Will I Be Rewarded for Financially Supporting My Parents?
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
I have been working for 11 years and am financially self-sufficient. I pray five times a day and try to follow my religious duties. Allah has blessed me with a good amount of wealth. Apart from Zakat and Sadaqa, I financially helped my parents every month since I started working and paying some of their bills.
But when I do that, I am not thinking of Allah or doing it for the sake of Allah. Responsibility and care for my parents is the first thing that comes to mind, not necessarily the thought of Allah when I help my parents.
Is helping with that mindset will be rewarded anyways? Or is it not counted?
If there is anything I need to improve, can you please guide me? Some reference to the Quran or Hadith would help.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
Taking care of your parents out of a sense of obligation is a sign of a well-intentioned heart. This is also indicative of the reverence and respect that Allah Most High and His Messenger (may Allah bless him and give him peace) have encouraged the Muslims to have towards their parents.
The Higher Levels of Intentions
Despite the above, it is essential when doing an action to bring to heart the ultimate goal/intention as well as the immediate ones and to make our intentions as sincere as possible for the sake of Allah Most High. [Haddad, Book of Assistance]
To the extent that the intention is made with the above criteria, one will be rewarded, which leads to the final important detail regarding intentions: making multiple intentions. [Ibid.]
Multiple Intentions
Even though one’s ultimate intention should be to attain the pleasure of Allah Most High, one may bring to mind various aspects of one deeds that are also pleasing to Allah Most High and therefore carry on doing that act in hopes of achieving those things as well. [Ibid.]
For each of these peripheral intentions, in addition to the ultimate intention, one will get an additional reward. Through creativity, knowledge, and experience, many righteous made 100’s and even up to 1,000 + intentions in one deed.
Summary
Taking responsibility for the financial well-being of your parents is a righteous act. By seeing that act as a means of attaining Allah’s pleasure, one will be increased many-fold in the reward and effect of the deed. Furthermore, one can make multiple intentions such as being an example for others, acting in a manner that will make one’s parents pleased with them, teaching one’s children respect and care for elders, etc.
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
