Qur'an Verse of the Day
Friday 27th March 2026 Today
Chapter 17, Verse 24
وَقَضٰی رَبُّکَ اَلَّا تَعۡبُدُوۡۤا اِلَّاۤ اِیَّاہُ وَبِالۡوَالِدَیۡنِ اِحۡسَانًا ؕ اِمَّا یَبۡلُغَنَّ عِنۡدَکَ الۡکِبَرَ اَحَدُہُمَاۤ اَوۡ کِلٰہُمَا فَلَا تَقُلۡ لَّہُمَاۤ اُفٍّ وَّلَا تَنۡہَرۡہُمَا وَقُلۡ لَّہُمَا قَوۡلًا کَرِیۡمًا ﴿۲۴﴾
English Translation
Thy Lord has commanded, “Worship none but Him, and show kindness to parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age with thee, never say unto them any word expressive of disgust nor reproach them, but address them with excellent speech.
[c]Thy Lord has commanded, that ye worship none but Him, [d]and that ye show kindness to parents.[1607] If one or both of them attain old age with thee, never say to them as much as ugh[1608] nor reproach them, but always address them with kindly speech.
2:84; 4:37; 12:41; 41:15.
6:152; 29:9; 31:15; 46:16.
With this verse begin those principles and rules of conduct by observing which a people can preserve the integrity of their organization and render it safe against disintegration and decline. Pride of place is given to belief in the Oneness of God and condemnation of Shirk (setting up equals with Allah), because belief in Divine Unity is a seed out of which grow all virtues, and lack of which lies at the root of all sins. It constitutes the basis and the foundation for both the law of nature and the law of the Shari‘ah. That the whole law of the Shari‘ah is based on belief in the Unity of God is too patent a reality to need any explanation; but even the law of nature and all scientific progress are also based on it. For, if it be supposed that there are more gods than one, it necessarily follows that there are more than one law of nature. But in the absence of one fixed and uniform natural law all progress of science will come to an end, because all the discoveries and inventions made by science are due to the belief that an ordered, fixed and unchangeable system pervades the whole universe. The second important commandment laid down in the verse concerns man’s moral conduct. His obligations towards his parents form the most important part of it, because it is his parents who first of all direct a man’s attention to God and it is in the parental mirror that Divine attributes are reflected and on a minor human scale are given practical expression. But whereas the commandment in relation to God is negative, in the case of parents it is positive. Man is told that since it is not possible for him to make a return of God’s favours, he should at least refrain from Shirk, but as in the case of parents he is in a position to return their love and kindness, though only very inadequately, he is given a positive commandment to be kind and generous to them.
In Arabic the word Uff is used to express one’s disgust by words of mouth and Nahr is used to express it by actual deed. By combining these two words the verse means that one should never speak harshly to one’s parents, much less act unkindly towards them.