A-thu billhi minash shaytnir rajeem. Bismillhir rahmnir raheem.

Al hamdu lillahi rabbil alameen. Was salaatu was salaamu alaa ashrafil mursaleen. Sayidinaa wa nabina wamoulanaa Muhammadin waala aalihee wa sahbihee wasallim. Fa yaa ibaadallah, ittaqullahuusiikum wa iyyaa yaa bi taqwallah, fa qad faazal muttaqun

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam,

Our khutbah today is about loving our parents. whatever our age, loving our parents applies to everybody. Each and every one of us was a child at some time, and we will have our own unique memories of childhood, of the important part our mother and father played in it. While they are still alive we owe them our duty of love, care, and respect. And if Allh has already reclaimed them to Himself, we owe them remembrance in our prayers, with deep love and gratitude. We also need to keep alive the memory of the love and sacrifice they showed us when we were young, and helpless.

Islam ranks our parents so highly, that only obedience to Allh and His Prophet, come before love and obedience to our parents.

The Holy Qurn says, in Sura Al-Isr [ch 17 v 23]:

O Muslims, The way we treat others, so shall we be treated. We can see this by looking around and reflecting on the successes and failures of others. Clearly, those who sow good seeds reap goodness; and those who sow evil only reap sorrow. The reward for good deeds can only be good, and the reward for bad deeds can only bring us closer to self-destruction.

Brothers and sisters in Islam! Who has the most right to our hearts, to our love and respect? Who deserves most, to hear our words of kindness, and appreciation? Our parents, of course! A mother's love for her child is a du'ah, an invocation for the wellbeing of her child. It is through her love that her child learns to crawl, to walk, to speak, to relate to others in the community. Surely we can offer our mothers and our fathers, companionship, words of comfort and appreciation! Abu Huraira narrates that a man once approached our Nabi and asked:

"O Apostle of Allah, who has the most right to my companionship?

To this our Nabi replied: "Your Mother."

Thrice the man asked the same question, and thrice our Nabi replied,"Your Mother",

until the fourth time when our Nabi replied, "Your Father".

From this Hadth we can see, how highly we should regard our mothers. Can we ever repay the time and effort, the years loving care and attention our mother gave to us? Has she not sacrificed her health and her wealth to rear us to maturity? Did she ever complain when she had to feed, to clean and clothe us? No, she served us with love! How young and beautiful was she then ? How healthy and energetic? Today she may be grey and wrinkled not only with age, but from endless hours, days and years of hard work and sacrifice as mother. Love deserves love!

When we were ill, she suffered with us, fearful that some misfortune might befall us. In her worry and anxiety she would cry and beseech Allah to restore us to good health and grant us a long and prosperous life. In the same way, too, a good deed from us, brings joy to her heart, but when we do something wrong, it fills her heart with disappointment and tears stream down her cheeks. Love deserves love!

Remember, :"Paradise, Al-Jannah lies at the feet of your Mother."

Besides our mother no one deserves our love, our respect, our kindness and our bounty more than our father. It is he, together with our mother, who makes up the parental team. Fathers work hard to provide for the familys needs. As leaders of the home, they teach us what will benefit us, materially and spiritually. Let us take care not to display any animosity or unkindness towards our fathers, for then, one day, our children will treat us in like manner. A famous Muslim philosopher once told his son on his death-bed:

"My son, do not forget to visit the graves of your parents, for it will not be long when you, too, will be carried to the same place where they are. And when you visit them at any time, read what you are able to from the Holy Qur'an, and send it as a present to their souls. O my son, why have you been so disobedient? Why have you shut yourself from your parents? What was their crime against you? Was it a crime to rejoice when you had done a good deed? Was it a crime to find the world becoming dark before us when we heard of your evil or wrong actions? Was it a crime to have shouldered a burden as heavy as a mountain when you were ill? Was it a crime when we wished to bear your pains rather than to see you suffer? To what extremes did we not resort to restore your health? If a certain part of your body had been needed to restore your health, your mother would not have hesitated to cut it off from her own body. The very evening your mother was buried you forgot what she had done for you. When you inherited the house, you forgot what sacrifices we had made to acquire it. Surely you are going to follow us tomorrow just as we shall follow our parents. And you shall regret your ill treatment of us just as we regretted ill-treating our parents. My son, I strongly implore you: accept these last few words of mine, then, perhaps, you shall gain the mercy of your Lord, Allh SWT; and remember, your children shall also become parents."