Mothers: Producers of Heroes By Abdullah 'Azzam

In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

“...Mothers play a great role in building a generation. The better a
mother is at raising her children, the more successfully the Ummah is
built and the more successful it is at producing heroes. You hardly
ever see a great man except that a great woman is behind him who left
some of her traits in his personality by way of the milk from which he
was fed and the warm embrace in which he sought refuge.

Most men find it hard to remove these shining images from their minds
that they retain of their mothers. These outstanding images that ran
through his veins from a young age remain engraved in his mind, and he
cannot help but to remember them with veneration and pride. He recalls
the simple, clear words that his mother left his spirit with, and these
words grow to become milestones on his path and guiding lights on his
quest.

He cannot help but to place himself under the vast shade that his mother
provided for him throughout the long course of his life, nurtured by
the pleasant emotions and mixed with the eternal days of his life. These
realities grow in his spirit and become an inseparable part of his
personality that he cannot let go of without letting go of his humanity.

This is why preserving this affection and repaying this kindness with
kindness is an obligation in Islam that is directly partnered with Tawhid: {“...and your Lord ordained that you worship only Him, and that you treat your parents with excellence...”} [al-Isra’; 32] And disobedience to them is directly partnered with kufr.

Respect for mothers occupies a very high position on the ladder of
Islam, and is very heavy in its scales. It is reported in the ‘Sahih’
that a man came to the Messenger of Allah (saw) and said: “O Messenger
of Allah, who is most deserving of my kind treatment?” He replied: “Your mother.” The man asked: “Then who?” He replied: “Your mother.” The man asked again: “Then who?” He replied: “Your mother.” The man asked again: “Then who?” He replied: “Your father.”

I once said to Ibrahim al-Akhdar – the imam of the Haram in
Makkah – “Why do you prevent your sweet voice from being heard by the
Muslims who come from everywhere to hear it? How can you request to
return to Madinah when some people say that hearing you recite the
Qur’an is like hearing it descending fresh from the heavens?”

So, he replied: “My treasures in this world are my grandmother and
mother, and I must fulfill my responsibilities to them and treat them
well. Nobody can do this but me.”

I said: “Why don’t you bring your grandmother here?”

He said: “She refuses to leave Madinah out of fear that she might die
outside of it, and her greatest wish is to be buried in the graveyard of
al-Baqi’.”

And indeed, Ibrahim actually left the Haram in Makkah and went
back to leading a small mosque in Madinah, sticking to the Paradise that
is at the foot of his mother and grandmother...”

[‘Majallat al-Jihad’; #36, Rabi’ al-Awwal 1408]

Courtesy of Iskandrani

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