Sitting in my dorm room, I am on a phone call with my parents; they are telling me about how their day went and what they’ve been up to. They are at the doctor’s getting my dad’s checkup done. I talk to him briefly asking him if he was feeling well, he says, “Yeah Everything is ok!”
Couple of days later my uncle comes to visit me. Everything is ok! He calls my mom, and asks, “So what did the doctor say about his HEART ATTACK?”
I am numb from the shock. Everything is NOT ok! I repeat everything is NOT ok!
There were only a couple of days left till I flew back home for my summer vacations. I remember constantly praying day and night, begging God for his mercy. Even though no one had directly told me what was going on, I had a very clear picture of what was happening; my dad was in surgery getting an angioplasty done.
My flight lands, no one is at the airport to pick me up. I wait around half an hour until two family members show up to take me to the hospital.
Still numb in the brain from anxiety, I enter the hospital room that my dad was admitted in. And the first thing I hear is, “Zehra! I’m a bionic man!!!”
Still trying to grasp reality and process what exactly was going on, all the while keeping my calm, I say Salam to everyone there. I take a good look at my dad trying to understand what he is trying to say… and then I finally understand the words coming out of his mouth: “Zehra! I’m a bionic man!” (He was referring to the stents put inside him during the angioplasty… HAHA very funny dad!)
Even in the worst of situations, all my dad can do is make jokes! Which by the way helps send a signal to my brain: “Everything is ok!”
Aaaah Dads!
What can a daddy’s little girl say about dads!?! “My dad is the best dad in the world!” Says every daughter.
We always hear about a mother’s bond with her children, but fatherly love seems to be taken for granted. Fathers may not express their love the way a mother does, but their love is also unbeatable. You can feel this love while they are giving you their heartfelt advice (or when they are trying to stop you from spending all your savings in useless endeavors). You can feel their love when they impart to you all sorts of knowledge; from teaching you to ride a bicycle, to drive a car, to buying your first house and how mortgage works. Most importantly, Dads share their wisdom on life and their experiences to help you better lead your life in a better way.
The religion of Islam holds a great deal of respect for parents.
Imam Ali (as) says: “Goodness towards (one’s) parents is the greatest obligatory act.” (Mizanul Hikmah, Volume 10, Page 709)
“Pfft… Kids these days… think they know everything…”
When we reach adulthood, it is easy for us to assume that now we understand everything there is to understand about life. We think of our problems as problems that no one else can understand; assuming that ‘our parents don’t know what life is all about’, and that ‘they have never been though what we are going through’. By thinking they do not know how the world works, we stop paying attention to what they have to say. We easily forget that our parents probably -no definitely- have gone through worst to bring us to where we are today. Parents who have moved homes, cities and even countries just so they can provide for a better future for their children. Sacrificing their happiness for ours. So cherish them and keep them close, and if they have passed onto the next world pray for them…
As Allah teaches us in the Holy Quran: “My Lord, have mercy upon them as they brought me up [when I was] small.” (Quran 17:24)