In Sahih Muslim, there is a hadith where Prophet Muhammad ﷺ mentioned a pious brother named Juraij.
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Juraij had a place where he busied himself praying to Allah. While he was in the midst of praying voluntary prayers, his mother came and called out to him. Juraij said: “My Rabb, my mother and my prayer…” (meaning, do I end my prayer and respond to my mother, or do I continue my prayer?). He decided to continue his prayer and his mother eventually left. For the next two days, the same thing happened, but the only difference is that on the 3rd day, Juraij’s mother made du’a to Allah: “My Rabb, do not make him die until he sees the face of prostitutes first” because she was upset!
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After some time, Juraij’s piety became well known among his people. Then an attractive prostitute came and said: “If you wish, I can allure him to evil” (meaning, this person that you all looked up to, I can take him down). But when she presented herself to Juraij, he gave her zero attention. She became angry! So she went to a shepherd nearby and they committed adultery. She got pregnant, and when she gave birth, she said: “This is from Juraij.”
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The people believed her. They demolished Juraij’s place of worship, and began to beat him up! They brought Juraij the child when he asked about the baby. So Juraij requested some time alone to pray to Allah. When he finished praying, he asked the baby: “Who is your father?” The baby said: “He is such-and-such, the shepherd.”
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The people were very regretful of what they did, and even willing to rebuild his place of worship out of gold. But Juraij said it was sufficient to rebuild it with mud like before. The hadith stops here.
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Do you know under which chapter this hadith is placed in Sahih Muslim? – Under the chapter of “Being Dutiful to One’s Parents Takes Precedence Over Voluntary Prayer, Etc.” This is one of its many lessons. If we were to belittle our parents, then know we will one day be belittled and humiliated. If this happened to Juraij while praying voluntary prayer, then what will happen to someone who prefers his friends, or his video games or watching TV, over his parents?
May Allah make it easy for us to repent, seek forgiveness from our parents for our past mistakes. and strengthen our ties with them. Ameen!
#Hadith #parents
