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In the previous chapter we were talking
about the respect for parents. These relations are respectable
to both husband and wife under all the circumstances. Allah has
given stability to these relations for life for example
father-in-law for daughter-in-law or mother-in-law for
son-in-law because these relations are Mahram. This provision
provided by Allah is to safe guard the family since the law of
Allah Subhanutala is perfect. So there should be no question of
not respecting these relations. Sometimes parents-in-law will
continue caring for the daughter-in-law in case of death of or
divorce by her husband.
Once in the presence of his companions the
prophet (pbuh) said, “The person who abuses his parents is most
unfortunate”. One of his companions (RA) at that time said, “Is
it possible for some one to abuse his parents?” It could happen
this way, the prophet (pbuh) said, “If somebody calls names to
some ones father, and he call names to his father and in return
he will call names to his mother and this exchange can go on and
on”.
As I mentioned earlier it is in the nature
of human and animals to take revenge, so think before you insult
anyone that this is against the teachings of Islam. So much so
that Quran says, “Do not condemn even the idols (ILAH) of others
in case they condemn Allah in return”. By condemning others you
do not gain any points of virtue with Allah. I can not
understand the people who say bad things about other's gods and
destroy their idols. In this way those people who demolish
other’s worshiping places to build their own mosques. To
strengthen my argument I will give examples from the Islamic
history. First example is of Caliph Omar (RA) who was the
conqueror of Jerusalem. When he entered the city after the
victory, people thought that he would bring about destruction of
the town and were amazed when he did not. He amazed every one
when he respected all the contracts he had made with the people
of town and forgave all women, children and men and spared their
lives. If you go to the previous history of Jerusalem, it was
always destroyed by conquerors. When it came the time to pray,
he offered the prayers at the footsteps of a church and the
priest wanted them to pray inside the church, but he declined
the offer saying that if he set this example people will turn
that church in to a mosque. A similar example exists for the
Slah-ud-Din, that when he conquered the Jerusalem he gave orders
to respect the sanctity of all places of worship and gave
amnesty to all the residents. However not too long ago before
this various non-Muslim conquerors had demolished mosques and
synagogues. He could have taken revenge, but Islam’s way is to
forgive, which he did.
Let us now consider the people who by
demolishing statues proudly call themselves the idol destroyers
and try to justify their actions by this logic. Some might say
that Slah-ud-Din was a soldier and not an Islamic scholar, but
what defense would they have in the case of Omar (RA) who was a
Caliph about whom Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had said that, “If
prophet hood were allowed after him (pbuh), Omar (RA) would have
been declared a prophet of Allah). We should take our guidance
in the light of above quotations from Quran and our prophet (pbuh).
Not to take revenge is considered good but to forgive is the
best and this is the teaching of Islam in our daily life.
However each of us is giving his own interpretation of Islam as
he feels fit. We call ourselves submitters (muslim) to Allah
but act according to our own whims and this is causing the
problems. May Allah show us the right path.
Let us now move on to the responsibilities
of parents in Islam. Quran while asks to respect parent also
puts some responsibilities on parents shoulders too. Islam is
such a religion which asks younger to respect elders because
they have had more time to pray to Allah, and asks elders to
respect younger because they have sinned less because of their
age. If a father is not a good Muslim, his children should
still respect him but they do not have to follow him to commit
sins.
At times elders do cross their limits, when
after bringing home a bride and after having a rift with his
parents ask their son to divorce her otherwise they will cut him
out of the inheritance etc. Islam does not allow such a
behavior. Even the mother, being a woman herself goes against
her daughter-in-law, and joins in that demand and the matter
becomes worse. She is a woman and should know the pain of other
women. |
