Some of these women have barely anything while their sons live luxuriously with their wives.
“My son hit me and threw me out of his home after his wife complained to him about me. He fractured my hand,” said Mayada, who lives alone and has nobody to take care of her in her old age. “My son’s wife knows things that I don’t like and when I go to visit them she deliberately does those things to show me that she is the boss and I have no rights,” she added.
Another mother who asked for her name not to be mentioned said she lives in fear because of her son who has argued with her many times because of his wife. She feels he could go as far as to beat her.
Hind’s son also threw her out of his home because his wife didn’t want her. “My daughter-in-law doesn’t want my son to spend any money on me. She sees me as a burden and keeps complaining to my son. When he used to come home he would not even smile at me. If I ask him anything, he will shout and go to his room and slam the door,” she said.
Maryam says her brother regularly fought with their mother because of his wife and even had an argument with their father when he was on his deathbed.
“Our father was terminally ill and the doctors had said that he would live for about four months. My brother fought with him and left. He knew our father had little time to live and he didn’t return until he died,” she said.
Sheikh Hasen Al-Kilaty, an Islamic scholar, said once a man came to him to complain about his son. “This man was in a poor state. He said his son doesn’t support him or even ask about him,” he said, adding that he was then taken aback when he learned the man’s son was a high-ranking official.
“Then there was this old woman who died in an old people’s home. When they called the woman’s son and asked him to take his mother’s body for burial, he told them that he couldn’t because he had a flight to catch and that they should bury her,” said Al-Kilaty.
The sheikh then narrated a famous Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who was asked, “Who is most deserving of my good companionship?” The Prophet (pbuh) replied, “Your mother.” The man then asked, “Who is next?” The Prophet (pbuh) replied, “Your mother.” The man further inquired, “Who is next?” The Prophet (pbuh) once again said, “Your mother.” The man asked for the fourth time, “Who is next?” The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Your father.”
