15. Being The Best to our Parents




Nouman Ali Khan show

Summary: 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.<br> 24. And lower unto them the wing of submission and humility through Mercy, and say: "My Lord! Bestow on them Your Mercy as they did bring me up when I was small."<br> 25. Your Lord knows best what is In your inner-selves. If you are righteous, then, Verily, He is ever Most forgiving to those who turn unto Him again and again In obedience, and In repentance.<br> <br> Assalamualaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa barakatuhu<br> Today we are talking about the importance and value of regard for our parents and I've chosen of the many ayah dedicated to this subject probably the central ayahs from Surah Al Israa, surah no. 17, these are ayahs 23 to 25 dealing with the subject.<br> Allah az wajjal begins &amp; He says "Wa qada rabbuk" - Your Lord declared "Alla tabudu illa iyyah" - that you will not be enslaved to anyone except Him alone. "wa bil waalidaini ehsana" - and in regards to both of your parents the best possible conduct.<br> <br> Those of you that are from Persian or Urdu or similar backgrounds have one common misconception: "Oh a lot of the words in the Quran are also in Urdu, so I know what it says, I know the meanings."<br> Well you know it so happens that a lot of the words in similar languages like Turkish or Urdu or Persian that are influenced by the Arabic language have similar vocabulary but they mean different things. They don’t mean the same thing. So just because you know what the word means in English or in Urdu or in Farsi doesn't mean you know the word in Arabic. Just to give you an extreme example of that, so that the matter becomes absolutely clear. In the Arabic language Allah uses a word in the Quran "Zaleel". If I use this word in Urdu you would be offended. And in Quran Allah uses the plural of it (the plural of Zaleel is Azilla) and He uses it for the Sahaba, "Wa lakad nasrakumullahu bi badarin wa antum azilla" - Allah aided you at the time of badr while you were all (collectively) azilla - meaning weak or powerless. So the word Zaleel in Arabic means weak or powerless, incapable of helping oneself. This is what it means. But in another language it may be very very offensive.<br> And the reason I bring this up is the word "ehsan", I think because my first language is Urdu when you think of the word ehsan, you are thinking of a favour. Now Allah says "wa bil waalidaini ehsana" - with both of your parents have ehsan, which means do them favours? Actually no, it has nothing to do with doing them favours. It means to be the best at something. Ehsan in Arabic is excellence, it has nothing to do with doing favours. It has to do with doing your best. So Allah is demanding from us nothing short of our best when it comes to our parents. What that means is you have a potential to be good, to be patient or to be merciful or to have kind words or to be charitable or to have courtesy... The best of your courtesy, the best of your words, the best of your patience should go to who? Your parents. So of the good characteristics you have the peak of them, the highest of them who is deserving of them? Your parents.<br> But He says this of course after He mentions Himself. "Wa qada rabbuka Alla tabudu illa iyyah" - The ayah begins "Your Lord declared that you do not enslave yourself to anyone except Him alone." And then He immediately went to the parents, and look at the high standard He set for us "wa bil waalidaini ehsana". Now there are other places in the Quran where Allah says "Husnan", instead of the word "ehsana" He says "husnan". Husnan is more general - Good. Generally speaking you have to have an attitude of good towards your parents. But with ehsan, with the use of this word ahsana, to be the best, to excel,