O mother, go bring that Heaven under your feet!

O mother, go bring that Heaven under your feet!

                                           

Growing up I believed and I still, firmly hold on to the famous saying that the Heaven lies under the feet of one's mother. Obedience to the parents, and especially to the mother, was the security check that saved me from walking in the direction of pathway leading to sin, which further confirmed my belief in the famous saying that Heaven lies under a mother's feet. Although I had no doubt that I will not be able to enter Heaven without obeying my parents, something always gnawed at me about this saying. It always felt as if there was much more meaning and depth to it than I was getting out of it.

My thoughts and decisions revolved around this saying and that haunted feeling of further explanation persisted till I became a mother myself and fully understood the deeper meaning.

Yes, it looks like it is directed at the children, and no doubt, that every child should live by it. But, it is much more than that. This saying is also directed at the mother herself. I used to wonder how can Heaven lie under a mother hooked onto drugs? How can one look up to a pedophile mother? A murderer??? But not anymore. I've found the answer.

The Heaven does not lie under the feet of every mother. A mother has to earn that honor. Allah says that a mother is honorable because she carries the child in the belly for nine months, and to me, even that has deeper meaning and knowledge. Today, the science has proven the effects of a mother's behavior during pregnancy on the child. What she eats, drinks, do, even listen to, has a direct effect on the child she carries inside. It is a huge burden to carry! It is not just the weight of the child or nourishing that fetus inside, that we are talking about! It's developing a character even before birth! It is thinking beyond her own self and furnishing a future! The job is so tremendous and so enormous that she climbs a place above Heavens.

I think of the beautiful saying and I tremble. I tremble with fear because it is a grave responsibility which I undertook the minute I decided to bring a human being in this world. I know that I will be questioned about this duty. As a mother, I will not be permitted into the Heaven until I pass the test of motherhood. Just bringing a child into the world is not going to bring that Heaven under my feet. Raising and upbringing that child with the values, along with showing and leading them through my own actions as example, is going to put that Heaven under my feet...under every mother's feet.

So,

O mom,

Wake up!

And go bring that Heaven under your feet!