Narrated Abu Hurayrah: Allah’s Apostle said: Let him be humbled into dust; let him be humbled into dust. It was said: Allah’s Messenger, who is he? He said: He who sees either of his parents during their old age or he sees both of them, but he does not enter Paradise. (Muslim)
The existence of parents and grandparents in our life is severely important. As an elder, they guide us through this life, setting rules for us so that we will not stray too far from Allah’s blessing. But we shouldn’t take them for granted. We should give their rights as well.
In Islam, grandparents has the same rights with parents, whether it’s our paternal or maternal grandparents. As it has become our obligations to treat our grandparents well and loving them dearly, there are several rights of maternal grandparents in Islam we must fulfilled to them.
Here are some of the example:
1. As a Guardian to the Grandchildren
As said before, maternal or paternal grandparents has equal rights as parents. So that when our parents are unable or they are not exits in several moment, our grandparents has the right to act as a guardian. For example when we need a parents’ approval on something, we can also ask our grandparents for it. Also read Importance of Grandparents in Islam
2. Being Loved and Cared
As our grandparents no living the old days in their lives, they are not as strong as they used to be. However, we will never forget how they loved and cared for us genuinely when we were children. It is their right to be loved and cared now that they are old.
3. To be Regularly Visited
We live separately from our grandparents as we grow up, even far away from them. They have the right to be regularly visited and it becomes our obligations to fulfill it. It’s a big sin to neglect our grandparents since their blessing is as important as our parents’ blessing to us. It a big privilege to still have grandparents, especially when we are not kid anymore. Also read Importance of Obeying Parents in Islam
4. Raising the Grandchildren
When the parents are unable to, then the grandparents has the right to raise their grandchildren. It can be the case when our parents died and nobody has been pointed as guardian yet, Then the right of custody fall to the grandparents. Maternal and paternal grandparents has the equal rights.
5. To be Respected
Grandparents has equal rights to our parents, so there are no reason not to respect the. The older they are, the more we have to respect them. Respected them is including treating them well, loving them sincerely and taking care of them. We have to treat them the same way we treat our parents. Also read Importance of Family Life in Islam
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6. To be Spend On
Spending on their grandchildren was their hobby when we were young. As much as they love spending money for us, we should never hesitate to spend money on them as well. Especially when we have earned our own money, they have to be the top priority along with our parents.
“And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents.” (17:23)
7. Given the Same Right as Our Parents
It has been stressed in the entire article that grandparents has the same and equal rights as our parents. We have to fulfill their rights as well as we do to our parents. Also read Rights of Parents in Islam After Marriage
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Importance of Maternal Grandparents in Islam
Maternal grandparents has many rights in Islam, it means that they have a high importance in our life as well. Here are some of their importance:
- As a Gift from Allah SWT
The fact that our grandparents is still alive should be considered as a gift and blessing for us. We should treat them well as not everyone have their own grandparents alive like us. Care for the them so that they will stay longer with us.
- A Teacher Since We Were Kids
Our grandparents have been live longer than us, so that there are many things to learn from them. They will share their life experience to us, especially the hard times they had been through that make them who they are today. Also read Things to Look for in Marriage Islam
- Helping Our Parents to Raise Us
We must have many memories when our grandparents took care of us when we were younger. It often happen when our parents worked and they take their role to raise us. The times when our grandparents babysit us is one of the golden time in our childhood.
- Making Our Life Different
When our grandparents has retired, they spend almost all their time with us. It surely makes our life different somehow. They take care of us a lot and helping us to grow up as they grow old alongside us.
- Spending A Lot on Us
The best thing of having a grandparents is that they never hesitate to spend on us. For the things that our parents doesn’t allow us to have, our grandparents will be gladly buy them for us. The never know when to stop spoiling us as they always see us as a little kid all the time.
Seeing that there are many rights of maternal grandparents in Islam, we should reflect on ourselves, have we treat our grandparents well all these time? Not everyone is blessed enough that their grandparents are still alive, so that when we have one, we should treat them the best we can.