Call to uphold rights of parents and relatives

Kuwait City, December 24: Indian Muslim Association (IMA) of Kuwait in cooperation with the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs organised its monthly public programme for the people of Indian subcontinent at Masjid Yousuf Al-Adsani, Kuwait City.

The programme started with the recitation of the Holy Qur’an by Farooq Khan. Manager of Islam Presentation Committee, Khaitan Unit, Hamdan An Nabhan was the chief guest of the program, who in his address, spoke on the collaborative work of IPC with the Indian counterparts and expressed his happiness over the accomplishments.

Speaking on ‘Rights of Parents’, Nisar Ahmed emphasized with the help of Quranic verses and Hadith  that parents have the rights to be respected and treated kindly.

He said anyone who seeks to please Allah should earn the good pleasure of his parents by treating them well and taking care of all their needs.

Be it financial, companionship or serving them in their old ages and at times of illness and distress. Rasoolullah (s) has said "in the good pleasure of the father lies the good pleasure of the Creator and in his displeasure, lies the displeasure of the Creator".

He stressed that disobedience to parents is among the major sins and abusing others parents is like as though abusing your own parents.

There are also rights that children should fulfill posthumously i.e. even after parents have passed away, to ask forgiveness from Allah to pardon the parents, pay debts of parents, to fulfill promises and oaths made by parents, upholding the ties of kinship from the relatives of parents side and also parents friends, he said.

IMA President Mohammed Aslam spoke about ‘Rights of Relatives in Islam’. He started his speech with the mention that IMA felt a need to address the rights of people as laid out by Islam and hence is taking strides in organising a series of lectures on the broad topic with meticulous attention to topics ranging from rights of children, rights of wife and husband, rights of parents and relatives etc.

He said besides parents' rights, a great emphasis is also laid on the rights of other relatives. “Quran enjoins not just to show kindness to parents, you are also required to treat the other relatives with love and sympathy and pay due regard to their rights as well,” he said.

On fulfilling the rights of relatives, he narrated a hadith in which Rasoolullah (s) has said, "Whoever wants an increase in his sustenance and wishes to live long, he should be kind and helpful to his relatives.", by giving them monetary assistance, when needed, and by devoting a part of one's time and energy to their service.

He concluded his talk by stressing on the importance of showing kindness to even those relatives who severe relations. He quoted another hadith in which Rasoolullah (s) said, "He does not fulfill the claim of “good treatment towards the relatives, who shows no kindness in return for the kindness showed to him... The person who really fulfills the claim is he who treats his relatives well even when they are mean and unjust to him."

There was a question and answer session, where in both the speakers answered to questions posed by the audience on their respective topics. IMA Assistant General Secretary Iqbal Lateef Khan was also present on the dais and the program was well convened by Khalid Azmi.

Large number of expatriates participated in the public gathering with their families. Dinner kits were distributed to all the participants at the end.