Duty to Parents

Outline: Introduction           love and obedience—our duty make them happy         example.

It is the paramount duty of children to obey their parents, They are the most experienced guides, and the best well-wishers that children can have. They support them, they sacrifice their own comforts for their sake, they love them as no one else can, and they are the greatest blessing which young people can have. It is their duty, therefore, to revere them, to obey them and to make them happy. They have no object in view in advising us but our own future well-being. When they correct our faults by gentle hints, by persuasion, or even by rebuke or chastisement, they have the best of motives. Being inexperienced, we do not understand the consequences of our actions; we are, therefore, liable to mistakes, and it is only their kind guidance which keeps us on the right path. It beloves young men, therefore, to place implicit faith in their parents, and to obey them in all matters.

It is our duty to revere and please our parents as long as they are spared to us, but a grown up young man, who is able to think for himself, should follow his conscience in matters in which he happens to think differently from them. It must be borne in mind that we can never repay the debt we owe to our parents, and therefore by thought, word or action, we should never cause them any bitterness or disappointment, especially in old age. No sacrifice is too great to secure their happiness.

In Muslim religious literature, there was a person who carried his old and blind parents on his shoulders and served them to the best of his powers, preferring their comfort to his own. He sets an ideal of service to his parents. He kicked away wealth and honour to obey his parents. We are taught to revere our parents, religious preceptor, and God. Blessed are those children who obey and serve their parents.