature of this journey, we must have someone to encourage us to face the hardship with a smile on our faces and, ultimately to make the most of this journey.
It is a fact universally acknowledged that a person befriends many people on life’s journey—parents, relatives, friends, and acquaintances—but is often left alone in the midst of difficulties and hardships, during the toughest phases of life, by almost every companion. At times, even the closest friends and relatives do not stand with the person and behave like strangers. But it has been proven on the anvil of time that the only ones who never leave a person in despair are the parents.
Ann Brashares (an American young adult novelist), while comparing the selfless love of parents for their children to the love of others, states: “Parents were the only ones obligated to love you; from the rest of the world, you had to earn it.”
It has been rightly said that among all the blessings bestowed upon humankind by the almighty Allah, parents are the best. We have so many relations in life; without an iota of doubt, the most precious and endearing relations are the ones we have with our family, especially with our parents. They nourish and nurture us, give us their precious time, and, above all, strengthen us with love, affection and care to overcome difficulties.
We all live in an age where we are busy in our world—so busy that we have time for everything, for everyone, but not for our parents. We do not want to spend even a few moments with our parents who devoted their entire life to bringing us up and making us who we are today. They sacrificed their life, money and sleep to make our life cheerful. Gone are the days when we used to spend a considerable amount of our time with our parents. Now, we like to spend our time with everyone but our parents.
One of the easiest ways to exemplify love and respect for parents is by spending time with them—by listening to the tales of their adventures, sufferings and struggle. It is high time that our youth express gratitude to their parents, appreciate them, and step into their shoes. My English teacher (Prof Ishfaq Hussain Bhat) puts it as: “If a mother is like a candle that burns itself to death only to illuminate the ways of its progeny, a father is like a glacier that smothers itself to quench the thirst of the parched streams and rivers and to hide their ugliness when they dry to a trickle.”
It is pertinent to mention here that apart from bringing us up in the best possible way, our parents have sacrificed their time, sleep, and everything for us. They endure numerous hardships only for the sake of their children. And what do our parents want from us: Money? Wealth? The answer to this question is a big NO. All that our parents want from us is our attention (our time). Saravana Kumar Murugan rightly remarked that “Parents are living gods. They do everything to make their children happy and expect nothing in return.”
From a religious perspective, a father (the door of Jannah/ Paradise) is always in pursuit of making every facility available to his children. And as regards my father (my Papa), I admit that he is trying his level best to work tirelessly hard to bring us up. He never shies away from his responsibility of being the best Papa in the world.
As for a mother, she always nurtures her children and educates and protects them. It is the mother who undergoes ceaseless hardships and difficulties while carrying a child in her womb. It is the mother who becomes the home for an infant. It is the mother who plays the role of an educator. Her role is so noble and vital in shaping the future of a person that neither maids nor babysitters can take her place.
Islam enjoins upon its followers to respect their parents. The importance of a mother has been highlighted in the Quran in a number of places. The following verse (Q. 31: 14) speaks volumes about the status of the mother in Islam: “And We have enjoined on man (to be dutiful and good) to his parents. His mother bore him in weakness and hardship upon weakness and hardship, and his weaning is in two years—give thanks to Me and to your parents. Unto Me is the final destination”.
Islam advocates kind treatment of the parents. It considers kindness to parents as of paramount importance and next to the worship of Allah. The importance of parents in Islam can be figured out from the fact that in multiple verses of the Quran, Allah asks His slaves to worship Him alone which is immediately followed by explicit instructions about treating parents nicely. For instance, in Chapter Al-Isra (Q. 17: 23) Allah says, “And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them in terms of honour”.
Muslims have been forbidden to say even a single word of contempt to their parents. The books of hadith are replete with the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) emphasising a kind, respectful and tolerant treatment of parents. The following hadith related in Sahih Muslim throws light on the treatment of parents, especially when during their old age: “Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Apostle (pbuh) as saying: Let him be humbled into dust; let him be humbled into dust. It was said: Allah’s Messenger, who is he? He said: He who sees either of his parents during their old age or he sees both of them, but he does not enter Paradise.”
It has often been seen that youth do not give their parents due value insofar as spending time with them is concerned. They forget that the best time we spend in this world is the time spent with our parents. We should respect their views, their decisions, and opinions. And we should always bear in mind that whatever our parents are doing, they are doing it for the well-being of their children. At times, the steps they take and the decisions they make might seem inappropriate to us but we should always respect their decisions because they are more experienced than us. In case our opinions differ, we should still present our viewpoints in a courteous and polite manner. And the most important fact that I would like to highlight is that the biggest savings of our parents are not money, wealth, buildings and other worldly things but their children.
We should always remember that our parents catered to our every need when we were children, but now it is our responsibility to ensure that their life does not become miserable because of our carelessness and indifferent attitude.
I would like to conclude with a quote from an American businessman and former professional basketball, Michael Jordan: “My heroes are, and were, my parents. I can’t see having anyone else as my hero”.
Love you Papa; Love you Mama.

The writer is a BA 4th Semester student at Govt Degree College Sogam (Lolab) Kupwara

Adfar Farooq