This figure increases to 52 percent in the Eastern Province. In Jeddah, the percentage of lawsuits filed by parents against their children on disobedience charges reaches 20 percent. According to the report, courts around the Kingdom consider an average of 120 such cases each month.

Disobeying and maltreating parents is a serious and disturbing issue. Disobedience can take various forms, including threats, insults and physical abuse. It sometimes goes as far as murder.

What is happening to our society? Is it passing through a stage of confusion that has caused it to lose balance? We were brought up as a coherent society that considers obeying parents a sacred obligation.

We are a society based on the true pillars of Islam, which links worship of God to being good and obedient to one’s parents. Many verses in the Holy Qur’an makes it compulsory for everyone to be loving and caring to their parents and to treat them well, even if they are not Muslims.

What has happened to Saudi society that has led to an increase in such disobedience cases? Is it globalization, which has changed our manners, or is it because of our misinterpretation of the essence and true meaning of obeying our parents?

Do our young men and women see globalization as a means for irresponsible freedom and breaking down the walls of respect that surround their parents?

No matter, the mistake does not lie on the shoulders of the youth alone. Parents are also to blame for this phenomenon. They have ignored their responsibility for ensuring a correct upbringing for their children. In the process, the youth have lost direction and have no suitable role models. They have become victims of satellite channels.

This will have serious implications. The family is the base of society. If it falls apart, the entire society will disintegrate.

It is therefore imperative for sociologists and thinkers to study the issue with a view to finding a solution before our society loses equilibrium.

Even if we are preoccupied with political and economic concerns, respect and obedience of parents should be among our top priorities. Act now, or we will be crying over spilled milk.