The Quran

Preface

وَالَّذي قالَ لِوالِدَيهِ أُفٍّ لَكُما أَتَعِدانِني أَن أُخرَجَ وَقَد خَلَتِ القُرونُ مِن قَبلي وَهُما يَستَغيثانِ اللَّهَ وَيلَكَ آمِن إِنَّ وَعدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ فَيَقولُ ما هٰذا إِلّا أَساطيرُ الأَوَّلينَ

Yusuf Ali

But (there is one)¹ who says to his parents, “Fie on you! Do ye hold out the promise to me that I shall be raised up, even though generations have passed before me (without rising again)?” And they two seek God’s aid, (and rebuke the son): “Woe to thee! Have faith! for the promise of God is true.” But he says, “This is nothing but tales of the ancients!”

A godly man often has an ungodly son, who flouts all that the father held sacred, and looks upon his father himself as old-fashioned and unworthy of respect or regard. The contrast in an individual family may be matched by the contrast in the passing and the rising generations of mankind. All this happens as a passing phase in the normal evolution of mankind, and there is nothing in this to be despondent about. What we have to do is for the mature generations to bring up their successors in godly ways, and for the younger generations to realise that age and experience count for something, especially in the understanding of spiritual matters and other matters of the highest moment to man.