What are the rights of parents over their children?
Short answer
Among the greatest rights of parents are dutifulness, kindness, gracious speech, and avoiding disobedience, raising the voice and mistreatment, together with obeying them in what is right.
Evidence and explanation
The Shaykh cited the verses on kindness to parents and the warning against disobedience, and mentioned that it is among the greatest of the major sins.
Scholar referenced
This editorial summary is based on the original source linked below and is not presented as a verbatim quotation from the scholar.
From the text of the answer (Arabic, with an English translation)
Original answer — Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Baz
حق الوالدين على أبنائهم — فتوى ١٦٩٦٨- Question
«السائل: محمد (ع. خ) يقول: قريب لي عاق لوالديه كثيرًا، فما هو حق الوالدين على الأبناء؟ وهل من كلمة يا سماحة الشيخ لمن لهم هذه الصفة في والديهم أو أحدهما؟»
English translation (unreviewed): The questioner Muhammad (A. Kh.) says: A relative of mine is very disobedient to his parents. What is the right of parents over their children? And is there a word, your eminence, for those with this characteristic towards their parents or one of them?
- From the text of the answer
«الواجب على الولد بر والديه، والحذر من العقوق، يقول النبي ﷺ: ألا أنبئكم بأكبر الكبائر؟ قلنا: بلى يا رسول الله! قال: الإشراك بالله وعقوق الوالدين فجعل عقوق الوالدين من أكبر الكبائر، ويقول ﷺ: من الكبائر شتم الرجل والديه! قيل: يا رسول الله! وهل يسب الرجل والديه؟!»
English translation (unreviewed): The child must be dutiful to his parents and beware of disobedience. The Prophet ﷺ says: “Shall I not inform you of the greatest of the major sins?” We said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah! He said: “Associating others with Allah and disobedience to parents.” So he made disobedience to parents one of the greatest major sins. And he ﷺ says: “Among the major sins is for a man to curse his parents!” It was said: O Messenger of Allah! Does a man curse his parents?!
The Arabic excerpts matched the original page word for word by an automated check and have not had human scholarly review. The English translations are unreviewed translations made for this site; they are not an approved Shari‘ah translation. Rely on the Arabic original.
Source
The right of parents over their children
Title of the original page (Arabic): حق الوالدين على أبنائهم
Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Baz, may Allah have mercy on him