The Shaykh continues his advice regarding the previous question: I ask for guidance, as my daughters, after leaving school, are being incited by people who ask how they could have left school and university.

The Shaykh : We return to complete our previous discussion.

The questioner : May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : Our discussion in the advice reached the point where: "Abu al-Darda' was approached by a man who said, 'My mother orders me to divorce my wife. What do you say?' He said, 'I neither command you nor forbid you; for I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: The parent is the middle gate of Paradise; so if you wish, divorce, and if you wish, keep her.'" He drew his attention to the fact that obedience to the parent—here the parent includes both father and mother—means that the one who leads you to entering Paradise is your obedience to them. But, by Allah, there is a problem with this. Your wife may be happy with you, and if you divorce her, you may regret it and grieve over her, and so on. He could not tell you to divorce, nor could he tell you not to divorce. If he told you to divorce, he would fear for you, and if he told you not to divorce, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was saying this. Therefore, we advise the children, both male and female, not to be arrogant and to obey their fathers and mothers, because first, they have the right of parenthood over their children; second, they have experienced life and know more than the children; and third, and finally, the majority of people today, whether old or young, male or female, are not walking on the correct path and on the straight path of which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: So most people are deviating from the line. When the father or mother orders his son or daughter to do something or not to do something, it is obligatory for this son or that daughter to obey Allah in obeying their father or mother. And with this, we advise that children be dutiful to their parents, so that when the children become parents, this is the Sunnah of Allah in His creation, that their children be dutiful to them as they were dutiful to their parents. This is sufficient.

The questioner : Just a piece of advice.

The Shaykh: Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.