Why Do I Feel So Bad? --By Selma Cook

[Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him, and that ye be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in thy life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honor.]

(Al-Israa’ 17:23)

What a wonderful exhortation indeed! No words of contempt, no move to repel them! Address them in terms of honor! Anecdotal evidence about the state of the parent-child relationship in the Muslim community tells us that children are not internalizing Islamic values and instead are quite contemptuous and dishonor their parents regularly. And the situation seems ever worse for adult children with elderly parents because the tendency there is to say to the parents, do not interfere with my life. How shameful is our situation indeed! Did we not heed any lessons from the life of our beloved Prophet Yusuf (peace and blessings be upon him) when his brothers so mistreated their elderly father? In one incident, the Qur’an captures a dialog between the sons and their father as follows:
[When the caravan left (Egypt), their father said: “I do indeed scent the presence of Joseph: Nay, think me not a dotard.” They said: “By Allah. truly thou art in thine old wandering mind.]

(Yusuf 12:94-95)
On the one hand, the father is asserting that he is of stable mind and body and on the other hand, the sons are saying of their father that he is in effect senile. Captured for all of eternity, this dialog bears profound meaning for us today in the steps that we can take to improve the condition of the elderly by restoring to them the dignity and honor which Allah has bestowed upon them.

...Honoring the Elderly--By Altaf Husain...