Our Duty Toward Our Parents 69

Our Duty

Toward

Our Parents

Story 1

A Dutiful Son

Bayazid was a little boy. One night he was studying. His mother was fast asleep.
Suddenly, she raised her head and said, “Bayazid, my boy, could you give me a glass of
water? I’m very thirsty.”
Bayazid went to the pitcher to get water. But he found the pitcher empty. So the boy
went to the next house for water. He found everybody asleep. The boy did not like to
disturb the people so late at night.
He remembered that there was a well at a distance. So he came back home. He took the
pitcher, the boy returned home as fast as he could. In the meantime, his mother has
fallen asleep again.
Bayazid filled a glass and took it to his mother. He found her asleep, he waited by his
mother’s bed. Hours passed but his mother did not awake. So Bayazid stood there with
the glass of water still in his hand. He did not disturb his mother in her sleep.
When it was dawn, his mother opened her eyes. To her great surprise, she saw Bayazid
standing with the glass of water. The mother remembered everything. She was
overjoyed. She drew Bayazid to her and kissed him again and again. In her joy she
prayed, “Merciful Allah, I am pleased with my son. May you also be pleased with him.”
The prayer of the happy mother did not go in vain. In later years, Bayazid became a
famous saint. He was then known as Bayazid Bustami, the Prince of Saints.

Story 2

Thank You, God, for Parents

“Rezwan!” shouted father as I burst into the room with muddy shoes and sweaty
clothes. I had gone to play football without telling anyone. Father had decided to come
home earlier than usual.
“Pinky, my sweet, please get me my newspaper.” He was all honey and sugar to my
sister. “He doesn’t like me much.
Why would he be such a crosspatch, otherwise?” I wondered. “He is always asking me
to do this and that.” I felt very angry with him and very sorry for myself. Come too
think of it, I must admit I should not have felt like that.
My father is, as a matter of fact, a wonderful person. He directs his anger towards me
not because he hates me, but because he wants me to be a better person.
He only scolds me when I am at fault. Why don’t take more interest in my studies? It is
rather naughty to go out without informing anyone. I should actually be grateful to God
 Our Duty Toward Our Parents 70
that He has given me a father who cares enough for me to notice my shortcomings and
point them out.
Thank God for my good father!

Story 3

Sabrina’s Choice

This is the story of a family- father, mother and two girls, Sabrina and Maryam. They
did not have much money, but they were quite happy because they loved and cared for
one another.
Once Sabrina’s uncle and aunty came to stay with them. Uncle was a rich man. He lived
in Africa and earned a lot of money. Every day uncle and aunty talked about their life in
Africa. They had a beautiful house with a garden. They had two cars, one black, the
other red. They kept dogs and horses. Every year they went on a holiday by plane and
had a lovely time.
Uncle and aunty had no children. From the first day they want to take Sabrina. They
talked to Sabrina about her school. They took her out and brought her pretty things.
One day, uncle said to father. “We like Sabrina very much. May we take her with us to
Africa?”
Aunty said, “She’ll be very happy with us. She’ll get lots of money, good food and good
clothes. We’ll send her to the best school. What do you say?”
Sabrina’s mother did not wish to send her daughter away. She began to cry. Sabrina’s
father thought for some time and said, “I don’t want to part with Sabrina. But I can’t
give her all the good things that you can. It may be best for her to go with you.”
“Let’s ask Sabrina,” said uncle.
They called Sabrina and told her everything. Sabrina became very quiet. Then she asked
her father, “Do you want me to go?”
Her father replied, “My daughter, it is your choice. You can go or stay, as you wish.”
Sabrina ran to her mother and hugged her. “I don’t wish to go at all.” She said. “I’ll stay
right here with you. Who wants money? I want your love.”
Father and mother smiled happily. Uncle and aunty smiled too. They said, “How right
you are, Sabrina!”

Story 4

An Example

One day a man brought his son to Hazret Muhammad (PBUH). The boy was very fond
of sweetmeat. He used to trouble his parents for it every now and then. His parents were
not rich. So they could not always give him what he wanted. The boy would cry and
create trouble. So the father brought his son to the Prophet (PBUH) for advice.
 Our Duty Toward Our Parents 71
The Prophet (PBUH) called the boy to him and advised him thus: “My son, there is no
doubt that you love your parents. Your parents love you, too. So you, as a good and
dutiful son, must not do anything to give them pain. You know your parents are not
rich. So it is not possible for them to give you everything you like to have. I am sure
you will not trouble them anymore for sweetmeat. They know that there is nothing bad
in taking sweetmeat. So they will give it to you when they can.”
The kind words of Our Prophet (PBUH) pleased the boy. So he promised not to trouble
his parents any more about sweetmeat.

Story 5

Duty Towards Our Parents

Have you heard the story of Abdullah?

Abdullah was a young boy. His parents were old and blind. They had brought him up
with great love and affection. They had to work hard to make a living.
Abdullah grew up to be a loving and thoughtful boy. He realized how difficult it must
have been for his blind parents to look after him. He did all he could to help them.
One day, his parents told him that they would like to go on a long pilgrimage. But it was
not easy for them to go because they were old and blind.
Abdullah wanted to fulfill the wishes of his parents. He said to himself, “If my parents
cannot walk all the way, I shall carry them.” He tied a basket at each end of a pole.
He made his parents sit in the baskets and carried them on his shoulders.
It was a hard task for Abdullah. The journey was long, but Abdullah was cheerful. His
parents were proud of him. They thanked Allah for giving them such a good and dutiful
son.
Our parents work hard to bring us up. Often, they give up many things which they like
so that we can have what we want and need. They try to bring us up in the best possible
way because they love us.
Sometimes, our parents have to scold us and be strict with us. They check on our faults
so that we can correct ourselves.
It hurts them when they have to be hard on us, but they do it to make us better persons.
They want us to be liked and respected by all.
We also have a duty towards our parents. We should help them as much as we can,
always bearing in mind that they did their best for us when we needed their help.
As children it is our duty towards our parents to behave well, to do our schoolwork
regularly, to be neat and clean and to be polite.
We must obey our parents and respect them. We should always behave in a manner
which will make our parents be proud of us.
When our parents are not there, our teachers and our elders take their place. We should
treat them with the same love and respect.
When our parents grow old, they will need our love and attention more than ever before.
It is our duty to look after them when we grow up.

Story 2
 Our Duty Toward Our Parents 72
Sally and Sam’s Gift for Mother

Sally and Sam didn’t know what to do. Mother’s Day was only a few days away and
they still hadn’t gotten their mother a present.
“If daddy were here he’d give us some money and take us to the store so we could buy
something!” Sam grumbled.
“Maybe he’ll get back before Mother’s Day,” Sally said hopefully.
“No, when I talked to him on the phone last night he said grandpa is still very sick and
he had to stay and drive grandma to and from the hospital,” Sam answered sadly.
“I guess it’s nice for grandma that he’s there, but I miss him. Mother does too. I heard
her crying last night,” Sally told her brother in a hushed voice, looking around to make
their mother hadn’t entered the room.
“Maybe she is worried about grandpa,” Sam said, recalling how his mother asked their
father every evening when he called how Grandpa Miller was.
“I heard Mrs. Foster say a wife’s place is next to her husband,” Sally said with a frown,
recalling what she had overheard the next door neighbour say when they had gone over
to help the older woman hang some new curtains.
“What did mother say about that?” Sam wanted to know.
“Mother said there wasn’t enough money for her to go back east, and besides it was no
place for children at a time like this.”
“A time like what?” Sam asked, but Sally only shrugged.
“I don’t know. Mother saw I was listening and changed the subject.”
“Perhaps we could ask daddy to send us some money next time he calls,” Sam said,
returning to their Mother’s Day dilemma. “I’ll bet Mrs. Foster would take us shopping
so we could get a present in time for Sunday.”
“There is not enough time for daddy to send something through the mail,” Sally told
him. “Besides, if there isn’t enough money for mother to go with daddy to see Grandma
and Grandpa Miller, then I don’t think we should ask daddy to send us any. Don’t you
have any money saved from your allowance?”
Sam shook his head. “Not much,” he admitted. “I’ve put almost all my money into the
vacation jar.”
The vacation jar was an old coffee can that Mr. and Mrs. had helped the children wrap
in bright red construction paper and then glue pictures of Disney characters on.
There were pictures of Mickey Mouse, and Donald Duck, Whinny and Pooh with his
arm around a pretty cat, and many other less favourite characters in various positions all
over the can.
Every week Daddy would put some money in the vacation jar, saying that the sooner
they had enough saved up, the sooner they could take the children to Disneyland.
Sally and Sam almost always added some of their allowance to the jar. They had never
been to Disneyland, but a number of their friends had, and had told them how much fun
it was.
The family had been putting money in the jar for over a year and father had said that
perhaps by this spring they would have enough saved for their Disneyland vacation.
“Maybe we could borrow some from the vacation jar,” Sally said thoughtfully. “I mean,
it’s our money, in a way. Remember how daddy told mother if it was just the two of
them they’d probably not go anywhere near as exciting?”
 Our Duty Toward Our Parents 73
Sam shook his head. “That would be stealing,” he told his sister. “Besides, if we take
money out of the can we might not be able to go to Disneyland this spring.”
“Sally, Sam, time for supper!” Mother’s voice called from the kitchen.
Sally and Sam were unusually quiet during supper. When their father called that
evening they were happy, but somehow hearing his voice made them miss his all the
more.
Mother spoke cheerfully to Mr. Miller, but after she hung up she looked so sad that
Sally and Sam felt she must miss their father even more than they did.
Sally and Sam went to bed, but neither of them fell asleep for a very long time.
The next day there was much whispering and activity. Mrs. Miller smiled as she cleaned
up overlooked scraps of paper and put the glue jar away.
She knew that the children didn’t have the money to buy her a Mother’s Day present,
but she didn’t need expensive presents. She would be just happy with the homemade
cards she assumed the children had made for her.
The children could hardly wait for Sunday to arrive. They got up early and cooked
breakfast. Hot cereal with orange juice and toast. When mother came down she found
the table set with their best bowls and silverware and breakfast waiting.
“That was a very nice Mother’s Day present,” she told the children when they finished
eating.
“That’s not all,” Sam said grinning broadly. He opened a cupboard and pulled out large
package with a card taped to the top.
“What’s this?” Mother asked as Sam laid the colourful package in her lap.
“Open it!” Sally and Sam exclaimed at the same time.
Mother opened the card first. It was a large piece of cardboard covered with yellow
paper upon which the children had glued pictures of hearts and flowers that they had cut
from various coloured construction paper. Across the top of the card they had written
the words, “HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY”
“This is beautiful!” Mother cried, “the best card I’ve ever gotten!”
“Open the package now!” Sally cried, clapping her hands together happily.
“I don’t understand,” mother said, starting down at the familiar jar that lay exposed in
her lap.
“We decided that you should get the money in the jar to go visit Grandpa and Grandma
Miller,” Sam told her a little shyly. “We can save up more money to go to Disneyland
when daddy gets back. Right now daddy’s all alone. Mrs. Foster said she would be
happy to take care of us while you’re gone.”
“What made you think of giving me the vacation jar for a present?” Mother asked,
putting the jar on the table and gathering her children into her arms.