Happy Mothers Day

Appreciating Mothers Every Day of the Year

By Ladyana Zoraya Abdullah

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praises and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger (saw).

The history of Mother’s Day goes back to the ancient Greeks in respect to their goddess Rhea and Sybil, but this event lost its celebratory essence and meaning after a while and for centuries has borne no indication of any celebration for any goddesses. The next known history was created by an American woman named Anna Jervis,

who just wanted to honour the effort of her own mother by creating a special day for her and other mothers across her neighbourhood. This initiative caught on, and on 8th May 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day in America.

First of all, it goes without saying that every committed Muslim is supposed to pay his or her parents, especially the mother, due respect. One should try to show dutifulness to one’s parents, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. What Islam goes against is to imitate non-Muslims by marking a special occasion such as celebrating Mother’s Day in a way that shows that mothers do not deserve due respect and care save on this very day.

If we are going to make the whole year a Mother’s Day, then Islam welcomes celebrating the occasion with open arms. Indeed, Muslim scholars have maintained various opinions regarding the issue. The following is our attempt to furnish you with juristic views in regard to this issue:

Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi, deputy chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, states: “Dutifulness to parents, especially the mother, and treating them kindly is an act of worship enjoined in both the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). Being dutiful to parents is not confined to a specific time. It is an obligation that should be observed every time, as all people commonly know.”  

Yet, Mother’s Day, as it’s known nowadays, has become a Western habit. The Westerners specified a day and called it Mother’s Day. It has become part of important feasts in the West, whereas we Muslims have no other festivals except the Lesser and Greater Bairams. Any other celebration is deemed a mere occasion or anniversary; and this applies to Mother’s Day, which implies paying more attention and exerting more effort in expressing gratitude to mothers. So, there is nothing wrong in that.

However, there are two reservations worth mentioning; first, considering the Mother’s Day a feast; second, confining the task of showing dutifulness to mothers to that specific day only, giving the implication that throughout the whole year, only one day is for showing love to parents. If such two anomalous points are addressed, then there is nothing wrong in considering Mother’s Day a chance to give more care to mothers.

Thus, we may make it an opportunity to lay extra emphasis on our duty towards our mothers, as Islam enjoins us, because dutifulness to parents is a genuine Islamic teaching. But Muslims, in doing that, should never deviate from Islamic teachings; i.e., they should do things according to appropriate Islamic manners, and not glorify Western manners. Hence, they would not be imitating the non-Islamic habits of the West. 

Viewed from a juristic perspective, we can say that celebrating Mother’s Day is controversial among contemporary scholars. While a group of them considers it haram as a kind of blind imitation of non-Islamic Western habits, which have no benefit for Muslims, another group sees it as halal on the condition that showing gratitude, dutifulness, and respect to parents should not be confined to that specific day only. Moreover, the well-known erudite scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi states:

“The Arabs tend to blindly follow the West in their celebration of Mother’s Day, without trying to understand the wisdom behind inventing such an occasion. When the Westerners found that children do not deal properly with their parents nor give them their due rights, they resorted to specifying an annual occasion for children to remedy the situation. But in Islam, mothers are to be given due respect and love every time, not only one day a year. For example, when one goes out, one kisses one’s mother’s hand seeking her pleasure and blessing.

Finally, Dr. `Abdul Fattah `Ashoor, professor of Qur’an Exegisis at Al-Azhar University, concludes:

“Holding celebrations in honouring others and commemorating anniversaries are neither feasts nor Islamic. But one may seize any chance to express gratitude to those who deserve it. This is how we should consider Mother’s Day. The mother has a special place in Islamic culture and all other civilised cultures. So, it is something good to do anything to please her and show gratefulness to her.”

So, dedicating a day to showing good feelings towards parents, especially the mother, is by no means blameworthy as it does not contradict Islamic teachings, nor can it be merely considered a form of joining the Western vogue of making celebrations. Conversely, it is a kind of devotion to Allah’s orders that we should be dutiful to our parents.

In view of these opinions, Brainy Bunch wishes all mothers a Brainy Bunch Mother’s Appreciation Day to show our own mothers, mothers across our nation, and the world that we care for, honour, and love them every day of the year. As such, a special dedication of honor to the first teachers of children,the mothers, we also wish all mothers a Happy Teachers’ Day.

Allah Almighty knows best.