Mother’s
Day
Imam Abu Hanifah’s Respect for His Mother
By Mohammad Yacoob
Hawthorne, California
The tradition of
honoring mothers has been in effect in the United
States for the last several decades and might continue
forever. Mother's Day is observed every year on
the second Sunday in the month of May. This year
the Mother's Day was be celebrated on May 13, 2007.
Islamic teachings and traditions too emphasize the
prime importance of honoring parents, especially
mothers. Many verses in the Holy Qur’an say
that believers should worship only God and should
not associate any partners with him. Along with
this, God says in the Qur’an, "Show gratitude
to Me and to your parents". A famous saying
of Prophet Muhammad is: "Paradise lies under
the feet of mothers."
One of the examples of displaying utmost respect
and kindness to one's mother was shown by Imam Abu
Hanifah, a great Faqih (jurisprudent) of Islamic
law. Imam Abu Hanifah and his mother lived in the
city of Kufah (a city near Najaf in Iraq).
His father died when he was a young boy, and his
mother lived until she was in her eighties. The
Imam took care of her with immense affection and
regard. The Imam's mother had a great reverence
for some of the religious preachers of that time,
and one of them was Amr bin Dharr, a well-known
preacher of Kufah.
Her inquisitive and unduly curious mind had many
religious questions. Even though her son was a great
Islamic scholar, she would command Imam Abu Hanifah
to go to Amr bin Dharr, to get an answer for her.
That would always embarrass Amr bin Dharr. "How
dare I open my mouth before you", Amr would
say. The imam would comfort him by saying, "Such
is my mother's command." Then, the imam would
get Amr bin Dharr's answer and return to his mother.
Once it so happened that Amr bin Dharr did not know
the answer to a question. He asked the Imam to repeat
the question. Instead of providing an answer after
hearing the question, Amr bin Dharr posed a question
to the imam by asking, "Would you mind, if
I ask you a question?" The imam said that he
had no objection to Amr asking him a question. Then,
Amr bin Dharr repeated Abu Hanifah's mother's question
and said, "If I ask you this question, what
would your answer be?" The imam looked at Amr
bin Dharr with a smile, thought for a moment ,and
gave him the answer.
Amr bin Dharr turned around and repeated the answer
given by the imam moments ago and said, "Please
tell your mother that this is Amr bin Dharr's answer."
The Imam returned home and delivered the answer.
His mother was happy and satisfied with the answer.
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