HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
SAYEESA SHABAN
Mother’s day which is every year observed on May 9 , all over the world, is the second largest spending holiday in United States where unlike other occasions, this day is celebrated with great enthusiasm and on this day people spend profoundly. Where as, this day in Kashmir has been kept confined to writing only either in the newspapers, journals or on social media. However, the day comes to wake us up to ensure that mothers are loved and everywhere cheerful.
A person came to the Messanger of Allah (PBUH) and asked him, “Oh! Messanger of Allah, tell us when will the doomsday come?” The Prophet of Allah (SAW) said that doomsday will come when mothers are disgraced. This day has a great significance not only in Islam but in other religions as well. The day comes to remind us our attitude towards our moms because the strongest foundation of any nation depends on mothers. Napoleon, a great thinker has said, “If you will give me strong mothers, I’ll give you strong nations”. Rudyard Kipling in the same vein says that ‘God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers’.
Regardless of whether one is well-known or not, one will never have a bigger fan than one’s mother. She is the epitome of love whose charisma gives meaning to every creation; a dense shaded tree that covers us from the scorching heat of mundane sufferings and miseries. She is the biggest and most invaluable source of love and care who started loving us before seeing our faces. And, when we are born; she fosters us so lovingly. Feeds us by suckling, sings lullabies when we are in her lap or cradle, coaxes us when we are sullen and dandles us to sleep. She wakes herself but tucks us into bed. Keeps for us whatever small or big she can and finds her happiness in our happiness. She is an embodiment of great care, unreciprocated love, tremendous joy, sagacity and blessings. Her love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. Her value and significance is fully known to those who have unfortunately lost their mothers in infancy. Abraham Lincoln who lost her mother in childhood says, “All that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
In Glorious Qur’an Allah (SWT) has said that if after Him anybody else would have been genuflected it would have been mother. But in today’s times the behavior of majority towards her is derogatory. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) says, “paradise lies beneath the feet of mother.” He (SAW) said: “The best of you are those who treat women or mothers kindly.” In a Hadith in Al-Bukhari, it is said that mother deserves three-fourth of his child’s love and companionship. Hazrat Nouman Bin Harisa (RA) was a loved Suhabi whose dulcet voice has been made the music of Jannah by Allah (SWT) because he was an obedient son of his mother.
Once upon a time in Japan, an obedient son without bothering about the consequences of the ruthless King of the State hid his mother in his house and later brings her back home on his shoulders from the wild forest that was believed to eat people. The son, in the story ‘A Mountain that Ate People’ by Neiltchan O’Neil, could realize the affection of his mother when she was still thinking of him amid terrible time.
Candidly, in the present times, things have fallen apart with mothers who are still the greatest sufferers of the patriarchal society. They societal norms have kept them confined within the four walls. They are treated as mere child bearers and helpmates for their husbands. The social restrictions on women in some aspects of life are clear signs of the suppression that mothers are facing. Day in and day out, there are reports on social media, of suppression, harassments, suicides, and harsh circumstances that mothers are facing.
Why go anywhere else? Kashmir, the so called rish-waer, reflects a plethora of grim-stories of aching moms. Overtly or in-overtly, mothers in Kashmir are unsafe. Inside their edifices they are tormented by their spouse or in-laws on petty issues, while just outside, they are harassed by some other elements. Aren’t presently scores of mothers enduring trauma and agony of their pellet-hit loved ones? The tragedies of mothers in Kashmir are greatly agonizing and are revealed to the outer world in a twisted manner.
Be it May 9 or some other day, everyday must be observed as mother’s day to honor, love, care and protect mothers everywhere. But when we open the book of mothers’ tragedies in Kashmir, each chapter is filled with mammoth pain and agony because they, in every nook and corner of the valley, have lost their loved ones to bullets from time to time. Indubitably, however much is written on mothers, will always be less. Almost, in every language the word ‘mother’ is uttered with great love. Whether it is mother, mummy, mouj, maa, mom, mumta, mama, ummi, etc. lips join in obeisance and as it is spoken, it soothes.
Indeed, has mother’s unconditional love, sympathy, affection and care no parallel. She is the one we all owe to and approach when we are troubled. The greatest gift we can give her today is to recall her infinite sacrifices from the time when we tried our first faltering steps. Lets hug and ask her for forgiveness if ever we had broken her heart and ensure that she is safe, healthy and happy, everywhere. May Allah (SWT) bless and protect all mothers on earth. Ameen!
(Sayeesa Shaban has done Post Graduation from MANUU, hails from Amargarh, Sopore. Feedback: Sayeesa22@gmail.com )
