Our topic of today is directed to the parents and the role of parents in Islam is huge and extremely important to the extent that Allah Azza wa Jal has made the biggest major sin in Islam: {after Shirk} ‘to be disobedient and disrespectful towards your parents.’ Therefore, {Shirk} ‘associating partners with Allah’ is the number one major sin; the second biggest sin is to be disrespectful towards your parents. Why is that; it is because of the great role and importance of Parenthood in the life of an individual. It is so huge a sin to be disobedient with your parents, that there is no described punishment in this world. If you steal, we chop your hand, if you kill, we chop your head but if you are disrespectful with your parents, there is no punishment for you worthy of such a sin in this life and it would be stored for you on the Day of Judgement!
Parents must be aware of their influence and great role towards their children but unfortunately these days parenthood has become like all other matters in life. As a parent, you have rights but there are obligations upon you as well. As parents, we always demand and acquire our rights. We say, “My right over my son is to get married and live in my house and serve me, my wife and his siblings and everyone else in the house.” His wife is not obliged to do this. “I am not going to discuss this. This is our culture; he has to do this. I want my rights, he has to give me money, and I can take this money and give it to my second, third or fourth wife, maybe even to my children, and he is working like a mule. I am his father, and these are my rights.” When we ask them, “What about your obligations?” usually they would say, “What obligations? As a father, I do not have any obligations; I did my role.” No. There are many obligations upon you. Moreover, because this is directed to the parents, we are not going to talk about the parents’ rights; we are going to talk about the parents’ obligations. Why do we discuss the parents’ obligations? It is very simple. Ask anyone, “Do you want your son to pursue a career being a janitor or being an illiterate or being a shepherd in the desert, or do you want him to be a doctor or an engineer or a pilot or an administrator or a manager or a CEO of a company? Of course, you will always choose the best for your son. Nobody would say, “No, no, I want him to sell Miswak.” So, what do you want him to work, what do you want him to do? “I want him to have the best.” OK, what about what you invest in him? We have a saying that goes like, “Pay peanuts, get monkeys.” If you invest in peanuts, you are not going to get lions! On the other hand, for a good investment, will you get monkeys? Therefore, what you invest in your child is what you will get, of course, by the grace of Allah. However, you have to take the means. This is why they say, “As you sow, so you reap.” Therefore, if you sow seeds of watermelon, you will get watermelon, if you put seeds of strawberry, you will get strawberries. It depends on what you have sown.
What are the rights of my child over me, what are my obligations toward my child so that he will not be questioning me on the Day of Judgement? Firstly, you have to choose the right wife, because she is the mother of your child. {Malik ibn Nabi, one of the great thinkers of the last century, was asked’, ‘I want to raise my child on the correct Islamic way.’ He asked, “How old is he?” The man said, “three months old.” He said, “It is too late.” It is too late because you should have started planning for it before you were married.} We know the Hadith of how to choose a wife, and how to choose a husband. Even at the time of intimacy, you have to say the Dua, you have to mention Allah’s name and you have to supplicate. Islam is not only just prayer and fasting, for half an hour a day and rest of the day I can do whatever pleases me; no; it is a connection’ that is 24/7. When I eat or drink, I say Bismillah. I go to the Masjid I have an intention when I pay sadaqah, not to show off, but for the sake of Allah. Therefore, a parent must be fully integrated and synchronized’ with Islamic teachings, so that he is implementing it in his life. We know the Hadith, if, through this blessed intercourse, it results in a child and Satan will not be able to harm him. Every single Muslim should memorize this Dua {Bismillah Allahumma jannibnash shaitan wa jannibish shaitan maa razaqtanaa} before mating with his wife.
What should’ be done when the child is born? There are a number of Sunnahs, such as At-Tahneek, which is a Sunnah that is long gone. There is a difference of opinion among the scholars whether it is specifically for the Prophet, or for all. Whenever a child was born, they used to bring him to the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam. He used to chew a small piece of date until it was almost dissolved, then he would take it and place it at the roof of the child’s mouth. It is not a big thing, it is not hard and so it can easily dissolve in the child’s mouth. This would be one of the first things, if not the first thing to enter the child’s stomach. Some say that this is specific for the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, others say that it is for all. One of your obligations as a father is to give a good name to your son, and many of the Muslims are not doing this. Many Muslims, especially in Arabia, it is a habit, that they give the name to their first-born after the name of their father. This is not a problem if the father’s name is Abdullah, Abdur Rahman, Muhammad, etc, but it is a problem when the father’s name is Dheeb. You know what Dheeb is, it means wolf. In Arabia, it is a compliment if you are aggressive and you cheat people, and you beat people, you are a wolf. What kind of a culture is this? This is the culture that we bring up our children in, saying, be aggressive, be strong, step on people, do not let anyone step on you! This is un-Islamic, they say, who cares, we are Arabs. Therefore, you have to choose a good name for your son.
Many of the ‘cultures’ that I have encountered;’ they give two or three names to an individual. So, the young boy is Muhammad Imran Hussain, the son of Muhammad Imran Abdullah, the son of Muhammad Imran Ahmed, so, to say his full name, it will take half an hour. This is wrong; give him a good name. Some of us may give our daughter a name from the culture, but it may be un-Islamic. That is wrong, when the child grows up, he looks up to the name. What is your name, Sa’d. Oh, Sa’d, I know Sa’d ibn abi Waqqas, one of the ten heaven bound Companions, I know Sa’d ibn Mu’ad, I know Sa’d ibn Ubadah, and he knows that his name has a history. Rather than, what is your name, Justin? Aoozobillah, I know Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber. Is this your ideal; is this your role model? Therefore, you give him a good name. In addition to that, the Aqeeqah, you know the Aqeeqah, we are not going to go into this, one sheep for the girl, and two for the boys.
Now, one of the greatest obligations upon a parent is to protect his offspring, his children, from the Hellfire. This is not a recommendation; rather, it is an obligation. Allah azza wa Jall says in the Qur’an, “O you who believe, ward off from yourselves and your families, a fire, whose fuel is men and stones, over which are appointed Angels stern and severe, who disobey not from executing the commands they receive from Allah, but do that which they are commanded.” This is your obligation, but unfortunately, if you look at the deteriorating situation of the Muslims, you will find that Muslims rarely abide by this instruction. Seriously speaking, we take the best care of our children when it comes to health, when it comes to education, when it comes to feeding, and that is why obesity has one of the highest rates among the Muslims. You find a small kid, like 6 years old, and he is like, 200 pounds. He cannot even move. He does not need to learn how to swim, if you put him in the swimming pool, he floats! That is one of the advantages of being obese, but this is wrong. Where is the agility, where is the strength, why, because I feed him well. I clothe him well; I choose the best for him.’ ‘What about his prayer?’ The Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam says, “Order your children to pray when they are seven, and spank them when they are ten.” How is your child’s condition when it comes to the Fajr prayer? Do you wake him up for Fajr? “Sheikh, do you want me to wake him up, it is 5:20 in the morning. It is very early. The school is maybe eight or nine o’ clock. He will not have enough time to sleep.” However, you have to wake him up for Fajr. “Sheikh, he is young, he is 36 years old. In Sha Allah, in the future he will grow up!” I know people who are 36, 40, and 50 years old, and they do not pray Fajr.
I see many of the parents looking around. How many of you pray Fajr on time? ‘Sheikh, I want my son to be Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim.’ OK, let us look at his father, no, his father is Abu Jahl! ‘Why?’ He says, ‘Sheikh, I did not have time to learn about Islam, you know, I work from nine to five, and I do this and that, but my son, In Sha Allah, will be a good Muslim and a practicing individual.’ Ya Akhi, you are his father! Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam says, “Every new born is born on the Fitrah and his father, either makes him a Jew, Christian or a fire-worshiper!” This is your influence, you have to lead by example but most of us, they say, “The problems that we have these days are the cause of the previous generation and it will be solved, in sha Allah by the next generation!” what is your role? If the problems that you face today; are because of the last generation {our parents’ and {apparently} it will be solved by our children; so what is OUR role? “We are just watching, living the American dream, the Emirates dream, living the Saudi dream” {we do not have dreams anymore; there are only nightmares}
Our dream should be the aspiration for Jannah, this is what we should want; we have been living on this earth for too long. The longer we live, we believe we are closer to Jannah but if we analyze our lives, we will realize we are going further and further. Long ago, people used to work hard so that when they would come to the age of retirement, they would live near Mecca or Madinah, worshiping Allah, reading Qur’an, doing Dhikr whereas nowadays when you reach the age of retirement, you do not want to retire. If you retire and you want to pray Fajr, you would have lived 60 years and not prayed Fajr on time, you think you are going to change now; you cannot! This is why it is our duty to feel humble, submissive, humiliated in front of Allah and to express our poverty to guide us before it is too late.
Therefore, it is your duty to protect your family from hellfire. How do we do this? The religious part is the most important part, because we are Muslims. We are not atheists. We are the people of Islam. What triggers us is Islamic belief. Islam comes first and then the Duniya. So if you were given’ the choice to be a doctor or to be a sheikh, what would the majority of the Muslims say? They would say, “Be a doctor, then be a sheikh.” No, this is wrong. If you had the choice, choose to be a scholar. This is because, when you are a scholar, you give healing for the heart and you give guidance to humanity. “Yes, but I cannot buy a latest modal car, sheikh. You know Islam does not pay in this life; it pays in the Jannah. I need something in this life. Everybody will enter Jannah, In Shaa Allah!” This is wrong. You have to set up your priorities first. Therefore, you have to take care of your child. How do I do this? Bring him up as a good Muslim. For this, you have to practice Islam yourself. You have to do it 24/7. It is ridiculous when someone smokes himself, and he tells his son smoking is bad. When someone curses the people in the market, and he tells his son to clean his mouth. When the parent steals, and he tells his children, “You have to be honest.” When a mother tells her daughter, “You have to wear Hijab.” and whenever she goes out she puts Mascara, eyeliner, foundations, and lipstick and perfume and she leaves her hair open, and says, “bye, honey!” This is not the Hijab that Allah ordered women to do!! This is all ridiculous. When the daughter or the son hears something in the Masjid, they are astonished because their parents are doing the exact opposite. This causes conflict in the child’s chest. They say, “Now, my parents want me to be a good Muslim and the house is like a Bollywood movie theatre.” Songs of Shah Rukh Khan playing all the time; the so-called heroes jumping from trees into rivers and all kind of nonsense’! This is the 24-hour culture. Moreover, you want your child to become a good Muslim’? The child’s chest is torn in between’. You cannot do this. You have to be a practicing Muslim who surrenders his will to Allah azza wa Jal.
If you look in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, you will find hundreds of verses regarding this. Luqman was advising his son, “Do not associate others {in worship} with Allah.” When was the last time you advised your son like this, sat with him and brought him up with the Islamic character and moral conduct? “My son, lying is not good, my son cheating is not good, my son being generous, being courageous, being kind, being truthful makes you a good Muslim” by giving examples from stories of the companions. Give him quality time.
The Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam used to teach the companions how to train their children, when they were 7 or 8 years old, to keep fast. Though fasting is not mandatory except when they reach the age of puberty but still the companions used to train their children and when they used to cry of hunger or thirst, they used to give them’ toys of wool, why? Because, this is what they wanted their children to be raised upon’. Imagine instructing your child to pray when he is seven until he is 10, 3 years of training, multiplied by 360 plus days, multiplied by 5, no spanking, no punishment. It is almost 4000 plus’ times you tell your child to pray, pray and pray. When he reaches the age of ten’; he is completely programmed! Some people come to me and say, “My child is 4 years old and I take him to the Masjid.” I tell him it is wrong, do not take him. ‘Why?’ ‘Because he is not instructed to do this, he is too small!’ “But he loves it,” do not take him still. Whenever he says, “Daddy, take me to the Masjid.” Tell him, “Not now!” once every month or so you can take him for a change if he wants but you keep on building in him the urge to go to the Masjid until he is seven. By this time, he is dying to go to the Masjid like a man. When he is seven now you tell him, “Now you come with me to the Masjid.” Take him for Fajr, take him for Asr even if he is sleepy, but take him with love and care and he will, in sha Allah, never leave Salah after that.
The Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam used to teach, preach and mould the children he was with towards Islamic principles. Ibn Abbas, his cousin was almost the age of puberty, 12 or 13 years old when Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam used to make him ride behind him on his ride. Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam was like 50 years older than Ibn Abbas, yet he was his cousin and a learned boy, so Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam invested in him. {Sometimes there is good child who loves Islam, who is intelligent, Akhi invest in him. Plan for him to be a scholar of Islam rather than making him a doctor, we have plenty of doctors, we have plenty of graduates with certificates but we do not have real scholars, not real implementers of the deen, not real callers of the deen. We do not want someone with just a long beard and a short thobe; we want REAL scholars.} What does Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam say to the boy behind him? Did he ask him, “How is your father {my uncle}, how is your mother, where did you go last night?” ‘No.’ Small talk is not Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam’s way of speech. He utilized every single moment, he said to Ibn Abbas, “Ya, Ghulam, I am going to teach you words, hear them well; be watchful of Allah and He will protect you, be watchful of Allah and you will find Him in front of you…” you know the rest of the beautiful Hadeeth. When we want to speak with our children, do we speak with them at such a level? No, no, they cannot understand, Sheikh. What do we teach them? “My mother is the owner of the house.” These are Nasheeds, and maybe the best would put some Afasi. Is this the Islamic teaching? No. Do not look down at your child. Treat him’ as a man and he will become a man. Treat him, as a child, and he will remain as a child.
What was the name of the mother of Az-Zubair bin Al-Awwam? She was the aunt of the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam. Who was the aunt of the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam; the Muslim aunt, the one and only? Safiyyah bint Abd Al-Muttalib! Her son was Az-Zubair bin Al-Awwam. She used not to beat him, but she was very harsh with him. They told her, “Why are you being so harsh with him?” She said, “I love him so much, I want him to become a man.” Moreover, he was that man. When he was 10 or 12 years of age, and he accepted Islam after reaching the age of puberty, maybe 14 or 15, but he was very young, he heard in Makkah that someone killed the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam. He took his father’s sword that was longer than him, and kept on dragging it, running in Makkah, and people are looking at this child without any shirt on him, “What are you doing?!” He said, “I am looking for the killer of the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam in order to kill him.” He was just 14 or 15 years of age! We know that he was one of the fiercest and strongest Companions of the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam because of his mother. Moreover, you know that his mother, in the ‘Battle of the Trench’, was a real woman. She killed a Jew with the stick of a tent when he was trying to spy on the fortress of Hassan ibn Thabit. She told Hassan, “Go and kill him, there is a Jew who is spying on us.” All the Muslims were at the Trench. He said, “Wallahi, you know that I am good at poetry, but I am not good at fighting.” Therefore, she took the stick, went there and killed him with one strike. How would her son be, of course, one of the Knights of Islam!
Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, whenever he sat with children at the table, he would teach them something. In the Hadeeth of Umar ibn Abi Salamah, {he was young, like 5 or 6 years of age, yet he narrates this Hadeeth} he says, “I was a young boy and my hand used to go here and there, left and right in the big plate [it is Sunnah to eat from the same plate].” As he was eating from in front of the people, the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, “O boy, say Bismillah, eat with your right hand, and eat from what is in front of you.” When you teach a child of five years of age to say Bismillah, eat from what is in front of him, and eat with his right hand, what does he do? How many times have you told your child, “Do not eat with your left hand; eat with your right.” ‘Sheikh, he is young.’ No! If you teach him from a very early age, he will become a practicing Muslim. However, if you neglect him, he is going to be like everyone else. Moreover, he will hold you responsible, “It was my father’s mistake; he did not bring me up on the right teachings.”
After the Islamic teachings of courage and kindness and everything else, come the worldly matters. Now, when I say, bring him up in an Islamic fashion, I never said to ignore him in the worldly sciences and other matters. No, it is part of your duty to also ensure that he is topnotch in the worldly things; in the etiquettes of speaking, eating, in living, in walking, in talking, in communicating with people, in riding horses, or driving cars. Therefore, he has to be the best, because he is the reflection of your own family. When I look at a boy who is well-mannered, I wouldn’t say, “Brother, what is your name?” I would say, “What is your father’s name? Who is your family?” I say Masha Allah Tabarak Allah this is a pleasant sight for the eyes in seeing such a child. However, when I see one who is devilish and doing bad things, and he says, “This is my father,” I will resent the father; I will feel sorry for him but I resent him because this is a manifestation of his Tarbiyyah, of his upbringing of the child, in which he failed miserably.
Imam An’nawawi says, “It is the responsibility of the father to ensure that his son learns all the etiquettes. And, if the father is gone, it is the responsibility of the mother to do this, and if she is unable, she has to hire someone to up bring him in a good manner.” This was the way of the Arabs. You remember that the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, in his early age, was sent to the Bedouins in the desert, why; so that he may be brought up linguistically and in the best manner. After that all the Caliphs and the rich people used to hire Scholars to stay 24/7 with their children, to teach them Arabic, poetry, Quran, how to pray, how to behave. Therefore, this is all part of Islam. Nowadays, we do the same, but according to our income. We take them to schools like Friday school, and we ensure that their teachers are the best teachers. We tell the teachers, “Take care of my son, and I want him to do this and that. Listen, he did this and that in the house, so focus on him being brave and not a coward. I want him to speak in public; he is a little bit shy. I want him to be generous, so even if you give him money to give in charity, this is good for you.”
Part of your obligations is to be fair with all of your children. This is one of the biggest mistakes that the Muslims do: You have 3 or 4 children, one of them is a grade ‘A’ student, and the others are lower grade students or even failures. Every year, or every semester, you give a prize to the A student, “Ma Sha Allah, he is best in Quran, he is best in school.” What will happen, his siblings will take him one day to the desert and you will end up finding him in a well, not promising you that he will become Aziz of Egypt, because this does not happen all the time! ‘Now, do you mean Sheikh that Prophet Ya’qub was unfair?’ No, he was a Prophet, and the son of a Prophet, who was also the son of a Prophet (Ya’qub, the son of Ishaaq, the son of Ibraheem). The Prophet of Allah cannot be unfair’ to his children; but the love you have and you express is too obvious. It was reported that a man was with the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, when his (the man’s) son came, the man took the boy, kissed him and put him on his lap. Minutes later, his daughter came and he took her and sat her next to him. The Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, “By Allah, you are not fair with them.” You put your son on your lap, and your daughter on side, meaning that you are favoring one over the other. They are children, they are infants, yet they know. Therefore, you must be fair in expressing your love, and you must be fair in giving them what they need. You have to differentiate between gifts and their needs. For example, if I have two sons, one of them goes to university and the other one is in kindergarten. I will not give them the same pocket money. The elder one has a car and he has more needs. Therefore, these are not gifts; these are needs. If one needed to go to the hospital and be operated on, and I paid 10000 Dirham, the other siblings would not say, “Give me also.” This is something that is a need. When we give gifts, for example for Eids, we give them all the same, the eldest and the youngest. They should all be given’ equal in gifts, depending upon your income of course. The Hadeeth of Nouman ibn Al-Basheer is well known, when the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam asked Nouman’s father whether he gave all his children the same amount, he said, “No,” and the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, “I do not testify to transgression.” This is transgression. “Do you not want all your children to be good to you? Equal?” he said yes. The Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, “You have to be equal to them in giving gifts.”
Of course, your obligations towards the girls are far greater. The Hadeeth shows that, by nature, we are more inclined to our sons. ‘Why?’ “Because they are the bearers of my name, they will help me when they grow up and they will work and earn for me.” The girls are usually neglected’ though they are the softest of hearts, and they are usually the ones who take care of their parents when they become old. No son would say that he would take care of his parents and be with them 24/7; only the girls do that. That is why the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, “Whoever takes care of these girls of his, Allah azza wa Jall would make them a shield from Hell for him.” If you bring them up well, if you treat them well, if you are kind and caring towards them, and if you choose for them a righteous husband, they will be your shield from Hell. Nothing is similar to that for the boys. Maybe the boys will cause you to go to Hell, because of what they do, may Allah forbid, because of what they do.
You have to be moderate. Many people steam off the pressure of their work on their children. When someone goes to a nine to five job, he has problems with the boss, with the co-workers, with my subordinates and with his clients. When I drive, there are people who drive senselessly. So, we are so tensed, when we go back home, we are so filled with pressure and tension, and your son comes to you and says that his brother hit him or something, and you take off all your anger on the eldest brother. You put all your worries and stress on him. Will he grow up to love you and his siblings? ‘Never’ some of us may even do the wrong thing by saying when angry, “Did you pray?” If he says, “What does prayer have to do with the problems with my siblings?” you say, “You are being disobedient, go and pray!” They do this as a punishment. You have to be very careful with every word you speak, because it is like a nail in the wall; you can take the nail off, but the traces will always remain.
Some of us do not discipline our children at all. Some are very aggressive. I have a very close friend whose child was 8 months old. She used to play with her belly. He used to spank her every time she did that. I told him, “Akhi, she is only 8 months. She doesn’t understand.” He told me, “No, no, no” I said, “There is nothing wrong in playing with the belly.” Wallahi, one day he brought a light bulb, and he burnt her hand. He is a Muttawa! I told him, “Wallahi, you are one of the most ignorant people on earth.” Alhamdulillah now he grew up and he is much better. Unfortunately, you have to look in your psychology, because this is what is going to affect your child. Some, on the other hand, do not have any discipline. The son does whatever he wants. The daughter does whatever she wants. The father does not even speak, reprimand or punish. We have to be in the middle. The Prophet Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said in an authentic hadith, “Put your whip somewhere it is visible for the household, because this is better for their upbringing.” It is not necessarily to use it, just put it there. So when the child does something wrong, you can say, “Look at this.” and the child will be terrified. “Khalas I will not do it again.” However not to use it at all or to use it every single minute of the day is wrong. We have to have a balance. You have to deal with your children with total and complete, unconditional love. Your children are not your enemies. You have to give them love 24/7, but with balance. So even when you reprimand them, you kiss them. Even when you punish them, you encourage them. We should never be negative. Lots of us in the house say, “Why is your hair untidy? Why are your clothes dirty? Look at your fingernails. When was it last you prayed? Why did you not do your homework? Look at how you speak to your mother. Why did you do this? Why did you do that?” It is always the same. They are always criticizing. When was the last time you said a word of encouragement? When you have guests, and your son comes you say, “Look at him, look at him. He is always like this, untidy and dirty!” They say this in front of him. Ya Akhi, you are demoralizing him. When he comes you should say, “O look at my eldest son, Masha Allah, yesterday he gave the Adhan. He led us in Sunnah. Masha Allah, he knows one Juz of the Quran. He is the man of the house.” After hearing this, how will he grow up? He will grow up to sincerely and really be the man of the house.
Finally, you should never ever give up. Suratul Furqan has a supplication in Ayah Number 74 of the righteous slaves of Allah. {Rabbana hablan min azwajina wa zurriyatina qurrata a’ayunin wa ja’alna lil muttaqina imama} It means “Oh Allah, grant us from our spouses and offspring a satisfaction to the eye and make us Imam to the believers.” So, in your supplication, in Sujood, in Fard or in Sunnah, always, humbly ask Allah, express your poverty, ask Allah to make you and your offspring leaders of humanity and supplicate for your child every single day, because your supplication is heard and will be answered. I pray to Allah azza wa Jal that he makes us outstanding parents; not for the sake of people pointing out and saying, “Masha Allah, he is outstanding.” Rather as the Prophet Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, ‘this {upbringing your children in an Islamic fashion} is the eternal investment that when you are in your grave, and you find that the gates of paradise are being opened for you and you say, “Allah where is this coming from? I didn’t do this.” They tell you, “This is because of this supplication of your offspring.”’
When an individual dies, all his good deeds are cut off’ except for three. One of them is – a righteous offspring that supplicates for you when you are dead. So look at your legacy: when you die, will your offspring pray to Allah or will they curse you while you are dead!
The quotations from the Qur’an and Hadiths in this article are a rough translation of the meanings of the original text!