The ruling on equating undutifulness to parents with shirk (associating partners with Allah)

Question:
This is a mursal (a report missing the Companion link) report; the name is indicated by the letters Kha, Kha. He says: “As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.” There is no doubt that dutifulness to parents and being kind to them is a matter required by the Shari'ah. We find that Allah the Exalted speaks about the rights of parents in a single verse alongside the discussion of the obligation of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) in worship. This indicates the extent of the importance of dutifulness to parents and how their undutifulness can be likened to shirk (associating partners with Allah) with Allah. The question is that we would like to know something of the reasons for this status that Allah granted to parents, despite the fact that most fathers have their children for one of the following reasons: either for boasting, so that their lineage does not end, or solely for sexual pleasure. If that is the reason for having children, and these are purely worldly matters, how do we find that the Shari'ah has given them this status? May we know the reasons for that?

Answer:
First, your specifying of their intentions, yes, the parents in their marriage, and this is a judgment made without knowledge, and what makes you know what is in their hearts? This is for Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). As for the right of the parents, there is no doubt that it is an obligatory right, and it is confirmed, and it comes after the right of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) in the second position. His saying, the Exalted: . And as for your saying that it resembles shirk (associating partners with Allah), this is a mistake. Undutifulness to parents does not resemble shirk, but it follows it in prohibition, and it follows it in sin, but it does not resemble shirk with Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Yes.