The 365 · Verses · Day 129 · Family
Paradise is at the feet of mothers. 5 seconds of duʿāʾ after every ṣalāh.
Qur'an Quran 17:23-24
۞ وَقَضَىٰ رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوٓا۟ إِلَّآ إِيَّاهُ وَبِٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ إِحْسَـٰنًا ۚ إِمَّا يَبْلُغَنَّ عِندَكَ ٱلْكِبَرَ أَحَدُهُمَآ أَوْ كِلَاهُمَا فَلَا تَقُل لَّهُمَآ أُفٍّ وَلَا تَنْهَرْهُمَا وَقُل لَّهُمَا قَوْلًا كَرِيمًا
“Your Lord has commanded that you should worship none but Him, and that you be kind to your parents. If either or both of them reach old age with you, say no word that shows impatience with them, and do not be harsh with them, but speak to them respectfully and lower your wing in humility towards them in kindness and say, 'Lord, have mercy on them, just as they cared for me when I was little.' (Abdel Haleem)”
Svenska: Er Herre har befallt, att ni inte skall dyrka någon annan än Honom. Och [Han har anbefallt er] att visa godhet mot [era] föräldrar... Och sänk ödmjukt [ömhetens] vinge över dem och be: 'Herre! När jag var liten vårdade och fostrade de mig [med kärlek]; förbarma Dig [nu] i Din nåd över dem!' (Knut Bernström)
The story
Jāhimah came to the Prophet ﷺ asking permission for jihād. The Prophet ﷺ asked: 'Do you have a mother?' He said yes. The Prophet ﷺ: 'Then stay with her, for Paradise is at her feet.' (Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah.) Cross-ref Q 31:14 and Bukhārī 5971 (mother three times, then father).
In the language
Uffin is the Quranic threshold for the lowest level of disrespect: even this single particle of frustration is forbidden. Janāḥ adh-dhull (the wing of humility) is from the metaphor of a bird folding its wing. Rabbi-rḥamhumā kamā rabbayānī uses the same root r-b-b for both Lord and raised: the parents' raising mirrors the divine sustenance.
Why this verse
Q 17:23-24 pairs the foundational command (worship none but Him) with the next-most-binding command (kindness to parents). iḥsān to parents stands second only to tawḥīd. The verse names the operational threshold (uffin: not even the smallest sound of impatience), the corrective posture (lower the wing of humility from mercy), and the named duʿāʾ (rabbi-rḥamhumā kamā rabbayānī ṣaghīrā). Ibn Kathīr cites three Prophetic 'raghima anf' hadiths; one names whoever has parents reach old age and does not enter Paradise through them.
Bring it into today
Recite the duʿāʾ 'rabbi-rḥamhumā kamā rabbayānī ṣaghīrā' daily after each ṣalāh. The cost is 5 seconds; the benefit is the structural daily honor of parents named explicitly in the Quran.
A reflection to carry
The Prophet ﷺ said three times: raghima anf: one of them is whoever has parents reach old age and does not earn Paradise through them. The Quran names the operational threshold (no uffin), the posture (humble wing), the duʿāʾ (rabbi-rḥamhumā). Aging parents are the open door to Paradise.
Read the longer reflection
Ibn Kathīr's three raghima-anf hadiths are paired: Ramadan-without-forgiveness, Prophetic-mention-without-ṣalawāt, parents-without-Paradise. The third is operationally easiest to fail because it requires sustained presence: not a single act, but long care across years. Uways al-Qaranī did not see the Prophet ﷺ during the Prophet's ﷺ lifetime because his service to his blind mother consumed his ability to travel; the Prophet ﷺ said whoever met Uways should ask him to make istighfār for them.
Sources: Ibn Kathir. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
Subscribe, free