Fathers Every Day of the Year

Can you imagine a house without a roof? How comfortable or welcoming would such a dwelling prove to be for the residents inside? That is what Islam, and human nature in fact, tells us life is like without the presence of a father in our lives.

Muslims believe that Father’s Day is not something to be celebrated or remembered once a year, but all throughout the year in every interaction we have with them. We feel the need and importance of this especially when we are younger and more dependent upon their guidance and protection. Unfortunately in a world where parents are seen more as a burden than a resource or something to be cherished, many a sad empty face can be found in nursing homes. But as they say, you reap what you sow. In today’s world when the nuclear family and spending time in nurturing our relations is seen as more and more of an unnecessary burden, asking the question of whether parents neglect their children or whether children neglect their parents is a bit of a chicken before the egg type question.

There is, however, an old story of sons who saw their elderly father as a burden and one day decided to drown him in a river rather than take care of him. They took his charpai (woven bed in Urdu) to the river and he soon realized what they were planning, he calmly told them, “Take me over there, to that corner”. The sons were astonished at the fact that he knew what they were thinking and asked him why he would say that and what he meant by that, and he looked at them silently and said “because that is where I drowned my father”.

Let's hope we understand the true meaning of parenthood and the value of fathers in our lives. Let us learn to respect and fulfill the obligations to them so that we may encounter the same in return when we are older. Let's hope we learn to value all our relationships past a holiday and past their point of usefulness.