Important Factors Affecting Life Span (Part 5)
One of the factors that affect man’s life span is relations with parents. The nature of this relationship can adversely or favorably affect man’s life span.
Relations with Parents
Parents play a key role in increasing the length of one’s life. Academic findings indicate that children who live with their children enjoy a relatively higher level of emotional wellbeing compared with peers whose parents are often absent throughout the day.
In other words, children who are away from their parents experience higher levels of emotional distress.
If someone honors his parents, as recommended numerous times in the Holy Quran and in the Islamic traditions, his life span will be prolonged. Therefore, this is another important factor for increasing your life span. The Holy Quran says: “And lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy and say, "My Lord, have mercy upon them as they brought me up [when I was] small." (Al-Asra: 24).
If you honor your father and mother and if you make them happy and pleased with you, you will live longer, as the Prophet (PBHU) says: “God the Almighty told Moses (S) on the tablets that: “… Express thy gratitude to Me, and Honor thy father and thy mother so that I protect you from destruction and delay thy death, and bestow upon thee a clean life and take you to the better side of this life.” (History of Damascus, Vol. 61, P. 128)
According to the teachings of the holy Quran, when parents grow old, their need to caring becomes more and more. Hence, healthy relations with parents affects the wellbeing of parents and their children both. It affects the parents because such relations fulfil their need to nourishing, while looking after the parents increases self-satisfaction among children, who fill that they are repaying their debts.
Healthy parents-child relationship positively affects the behavior of the children. According to scientific findings, adolescents who experience supportive and affectionate relationships with their fathers are less likely to engage in delinquent behavior than peers who do not experience such a relationship. This naturally prevents the children from engaging in wrongdoing and brings about wellbeing which causes longer life.
Translated by: Sadroddin Musawi
Other links:
The Exalted position of Parents in Islam (Part 2)
As Long as the Opportunity Persists
Duty of Children Towards their Parents In Islam
