Not speaking gently to one’s mother in her last days because of irritability from caring for her

Question

Question: My mother was ill, and in her last days, while nursing her, I became irritable. I deeply regret that in my mother’s last days I could not speak to her gently. Please tell me how my mother would have taken this.

Answer

She would have taken it to mean that, in such a state of old age and weakness, you too had grown weary of serving her. Seek forgiveness (istighfar) for her as much as possible, and keep doing isal al-thawab (dedicating the reward of good deeds) for her in accordance with the Shariʿa.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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