Calling the Prophet ﷺ “Dear Father” and Hazrat ‘A’isha ﵂ “Dear Mother”

Question

A certain khatib, in his speeches and in his conversation, whenever he mentions the Prophet ﷺ and Hazrat ‘A’isha ﵂, out of overwhelming love calls the Prophet ﷺ “Dear Father Muhammad ﷺ” and Hazrat ‘A’isha ﵂ “Mother”, [reasoning that] they are the spiritual father and mother of the entire Muslim umma, and therefore we may also explicitly refer to them by the words “mother” and “father”. The question is: will doing so count as bid‘a or not? And what is the ruling if common people insist on this practice?

Answer

One should not say merely “Dear Father” and “Dear Mother”. Calling Hazrat ‘A’isha ﵂ “Umm al-Mu’minin” (Mother of the Believers) is transmitted from the Salaf: [ar]وَأَزْوَٰجُهُۥٓ أُمَّهَـٰتُهُمْ[/ar] “…and his wives are their mothers” (Surah al-Ahzab, 33:6).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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