'Abasa · Makki · ayah 35 of 42

'Abasa 80:35

وَأُمِّهِۦ وَأَبِيهِ

“And his mother and his father”

Saheeh International

Essence

The mother who gathered us and the father who fed us will be fled from too, so the time to honour them is now.

A reflection

The one who gathers everyone round

The lexicons give the root of umm, mother, a picture that is well established and quietly profound. Whatever gathers the things around it, the Arabs called its umm. Makkah is the 'mother of towns'. The imām is the one in front whom others follow. The same root named the builder's line, stretched so that each course of a wall ran straight.

So a mother, in the language itself, is the one things gather around. The centre of the circle. The line the whole wall is built true to.

Picture five grown siblings who live in different cities. For thirty years they all came home for Sunday lunch at least once a month. Nobody arranged it; it just happened, because their mother was there and expected them. Then she died. At first they kept meeting. Within two years, the lunches had stopped. They love each other. But without her at the centre, there was nothing to gather round.

That is umm: the gathering point, often invisible until it is gone.

And this ayah says that on the Day of Resurrection, a person will flee even from her. The centre of every circle in his life will be the one he runs from. That tells us how complete the terror will be. The gathering point itself will not hold.

But it also points back to now. The gathering is happening today. The mother is still at the table, or still at the end of a phone, or still in the care home down the road. The circle she holds together is still intact.

The Prophet ﷺ was asked who is most entitled to a person's good companionship. He said: 'Your mother'. The man asked, then who? 'Your mother'. Then who? 'Your mother'. Then who? 'Your father' (Sahih Muslim).

If your mother is alive, go and sit in her circle this week. If she has gone, pray for her by name, and try to be, for someone else, the centre she once was.

The full entry has 4 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.