Ramadhan Day 8 / Juzz 8: "Nothing less than excellence"

Day 8 / Juzz 8

Say, “Come, I will recite what your Lord has prohibited to you. [He commands] that you not associate anything with Him, and to parents, good treatment, and do not kill your children out of poverty; We will provide for you and them. And do not approach immoralities – what is apparent of them and what is concealed. And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden [to be killed] except by [legal] right. This has He instructed you that you may use reason.” (6:151)

This ayah begins with Allah telling the messenger, ‘Come, let me tell you what your master has made *impermissible* for you.’ So what we are being told is that the list of actions which will follow this ayah are those things which Allah has made made impermissible/ haraam for us to do.

So Allah begins. Number 1, don’t commit Shirk, number 2 do not kill your children out of bankruptcy, number 3, don’t engage in shameful acts, number 4, don’t engage in murder. So Allah is giving us counsel of all those acts we need to stay away from.

But… In the middle of this ayah, Allah says, ‘do good to your parents’ or, * be the best you possibly can to your parents* The word احسان – excellence, is used here.

What’s so amazing is that in this ayah, we are expecting a list of all the prohibited actions. All the ‘don’t dos.’ Yet, Allah instead mentions one *do* which is, to be good to the parents.

Do you know why this is powerful? Because Allah is saying to us, that *anything short of THE BEST to your parents, is impermissible.* in other words when it comes to treatment of parents, Allah has one words: IHSAAN – the absolute best and nothing less is acceptable.

Allah didn’t even specify an action, so He didn’t say Ihsaan in speech, or in attitude, but He kept it open, meaning Ihsaan in everything, despite their attitude towards you.

May Allah give us the ability to serve our parents with Ihsaan and nothing less, ameeen.

And Allah knows best.