What does Islam say about kindness to parents (birr al-wālidayn)?
The Qur'an places the rights of parents immediately after the rights of Allah. The scholars explained what that really demands — in speech, in service, and in the smallest looks.
10 passages from 8 books in the library
Islam places the rights of parents immediately after the rights of Allah, and the scholars explained what that demands in speech and service. Al-Ghazali, in Patience & Gratitude, illustrates the weight of a parent's claim — even in the homely example of a mother and father giving conflicting instruction, the child must navigate their rights with care. The honoring of parents recurs across the tradition, with the companions' devoted refrain, "May my father and mother be sacrificed for you, O Messenger of Allah," expressing the highest love through invoking the dearest people one has.
Drawn from the classical sources below — in the scholars' own words.
The classical approach.
These passages are drawn from 8 books by Imam al-Ghazali, Ibn Kathir, and Ibn Battuta — part of the classical Sunni tradition that carries over a thousand years of reflection on the Qurʾān, the authentic Sunnah, and the consensus of the early community. Nothing below is a paraphrase. The words are the scholars' own, translated from the original Arabic manuscripts.
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"a mother prevents her child from cupping while the father invites him to it. For the father"
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"and the father as an enemy, while if he understands, he knows the mother is a hidden enemy in the"
14th century · Bosra, Syria
Monumental history Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, the world's most widely read Qurʾanic commentary, and the classical Stories of the Prophets.
More on Ibn Kathir →
· Provenance →
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"Unhappy Allah mentioned the exchange between him and his father the argument in the dialogues and how he called his father to the truth"
14th century · Bosra, Syria
Monumental history Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, the world's most widely read Qurʾanic commentary, and the classical Stories of the Prophets.
More on Ibn Kathir →
· Provenance →
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"Al-Hafiz ibn Asakir narrated from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab that Al-Khidr's mother was Roman and his father was Persian."
14th century · Tangier, Morocco
The Riḥlah — a 30-year, 75,000-mile journey across three continents, and the most important travel account of the pre-modern world.
More on Ibn Battuta →
· Provenance →
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"Masud Bek, along with his mother Tashkhatun, intended to travel to Iraq to claim his father's wealth."
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"mother, and father, except through intercession for those upon whom Allah's wrath is not intense,"
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"eating or becomes learned through a father's knowledge or reaches the Kaaba through a father's"
14th century · Bosra, Syria
Monumental history Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, the world's most widely read Qurʾanic commentary, and the classical Stories of the Prophets.
More on Ibn Kathir →
· Provenance →
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"If she was a prophetess, as some suggest regarding her, Sarah the mother of Isaac and the mother"
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"Each time the father turned him away, he returned to please the boy by attending and the father"
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"I said, May my father and mother be sacrificed for you, O Messenger of Allah, who can withstand"
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