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IslamQA: Her mother is abusive toward her little sisters

assalamu aleikum, since my mother gave birth to her first son she won’t stop demonizing my little sisters, she always shouts at them for the most meaningless things and constantly takes things away from them if my brother wants them. i always defend my sisters, and always remind her her attitude is unworthy of a muslim, what else can i do? because she doesnt seem to realize her behavior will create long term psychological problems in my little sisters

and i also fear that i’m disrespecting her in the eyes of Allah, because the more they grow the more they rely on me as a maternal figure instead of her.

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

I am sorry to read about your situation. It is a good thing to try to reduce an abusive person’s bad influence even if they are your parent. You have a duty to your parents and your siblings, and if the abuse is from the parents to your siblings, your duty to your siblings means that it is a good thing if you work reduce their suffering.

For more on dealing with parental abuse please see the articles on this page: Abusive parents in Islam

For more on dealing with such unsolvable situations, please see this essay: The Road to Maturity: On Dealing with Life’s Unsolvable Problems

Best wishes.

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