Rights of servants

Employer forgetting to pay the employee

Q: I am working as a madressa aapa. The person who employed me is old and sometimes forgets to pay me for up to 3 months. I don't mind, and when he does sometimes he forgets a month etc. Someone told me that he will be held accountable on the Day of Judgement which I don't want as he is old and forgetful and also like a father figure to me. Do I just make duaa and ask Allah not to hold him accountable.

Listening to one's father

Q: A person has a cat. He and his family love the cat. But the person’s father does not like him to keep the cat and he says to the person that he should not keep the cat. But the person and his family are so attached to the cat. They do not want to give the cat to anyone. The thought of staying without the cat makes them cry. So can the person keep the cat? If the person does not listen to his father’s advice because listening to his father’s this advice will emotionally hurt his family a lot, then is he sinning?

Father demanding his married daughter to bath and massage him

Q: My wife's father demands from her to massage him and bath him while he is just wearing bermuda type shorts. He ignores her condition or tiredness. I want to know if it is allowed for him to demand this service from her? Am I justified forbidding her to do so? He lives in another city and keeps on insisting for her to come there, totally ignorant of the fact that she has a job and kids to look after. Now he is demanding to move in with her just for the reason that she may serve him like that. He has a wife who is my wife's step mother. I do not like her massaging or bathing him in his semi nude condition, but my wife said that its a culture of their country.

Respecting one's mother

Q: How does one deal with ones mother who has chosen to marry for the 4th time?

Being married, my husband and myself are constantly fighting because he is disgraced that my mother has taken another husband (the man is a sheikh). My husband worries that because my mother has not received blessing from her children or her mother, therefore she is doomed to fail in her marriage. Is it correct to feel anger towards ones mother and is it correct of my husband to show any disrespect to her if he does not agree with her choice? I feel as if I have to choose between my husband and my mother?

Keeping a care taker to look after one's old mother

Q: I have a care taker working for me in my home helping me to look after my old mother. Recently she told me that legally she is unable to work in this country. I was unaware of this and I am worried for my mother as she needs the care. Should I end the care takers employment or can I give her a gift rather than wages and keep her on? My two brothers are paying me for the care taker and they said that they are responsible for her payment. If I can give her a gift then how do I calculate the amount I pay her?