Nobody would deny the merits of parents towards their children. Parents are the cause of the existence of the child and they have a great right on him. They raised him when he was small; they got tired for his well-being, and they kept awake so he could sleep. Your mother carried you in her womb and you have lived on her food and her health, usually for nine months, as Allah has shown in His word,
{His mother bore him in weakness upon weakness} (Soorah Luqmân, 31 :14)
Then she looked after you and breastfed you for two years despite her tiredness, the trouble and difficulty.
Rights of Father
The father also deploys all his efforts to maintain you and feed you, from childhood till the time when you can look after yourself. He increases his efforts to educate and guide you while you can do neither good nor evil for yourself, and that is why Allah ordered the child to be beneficial and to thank his parents. Allah says:
{And We have enjoined upon man concerning his parents. His mother bore him in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years. Give thanks unto Me and unto your parents. Unto Me is the journeying.} (Soorah Luqmân, 31 :14)
{Your Lord has decreed, that you worship none save Him, and (that you show) kindness to parents. If one of them or both of them to attain old age with you, say not ‘Fie’ unto them nor repulse them, but speak unto them a gracious word. And lower unto them the wing of submission through mercy, and say: My Lord! Have mercy on them both as they did care for me when I was little.} (Soorah al-Isrâ, 17 :23-24)
The Rights of Parents in Islam
The right of your parents upon you is that you should obey them by being beneficent unto them in your words and your actions, by giving them from your belongings and by having kind gestures with them.
You have to obey their orders in what is not a disobedience to Allah and in what does not harm you; you must speak to them kindly. Also, You must be close to them, serve them as appropriate. You should not get tired of them when they get older, sick or are weakened, and this should not weigh you as you will soon be like them: you will be parent as they have been, you will get old with your children, if this is your fate, as they have aged with you, and you will need their goodness as they had needed yours.
If you were obedient to them, rejoice in the anticipation of a huge reward and in connection with your actions: he who is kind to his parents, his children will be good to him, and the one who breaks the relationship with his parents, his children will do the same to him. Everyone reaps what he has sewn, and as you have done, you will get it.
Allah granted a high rank to the right of parents and placed it after His right, which includes His own right and the right of the Prophet (ﷺ). Allah says:
{And serve Allah. Ascribe no thing as partner unto Him. (Show) kindness unto parents …} (Soorah an-Nisâ, 4 :36)
{Give thanks unto Me and unto thy parents. Unto Me is the journeying.} (Soorah Luqmân, 31 :14)
Holy Prophet ﷺ About the Rights of Parents
The Prophet (ﷺ) gave priority to obeying your parents before doing Jihad on the path of Allah, as it is reported in the hadith from Ibn Masûd (R.A), who said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, which deed is the best for Allah? He replied, ‘The Prayer at its appointed hour.’ I asked, ‘Then what?’ He replied, ‘Kindness to the parents.’ I asked, ‘Then what?’ He replied, ‘Jihad on the path of Allah’.’
This shows the importance of the right of parents, although many people have shifted to disobedience and breaking it.
Thus, some do not recognize any right to their father nor their mother, they might even despise them, disdain them and look down onto them; those ones will be treated in the same way as a return for what they did in this world and in the next.
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