Honoring our parents is an obligation every child must fulfill. Whether they are still alive or have passed away, we are called to honor them. So how can we honor parents who have already passed away?
No religion teaches that a child may be disrespectful to their parents. This is because parents are the ones who guide us through life in this world with their love. Here are some ways you can honor your parents after they have passed away.
Ways to Honor Your Parents After They Have Passed Away
Ways to honor your parents after their passing can be done through the good deeds we continue to do in remembrance of them. This applies to followers of every faith, whether Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, or others.
For matters related to religion, you may follow what your sacred scriptures teach, as explained when you study them. Every religion has particular practices that can bring blessings to parents who have passed away.
Here are ways to honor your parents when they are no longer in this world.
-
Praying for Your Parents
The one remaining bond between parents and children once they are in different worlds is prayer. Those who have passed away can no longer pray for themselves, because the life of this world, the field of testing, has ended.
Therefore, as an expression of honor, we can pray for good things for our parents. Pray that they may always receive forgiveness from God. Pray that they may be protected and granted the best place in the presence of God.
In your daily worship, do not forget to mention the names of your parents, whether they have passed away or are still living. If you are Muslim, you may regularly recite the Quran on their behalf and visit their graves.
-
Fulfilling Promises and Settling Your Parents' Debts
Debts that parents owed to others during their lives must be settled by their living children, including promises the parents were unable to fulfill. This is a form of honor toward parents, because unpaid debts and unfulfilled promises can add to sins.
Therefore, to lighten a parent's burden of sin, you can fulfill these obligations. If you are unsure whether your parents made any promises or owed debts to others, ask those closest to them or people who were owed money by your parents.
You can also ask whether your parents made any particular vow or pledge that was not yet fulfilled. If you find out, carry out the promise or vow and settle the debt promptly, so that what bound your parents may be released.
-
Emulating the Good Qualities of Your Parents
So that the reward of your parents continues to flow even after they have passed, one way we can honor them is by emulating their good qualities. By emulating them, we can make the upbringing our parents gave us something truly beneficial.
Beyond benefiting our parents, good conduct also benefits ourselves and others. For example, helping others lightens their burdens, and it reminds us that people do not live alone and must support one another.
Likewise, when your parents taught you to always be honest and patient, emulate those qualities so that your parents feel happy. No parent is unhappy when what they taught their child is carried out.
-
Loving Your Family Members
Parents certainly would not be pleased by quarrels or hostility among family members. Therefore, one way to honor your parents after they have passed is to remember their advice and always love the other members of your family.
Especially if you have younger or smaller family members, it is time to take on the responsibility of standing in for your parents. Do not let family relationships grow distant or hostile after your parents are gone.
Keep maintaining ties of kinship with your siblings, whether they live in the same home or not. You can visit their homes when you have free time. If you are busy, make time to visit them.
-
Doing Good Deeds in Your Parents' Name
Those who have passed away can no longer do good deeds as they did while living in this world. However, they can still receive reward when the good deeds done during their lifetime benefit others. In Islam, this is called ongoing charity (amal jariyah).
Examples of ongoing charity include helping to build a mosque, a school, or other works that benefit many people. For this reason, you can do good deeds in your parents' name, especially deeds that will benefit many people.
You can regularly give donations in your parents' name if you have sufficient means. However, if you are unable to give money or donations, you can also do good by helping others in need, not only with material things.
-
Devoting Yourself to Worship
Besides doing good deeds in your parents' name, one way to honor your parents after they have passed is to devote yourself to worshiping God. When you raise a righteous child, and that child grows in devotion, parents receive a reward that keeps flowing.
The same is true of beneficial knowledge. If your parents, during their lives, taught their child religious knowledge and the child grows into someone devoted to God, the parents will continuously receive reward even after they have passed away.
This is a reward from God for the parents' success in fulfilling their duty of raising children who are obedient to their Lord.
-
Fulfilling Your Parents' Dreams
If your parents had a dream that was not realized while they were alive, you can make that dream come true if you are able. Even if it is not your parents who achieve that dream, they may still be happy because their child made it happen.
Especially if your parents' dreams are things that bring goodness, such as going on the Hajj pilgrimage, building an orphanage, and so on. Fulfilling them will therefore also bring reward to your parents. In short, make your parents' dreams come true as long as those dreams are good and bring no harm.
You should feel blessed if your parents have good dreams that bring goodness. That way, when you make them come true, it becomes a good deed for you and for your parents who have passed away.
Honoring deceased parents should never become a burden for us as their children. Whatever good we do in remembrance of our parents can bring happiness and peace to them in the afterlife.
Kamboja always at your side and your family's, providing professional funeral services and the finest funeral protection for emotional support and financial planning.
dev_kamboja
The Kamboja team writes guides on bereavement, funeral arrangements and funeral planning to help families in Indonesia.
