Life-of-Muhammad

234Life of Muhammad saservice of one's parents particularly when they reach oldage attracts the grace and favour of God and, therefore,a person to whom is afforded the opportunity of servinghis aged parents and who avails himself of theopportunity to the full is bound to become confirmed inrighteous ways and a recipient of the grace of God.A man once complained to the Holy Prophet sa thatthe more benevolence he exercised towards his relationsthe more hostile they became towards him; and that themore he treated them with kindness the more theypersecuted him; and the more he demonstrated affectiontowards them the more they frowned upon him. TheProphet sa said: "If what you say is true you are veryfortunate, for you will ever be the recipient of God'ssuccour" (Muslim, Kitabul Birr Was Sila). On oneoccasion when the Holy Prophet sa was exhorting peopleto give alms and charity one of his Companions, AbuTalha Ansari ra , came to him and offered to dedicate anorchard for charitable purposes. The Prophet sa was verypleased and exclaimed, "What an excellent charity! Whatan excellent charity! What an excellent charity!" andadded: "Having dedicated this orchard to the service ofthe poor, I want you now to divide it among your poorrelatives" (Bukhari, Kitabut Tafsir). A man came to himon one occasion and said: "O Messenger of Allah sa ! I amprepared to make a covenant of Hijrat and I amprepared to make a covenant to take part in the holywar, for I am anxious to win the pleasure of God." TheHoly Prophet sa inquired whether either of his parentswas alive and the man told him that both were alive. Hethen asked: "Are you indeed anxious to win the pleasureof God?" and on the man replying in the affirmative theProphet sa said: "Then go back to your parents and servethem and serve them well." He pointed out that one'snon-Muslim relations were equally entitled to be treatedkindly and with consideration along with one's Muslimrelations. One of Abu Bakr's ra wives, who was a non-Muslim, visited her daughter Asma’ ra and the latterinquired of the Holy Prophet sa whether she might serve