A Mother in Islaam is the Mother of the Universe…by Maryam Refai

“Your mother should come first before others…”  This statement was said by our holy prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The message it conveys to us is that after Allah and his prophets it is your mother who you should pay your utmost amount of respect and love.

There was a hadeeth that a man once came to the prophet and asked him, ‘Tell me, O Prophet of Allah! I have many relatives and many friends whom I love, and whom I wish to care for and help. But I often find it difficult to decide which of them has the greatest claim upon me? Which of them should come first?” the Prophet (PBUH) replied immediately,” Your mother should come first before all others.” The man then asked, “”And after my mother, who has the greatest claim upon me?” Prophet (PBUH) replied, “Your mother.” The man asked Prophet (PBUH) the same question twice more and the answer was still the same. On the fourth time Prophet PBUH said, “Your father.” This hadeeth shows us how important our mother is and how much we should care and love her. It stresses on how much she should mean to all of us.

The Mother. Think of all the hardship she has had in bringing us to this world. Pregnancy, labor and then bringing us up as a child and dealing with our tantrums as we grow. She tries her hardest to give us all we want and at the same time she gives it her best shot to protect us from the evil of this world. In the Quran it states that there is a link between our parents and Allah. So displeasing our parents leads to the wrath and anger of Allah Ta’alla. Even as our parents get older we must have a lot of patience with them and should not even mutter an ‘ugh’ at them. It is our duty to look after them just like they took care of us. Always remember:

‘…Paradise lies at the feet of mothers…’

So please her as much as she deserves to be pleased. She deserves every inch of happiness and you owe her that much. She has bought you into to this world with love and hope and now it’s your turn. Don’t fail her. Make her proud to call you her child. Our goal should be to cherish and honor her.

In my experience, I am the eldest girl in a family of seven, including my parents. I have four siblings; one older to me and the rest are younger. Being the eldest girl, my brother and I have a lot of responsibilities towards our other siblings and parents. In order to make things easier for my family, I try to help out  at home by taking care of my siblings on and off, and doing a little bit of chores around the house, the times I feel up to it. Even though it is a little housework or you take a little of your time to take care of your siblings I feel in the long run it helps. Even the slightest change in your attitude toward something will make her happy as long as it is for the best and you feel it may please her. At this age it is tough to listen to her without the feeling that she is nagging or being a pain, but we really don’t know the outcome. Whatever she says is for the best. But we just don’t know it. By listening to her and keeping trust that whatever her word is it for the best we not only please her but we also please Allah Ta’alla. By pleasing Allah Ta’alla we cause less fitnah in this world. This I feel is the beginning of an understanding, trouble free and a peaceful world.

I hope this article will help you understand how important your mother is, how important the role she plays in molding us to be good citizen and that we should try and do our best to understand that whatever she does is for the benefit of us. When you think of all she has done, inshallah you will stop complaining and start appreciating. I hope all of us please the mother at all times, as she makes the universe peaceful.

Maryam Refai…..Year 9(C)