Allāh the Most High Said: �And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but
Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents...� [17:23]
After Allāh Almighty, there is none who has realised a greater favour to any person
than one�s own parents. His mother bore him in extreme difficulty and went through
great hardship and trouble while carrying him. Both parents performing their best
in raising him, providing love and compassion and working hard to spend on him;
spending sleepless nights tending to him while ignoring their own wants and desires.
Islām has gone to great lengths in impressing piety towards parents and indicating
reward and punishment associated to it. A person with basic common sense
understands the rights of the one who renders favours to him; not recognising such
rights is from the most deprived qualities one can assume. A person who is dutiful and
good to his parents should know that no matter how diligent he is towards them, he
can never repay or thank them for their rights and privileges granted to them by Allāh.
The renowned and eminent scholar, Ibn al-Jawzī penned this emotive book upon
witnessing disregard and neglect some of the youth in his time had for their parents
and kin, and not regarding it to be a necessary part of religion. He therefore felt the
need to compile a short tract on these obligations so that the unaware may take heed
and reassess the shortfalls in regards to their own obligations. He arranged it into
seamless chapters touching on divine basis for being dutiful to parents and enjoining
ties of kinship. This English rendering of Ibn al-Jawzī�s �Birrul Wālidayn� will assuredly
lead to marked positive realignment of our own relationships with our parents and
families. And Allāh grants the means and ability to whomsoever He Wills.