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What is birr al-walidayn?

ما بر الوالدين؟

Birr is obedience to one's parents and kindness toward them. The Quran links it with the oneness of God, and in hadith it is counted among the greatest deeds after the prayer.

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History-writing and social thought

Overview

Birr is obedience to one's parents and kindness to them. The Qur'an pairs it with the oneness of God, and in hadith it is among the greatest deeds after prayer. 1

People and things also explored

Disputing the count of raids and sariyas· Orientalism· Stopping the genealogy at Ma'add· Ibn Khaldun completes the Muqaddima· Abd al-Jabbar al-Jumurd· Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti· Abd al-Rahman Badawi· Abu al-Arab al-Tamimi, Muhammad ibn Ahmad

Sources

  1. Wikidata
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islam.museum contributors. “What is birr al-walidayn?”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/questions/what-is-birr/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Related

Disputing the count of raids and sariyas

The maghazi arithmetic disputes: Ibn Ishaq's twenty-six raids versus the twenty-seven that split Wadi'l-Qura from Khaybar; nine pitched battles common to both lists with al-Waqidi adding Wadi'l-Qura and al-Ghaba for eleven; and the sariya counts ranging from thirty-five to al-Waqidi's forty-eight (in al-Tabari's chain) to sixty-six.