The heavy burden of the world is grief. It wears out the heart, exhausts the soul; the weary soul even gives…

The heavy burden of the world is grief. It wears out the heart, exhausts the soul; the weary soul even gives up on itself and has no wish to stand upright, and that is why sorrowful people grow feeble and take to their beds. The best friend is the friend who can swallow grief for your sake. In truth, it is the person who helps carry your grief who is called a friend.

There are many causes of grief for a person. One of the heaviest is the tears and unhappiness of one's child. Parents are helpless before this grief. Serving your parents does not consist in making their beds in the evening and preparing warm water for their ablution in the morning, or treating them to tasty dishes; rather, your greatest kindness to your parents is not letting them know about the sorrows that befall you. Foolish and narrow-minded people lay their problems before their parents.

Better still is that you live happily and joyfully. That you do not do things that lead to problems. Indeed, a person falls into grief because of his own mistakes. Stones of anguish are placed on his shoulders because of his sins and because he gave free rein to his ego. If a person refrains from sins, reins in his ego and lives submitting it to the Truth, he will not be unhappy; otherwise he will be unhappy, and then his parents suffer. Even if his parents have passed away, their souls cry out.

Let us ask our parents' forgiveness for the pain we have caused them up to now. Let us now live happily and make them forget those sorrows. Let their souls not grow weary.

For those who make their parents weep with their own griefs, there is Allah.

Akrom MALIK