Table Talk
by Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din
Chapter 10: Cinema Films doing what Religion and Civilization in the West have Failed to Do
Parents in indigence and sons in affluence exist side by side in the West — a shocking sight to an Eastern eye! The men of the West talk big of Socialistic ideas and world-regeneration, but they are lacking in the primal element of well-doing, filial piety, and do not know how to do good to their own kith and kin. They speak of democracy, and yet, when they rise in the world, they feel ashamed of their humble origin, if by any chance they own to it. If birth or inherited wealth find no special favour in the eyes of democracy, a self-made man should surely feel proud of his birth in penury. To be a son of man was man’s proudest boast in the judgment of Caliph Omar [Umar], himself the first and most practical expounder of democracy in the world’s history. The plant of Democracy can only germinate and reach its full growth, in such lands where the efforts of persons of lowly birth to achieve rank and distinction are not only encouraged but respected. But if we are ashamed of our birth, how can we make the thing we speak of a reality?
The civilization of a nation is hardly enviable, if its members do not fulfil their obligation to their own parents. We are no better than other animals, if self-indulgence is to consume all the proceeds of our labour. If the best capital wherewith to start life is the healthy condition of our joints and limbs, and a wholesome upbringing in our early life, do we not owe most of our wealth and opulence to our own parents? But we cannot expect to find any such sense of obligation in minds that have been moulded by materialistic culture.
Unfortunately, Religion in the West has done very little in this respect. One must not, however, expect better things from the influence of a creed that tends to weaken man’s sense of responsibility, by teaching him to believe that his sins have become cleansed by his acceptance of certain dogmas. Certainly, the Fifth Commandment runs thus:
“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” [Exodus 20:12]
But the reason assigned as an inducement to fulfil the Commandment would not appeal to the modem mind; and, unfortunately, there is but little further illumination on the subject in the whole Biblical record. The same Commandment has, it is true, from time to time been quoted1 and referred to with amplifications. Yet it seems to have failed altogether to create a temperament conducive to filial piety. Cinema films, however, have come to save the situation. In forcible colours they depict the heartlessness towards their parents of children who, from humble origins, have risen to rank and prosperity.
“A nurse or a gardener in his father’s house,”
is the usual introduction which the parents of such a “swell” may expect to receive should they chance to inflict their unwelcome presence on the son in the company of his friends. Such heart-rending scenes, which are a common occurrence in the West, are very rare in the East, more especially in Muslim countries; and the reason is obvious, for those who receive the inspiration of their life from a book like the Quran have no choice in the matter. The Book of God not only makes filial piety a duty next only to our duty to God, but brings the truth home to the minds of its votaries in natural colours and with compelling effects, only partially attained in the West by the pen of the film writer, coming belatedly to the aid of a religion that has failed.
In chapter 17 the Book [The Holy Quran] says:
وَ قَضٰی رَبُّکَ اَلَّا تَعۡبُدُوۡۤا اِلَّاۤ اِیَّاہُ وَ بِالۡوَالِدَیۡنِ اِحۡسَانًا ؕ اِمَّا یَبۡلُغَنَّ عِنۡدَکَ الۡکِبَرَ اَحَدُہُمَاۤ اَوۡ کِلٰہُمَا فَلَا تَقُلۡ لَّہُمَاۤ اُفٍّ وَّ لَا تَنۡہَرۡہُمَا وَ قُلۡ لَّہُمَا قَوۡلًا کَرِیۡمًا ﴿۲۳﴾ وَ اخۡفِضۡ لَہُمَا جَنَاحَ الذُّلِّ مِنَ الرَّحۡمَۃِ وَ قُلۡ رَّبِّ ارۡحَمۡہُمَا کَمَا رَبَّیٰنِیۡ صَغِیۡرًا ﴿ؕ۲۴﴾
“And your Lord has commanded that you shall not serve (any) but Him, and goodness to your parents. If either or both of them reach old age with you, say not to them (so much as) ‘Ugh’ nor chide them, and speak to them a generous word. And make yourself submissively gentle to them with compassion, and say: O my Lord! have compassion on them, as they brought me up (when I was) little.” (The Holy Quran, 17:23, 24)
The screen and the stage, even at the highest stretch of an author’s imagination, cannot give that conception of a dutiful mind to the common theatre-goer, which the reader of the following lines is sure to achieve, if he approaches them in a religious spirit:
کُتِبَ عَلَیۡکُمۡ اِذَا حَضَرَ اَحَدَکُمُ الۡمَوۡتُ اِنۡ تَرَکَ خَیۡرَۨا ۚۖ الۡوَصِیَّۃُ لِلۡوَالِدَیۡنِ وَ الۡاَقۡرَبِیۡنَ بِالۡمَعۡرُوۡفِ ۚ حَقًّا عَلَی الۡمُتَّقِیۡنَ ﴿۱۸۰﴾ؕ
“Bequest is prescribed for you when death approaches one of you, if he leaves behind wealth, for parents and near relatives, according to usage, a duty (incumbent) upon those who guard (against evil).” (The Holy Quran, 2:180)
The parents of a Muslim receive a share in the wealth left by him on his death.
وَّ بِالۡوَالِدَیۡنِ اِحۡسَانًا وَّ بِذِی الۡقُرۡبٰی
“Be good to the parents and to the near of kin” (The Holy Quran, 4:36)
is a repeated theme in the Quran, so much so that the parents have been declared to be the first deserving recipients of a son’s charity.
یَسۡـَٔلُوۡنَکَ مَا ذَا یُنۡفِقُوۡنَ ۬ؕ قُلۡ مَاۤ اَنۡفَقۡتُمۡ مِّنۡ خَیۡرٍ فَلِلۡوَالِدَیۡنِ وَ الۡاَقۡرَبِیۡنَ وَ الۡیَتٰمٰی وَ الۡمَسٰکِیۡنِ وَ ابۡنِالسَّبِیۡلِ ؕ وَ مَا تَفۡعَلُوۡا مِنۡ خَیۡرٍ فَاِنَّ اللّٰہَ بِہٖ عَلِیۡمٌ ﴿۲۱۵﴾
“They ask you as to what they should spend. Say: Whatever wealth you spend, it is for the parents and the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer, and whatever good you do, Allah surely knows it.” (The Holy Quran, 2:215)
We need not emphasize too much the need of a Revelation from God, like that of the Quran, in the presence of other holy scriptures, including the Bible. Very little, however, do we find in all the other sacred books on this subject. The repeated chorus of
“Honour thy father and mother”
in the Bible has failed to achieve the desired results. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him!) was an orphan; his parents died when he was a child. He had no mother to whom he could show his devout fulfilment of these Quranic injunctions. Yet to his nurse, Halima, he behaved as the Quran desired him to do, in all respects as though she had been his own mother. When he was Lord and Conqueror of Arabia, and she was brought before him in chains with other war captives from the tribe to which she belonged, they had not seen each other for scores of years, yet his eyes could not fail to recognize his old nurse. With tears of joy, he goes to her, and, as a most dutiful son, he takes off his own mantle from his shoulders; he spreads it on the floor, and invites her to be seated. Nor could he show his filial spirit in a better way than by liberating all her fellow-prisoners along with her. Could there be a more practical illustration of the Quranic teaching and spirit? If example is better than precept, the proverb never received such testimony in the case of any other prophet in the history of the world. Jesus did remind his followers of the Fifth Commandment, it is true; but Mary, we remark with reluctance, had a different treatment.
Footnotes:
- Leviticus 19:3; Deuteronomy 5:16; Matthew 15:4 and 19:19; Mark 7:10 and 10:19; Luke 18:20; Ephesians 6:2. ↩︎