And We have enjoined on a human being to do good to his parents. His mother bears him with trouble and pain and brings him forth with trouble and pain. The bearing of him and his weaning (takes) thirty months, till when he attains his full maturity and reaches (the age of) forty years he says to his Lord, ‘My Lord! rouse me up that I may give thanks for the favours you have bestowed on me and on my parents and that I may do such righteous deeds as may please You. And (my Lord!) establish righteousness among my progeny for me. To You indeed I turn penitently and I am surely of those who submit themselves (to You).’ (6:15)
Commentary
NUMBER 30: Being enjoined to act with goodness to our parents is a hallmark of the Quran and many times, after Allah speaks about His oneness and that we must not set up partners with Him, he reminds us to be good to our parents. This is not only an “Islamic” requirement, but rather, this is a human condition that everyone, regardless of their belief system, they are obligated to love, honour and respect their mother and father.
In this verse, Allah speaks about ‘إحسان’ or ‘goodness’ to our parents – however this word has been mentioned in the indefinite form – meaning it is not limited to financial support, daily living assistance or ‘respect’, rather, it includes ANY and all types of things which, in a person’s society, would be classified as ‘goodness’ – and this could evolve with time and place.
Although both the mother and father are included in this verse, however it is interesting that Allah focuses on the mother – and rightfully so!
It is the mother who goes through the 9 months of pregnancy, carrying her child inside of her; it is the mother who goes through the pains of labour; it is the mother who wakes up at night to feed and change the baby – in summary, the mother is the one who goes through the most physically taxing challenges of being a parent in the early years of the child.
Allah speaks about such efforts in this verse of the Quran when He reminds us that our mother bears us with trouble and pain and brings us forth into this world in trouble and pain and that this initial stage of our conception until we are fully weaned is 30 months.
It is interesting that from this young age, Allah fast-forwards to when this “child” turns 40 and make a supplication for his parents – what happened to the 38 years or so in between!? This is something for us to think about and also reflect on our own personal lives and what we did to our parents in that period and how we treated them – and how they treated us.
Hopefully we did not break their heart or cause them grief and sorrow and if we did, we still have time to turn back to Allah in repentance and to ask our mother and father for forgiveness as it is not too late.
Although we can never truly pay our parents back for all of their sleepless nights and difficulties they went through to ensure we had comfort and luxury in our younger days, the least we can do as to make supplication for them for Allah to bless them for all that they did for us.