By Rana Farooq Ashraf
Dedication to the mothers of those brave sons of the pure land, who sacrificed the pieces of their hearts for the soil of the homeland without a single wrinkle appearing on their foreheads. This piece is a humble and reverent tribute to the great mothers of the martyrs of the Pakistan Army, whose maternal love prioritized the survival of Pakistan over their own domestic bliss and the lives of their children.
Human history bears witness that whenever a civilization declines, the first blow is dealt to the family system and moral values. Today’s society, blinded by the race for material progress, has reached a point where relationships are sacrificed for convenience and humanity is fading away. In this severe civilization crisis and moral darkness, if there is one light that can still guarantee societal reform, it is the entity of the “Mother” and the upbringing she provides. Mother is not just the name of a relationship; it is an entire cultural, moral, and spiritual system. If we are to reform a shattered, chaotic, and morally paralyzed society, we must return to the lap of the mother, which holds the status of the first and most effective school of the universe.
Today, the biggest challenges facing our society are intolerance, corruption, selfishness, and social chaos. The younger generation is losing its true identity, adrift in ideological confusion and material glitter. The fundamental reason for this decline is that we taught our new generation books and secured them degrees, but failed to give them the moral upbringing that was once the exclusive hallmark of mothers. A mother is the architect of a child’s soul. When she sings a lullaby, those are not just words; they are seeds of truth, honesty, and integrity being sown into the child’s subconscious. The reform of society is impossible until mothers reactivate their laps as centers of learning. A pious mother alone can lay the foundation of a righteous society, because the truth learned from a mother’s lap never allows a person to bow down before falsehood at any juncture of life. A child who grows up witnessing the gentleness of a mother’s heart can never become a tyrant or oppressor. A mother sleeps hungry herself to feed her child; when a child learns this selflessness, selfishness is automatically eradicated from society.
When we wish to see the pinnacle of social reform, patriotism, and self-sacrifice, our eyes naturally rest upon the brave soldiers of the Pakistan Army who write history with their blood on the borders. Yet, behind the courage, bravery, and martyrdom of these soldiers stands another silent warrior—and that is the “Mother of a Martyr”. The mothers of the martyrs of the Pakistan Army are the pride of this soil, whose debt this entire nation can never fully repay. An ordinary mother trembles when her child receives even a minor scratch, but a warrior’s mother prepares her young twenty-two or twenty-three-year-old son with her own hands, kisses his forehead, and bids him farewell to protect the borders of the homeland. She knows that her son might never return, but she willingly sacrifices the most precious treasure of her maternal love for the sanctity of the motherland.
When the funeral of a martyr reaches home, the world witnesses an extraordinary sight: an Eastern mother, whose heart is tearing apart with grief, holds her head high with pride instead of wailing and mourning. She resolutely declares that if one of her sons has been sacrificed for the country, her remaining sons are also ready to be laid down for this soil. This is a sentence that no science, no academy, and no philosophy in the world can teach anyone. It is only a mother’s immense courage that generates such fortitude. This is the very spirit that makes our army one of the most distinguished and fearless forces in the world, because standing behind them are the unwavering prayers and courage of such mothers.
In today’s era, education has been reduced merely to a means of earning a livelihood. We have turned our children into machines but forgot to shape them into human beings. The great poet Akbar Allahabadi rightly implied that modern education changed the world, but as long as the mother’s lap remained anchored to its traditional values, civilization survived. Today, when mothers are also swept into the vortex of a westernized lifestyle and a ruthless material race, the fabric of society begins to unravel. If we want to protect our society from crime, substance abuse, moral degradation, and intellectual chaos, we must revive the role of the mother in instilling forgiveness, gentleness, the distinction between permissible and impermissible, contentment, and the spirit of ultimate sacrifice for the nation right from childhood.
A mother’s love is not dependent on geography, religion, or race. It is a divine emotion that exists equally in every living being across the universe. However, in Eastern society, and especially in the light of Islamic teachings, the status given to a mother is unparalleled. The presence of paradise beneath a mother’s feet is not merely a metaphor; it is absolute proof that if you want peace, tranquility, and salvation in society, you must respect the status of the mother and honor the values she imparts. The greatest tragedy of today’s youth is that they are so engrossed in the virtual relationships of social media that they fail to hear the silence of the entity sitting in their own home, who spends her days and nights praying for their single smile. We read volumes written by global reformers but reject the profound, time-tested advice of this dervish-like entity under our own roof. Remember, until we accord a premier place to a mother’s counsel and her status in our hearts, our society will remain entirely deprived of the fragrance of peace.
Mother is that sacred light of the civilization of Adam which can never be dimmed. All the empires, philosophies, and advanced technologies of the world combined cannot produce a substitute for a mother’s protective embrace. Today, it is imperative that we restore to our mothers the supreme respect and authority they deserve. And in particular, we must bow our heads in deep reverence before the غیور (proud and honorable) mothers of the martyrs of the Pakistan Army, who wrapped the pieces of their hearts in shrouds and still raised the slogan of “Pakistan Zindabad”. The courage of these mothers is, in reality, the true, indestructible strength of Pakistan.
May Almighty Allah keep the shadow of our mothers safe over us, grant beautiful patience and the highest blessings of both worlds to the mothers of the martyrs of Pakistan, and endow our new generation with the guidance to attain that light from the mother’s lap which can once again transform this darkening society into a cradle of peace, honor, and love. (Ameen)
