Friday, November 20, 2009

"And to parents do good" Surah Baqarah: Verse 83

عن أبى هريرة عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال
لا يَجْزِي وَلَدُ والِده الا أن يجده مملوكا فيشتَريَه فيعتقه
أخرجه مسلم
It is narrated from Abu Hurraira that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said,
"A child cannot repay his father except if he finds his father enslaved, so he purchases him and frees him."
[Reported by Muslim]
Lessons from the Hadith
  • "A child cannot repay his father", i.e. in the favours that the father has done to the child.

  • "except if he finds his father enslaved, so he purchases him and frees him.", i.e. this is like giving a new life to his father.

  • The hadith alludes to the point that the sacrifices of a parent can never be paid back by the child, except through emancipation (which is almost non-existent today). This shows us a) the enormity of the sacrifices by a parent b) Why a child is repeatedly commanded to be obedient to the parents, not even raising their voice in front of them.

  • The hadith also highlights the virtues of freeing slaves. Even if we cannot free slaves today, there are actions that earn equivalent rewards to freeing slaves and we should do these actions instead.

How do we treat our parent?

By Alhuda Institute, Canada.

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