How To Respectfully Make Parents Understand Something?

Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat

Question

My father keeps bringing kittens home to care for them. My mother has to do the caring. This causes her difficulty, and she even has to take medication because of it. How can I explain this to my dad without him getting angry?

Answer

I pray you are well.

Your father is clearly someone with a lot of empathy and mercy in his heart. Appeal to that mercy. Speak to him and show him that his kindness to the kittens is something Allah loves, and that he will be rewarded for it.

Then direct that mercy and empathy towards your mother. Explain the difficulties your mother has to endure constantly. Let him see something of that pain, and remind him that his wife is more deserving of his empathy and mercy.

The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “The most perfect of believers in faith is the best in character, and the best of you are the best to their women.” (Tirmidhi)

See if you can get them both to reach a compromise that works for everyone. May Allah facilitate the matter and reward you for your efforts in respectfully addressing matters.

[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began his studies in Arabic Grammar and Morphology in 2005. After graduating with a degree in English and History, he moved to Damascus in 2007, where, for 18 months, he studied with many erudite scholars. In late 2008, he moved to Amman, Jordan, where he continued his studies for the next six years in Sacred Law (fiqh), legal theory (Usul al-fiqh), theology, hadith methodology, hadith commentary, and Logic. He was also given licenses of mastery in the science of Quranic recital, and he was able to study an extensive curriculum of Quranic sciences, tafsir, Arabic grammar, and Arabic eloquence.