By Imam Murtadha Gusau
Monday, 28/10/2024
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions.
Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: A person came to Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) and asked:
“Who among people is most deserving of my fine treatment?” He (Peace be upon him) said: “Your mother.” He again asked: ”Who next?” “Your mother”, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) replied again. He asked: “Who next?” He (the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said again: “Your mother.” He again asked: “Then who?” Thereupon he (Peace be upon him) said: “Then your father.” [Bukhari and Muslim]
This is so true because the mother is the one that experiences significant stress while pregnant and comes close to death when she is going into labour. She is the same person that stayed up nights looking after her children and deprived herself from food to make them full. It was narrated that Mu’awiyah Ibn Jahimah As-Sulaimi said:
“I came to the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, I want to go for Jihad with you, seeking thereby the Face of Allah and the Hereafter.’ He said: “Woe to you! Is your mother still alive?’ I said: ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘Go back and honour her.’ Then I approached him from the other side and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, I want to go for Jihad with you, seeking thereby the Face of Allah and the Hereafter.’ He said: ‘Woe to you! Is your mother still alive?’ I said: ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘Go back and honour her.’ Then I approached him from in front and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, I want to go for Jihad with you, seeking thereby the Face of Allah and the Hereafter.’ He said: ‘Woe to you! Is your mother still alive?’ I said: ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘Go back and serve her, for there is Paradise…” [Sunan Ibn Majah]
Dear brothers and sisters! No matter what you do to your mother, it is nothing compared to her sacrifices for you.
The mother is responsible for upbringing her children to be righteous as herself because she recites the Qur’an and observes the five daily prayers. She raises her sons to be honest, trustful, and courageous. Similarly, she raises her daughters to be chaste, pure, decent, and Shari’a-compliant. She is the maker of heroes, the poet Hafid Ibrahim said about her:
“The mother is a school. If you prepared and educated her well, you will have prepared an entire nation.”
The mother is the counterpart of the father and represents half of society. Rather, a mother is a whole nation, and this is why it was said:
“The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”
One example of this is Asma’ Bint Abubakar (May Allah be pleased with them). One time, her son came to her and consulted her about what to do with Al-Hajjaj who besieged him in Makkah. She said to him that if he was right then he should go ahead, but if he was wrong then he will perish. He said to her that he was afraid that Al-Hajjaj will mutilated him. She replied by saying that, skinning a slaughtered goat doesn’t harm it a bit. This is in addition to many other examples from the life of the righteous predecessors.
However, some parents are passive and play no role in the lives of their children. It is as if the children were orphaned at early age. This is why one poet mentioned that some children are orphans not because their parents were dead but because they were totally absent as far as their duties towards their children are concerned.
Dear fathers and mothers! Be mindful of Allah and know that your children are a trust with you and that Allah placed this responsibility on you, made you their guardians, and will hold you liable for that on the Day of Resurrection.
An educator is like a farmer who removes weeds and plants new seeds. Therefore, never neglect your children for this makes them an easy prey for your enemies, and a closer look at real life events is the best evidence on this.
Allah Almighty has spoken the truth when He Said:
“O you who believe! save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is Men and Stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern (and) severe, who flinch not (from executing) the Commands they receive from Allah, but do (precisely) what they are commanded.” [Surah At-Tahrim: 6]
I pray that Allah protects our children, forgives our fathers and mothers, protects our homeland, and makes us among those who listen to the word and follow the best of it, ameen.
Please dear brothers and sisters! I ask you to pray for my sick mother, who is suffering from cancer, and was admitted for sometimes and discharged from the Hospital. She is at home now receiving further treatment as outpatient.
And she is undergoing examination which requires us to go to the hospital everyday.
And now the hospital wrote to us that we are travelling with her to an Egyptian hospital.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May the peace, blessings and salutations of Allah be upon our noble Messenger, Muhammad (Peace be upon him), and upon his family, his Companions and his true followers.
Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of: Nagazi-Uvete Jumu’ah Mosque; and Late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okene Mosque, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com; or +2348038289761.