 I want to be obedient to my parents, but bad friends from my past had an influence on me and now I feel like there is a barrier between us. This is a really important question and just the question itself shows that the person asking this question genuinely has made the first step to a change. Because the very first step in a tauba turning to Allah and repenting is to recognise that you made a mistake. Is to have itiraf with them to accept and to confess that you committed a sin and you made a mistake. So this person not only have they realised they've made a mistake but on top of that they've even identified where the mistake came from which is a second amazing thing. They've identified that this mistake came from bad company and bad friends. And there's no doubt that a person's friends have a huge impact upon them. The Messenger of Allah SAW said, A person is upon the religion of their close friends so that everybody look at who they take as a close friend. And there are evidences throughout the Quran and Sunnah of how friends and people around you influence you to do things. So ultimately you are who your friends are and having good friends is a major support and help to do good and having bad friends is a major cause of doing evil. So this person who asked the question has Alhamdulillah and may Allah SWT reward them, may Allah SWT make it easy for them to correct their situation. They have recognised that they made a mistake and they've recognised the cause of that mistake. But they're still feeling the consequences of that situation. So the first thing that we're going to advise is that the first thing that the person needs to do is to repent. And repentance is obviously made up of stages and parts. It's not just a concept like that, it has elements that make it up. So we said that accepting the sin, recognising the sin is part of it. Part of it is feeling regret. And it already seems like the way that they worded the question, it feels like that they're feeling that regret. They feel that regret and that sadness and that's the first step. But really, you know, repentance, you really should feel that regret within you. And it should almost, you know, it should almost be painful to a person to have that kind of, to feel that kind of regret and that kind of sadness over what they had done. From the important things that a person needs to do that make up repentance is that a person needs to stop doing the sin. So they need to cease that sin. And that means that a person has to try to build that relationship back up with their parents and to break down that barrier. And I'm going to talk in a moment about how to do that and just conclude the idea or the concept of repentance. No doubt part of repentance is the dedication and the commitment not to do it in the future. So a person should have that asm, that dedication that they say that I am not going to fall into this in the future. Inshallah, I'm going to make every effort. So that means choosing the right type of friends and it means making sure that that barrier is never built up again. And then finally, one of the major things about repentance when repentance involves the rights of other people is making up for the harm that that person did. So now there is a barrier between this person and their parents. So how do they do this? What I would suggest is to go about correcting the situation step by step. Allah SWT told us in the Quran, Allah told us, and if they come to you the people who believe in our ayat, then say, Your Lord has written for himself mercy that whoever among you does evil out of ignorance and all of us do evil out of ignorance because it's ignorance of Allah's rights. It's ignorance of the greatness of Allah SWT and what Allah is deserving of that leads us to commit or that causes us to commit a sin at the first place. So whoever commits an action of evil out of ignorance then makes taba after that. Repentance and corrects themselves. So here it's not just the idea of saying astaghfirullah or I feel really sad but there has to be steps made for islah. Then Allah is the most forgiving and the most merciful. So the most important thing now if the person has that regret that determination not to do it again is al-islah to make things right, to make things good. So a person feels like how do I start making things good? And that is the case of many, many sins and many problems people go through that they feel like they can't find a way to make it right. How do I even start? I've done so much. How do I go about making it right? So I would say that a person should begin with small steps. So for example, instead of saying they're looking at the final destination, they're looking at what they want to be like with their parents, they're looking at where they would like to be with their parents in the future in terms of everything's amazing and this fantastic relationship and they do everything that their parents want and that's their goal but they can't see how do I do that today. So the first thing is just to start. And when I say that, for example, one of the greatest acts of bir that you can do to your parents is to anticipate what they want before they ask. And the way the question was posed and obviously when we caught these questions for the video, we do shorten them and summarize them and make them more generalized for people just so that the benefit can encompass everybody and so that we don't include personal details and things like that. But the way the question itself was posed, I was talking about how do I build that relationship back up to laugh with my parents and to enjoy their company and things like that. But actually there are greater acts of bir than that. There are things that are more important that might be easier for you. For example, if a person says the difficulty I have is that I feel like this, the relationship is not, it's not so friendly or it's not so sort of enjoyable. But that might not be the greatest act of bir that you can do for your parents. That might be something that they want. They want you to be free with them and relaxed with them. That might be something they want. But ultimately that might not be the biggest thing on the list, if that makes sense. Rather, what might be is they have certain needs. They have certain things they want and for a person to sort of anticipate those as we said in the course and to be ahead of what their parents want and to look and say, well, you know, I think what my father would really, really like me to do is such and such. I think what my mother would really appreciate is just such and such. And again, even if we're talking about the sort of relationship or the sort of not just a bit, but the way that the son and the parents are with each other and the way they talk to each other, just a few kind words, just that extra level of respect, that extra level of obedience and kindness. That can go a long, long way, even if it is just a few simple words. It doesn't necessarily have to be that a person is sort of trying to go from zero to a hundred in a day, for example, or in a week. But you start on the road and you look at what you can do immediately that will immediately make them feel better. What's the biggest thing you could do for them that would make them feel better? What's the biggest thing you could do in anticipation of what they would wish for me? What's the biggest act of better that you can do? And then as that goes on and as you show that bit and that kindness, inshallah, what will happen is the relationship will soften and you will have that kind of sort of friendly relationship that you and your parents want to have with each other. You could have that, but that might be the result of your bit rather than the action that you're aiming for right now rather than you sort of saying that what I'm aiming for at this moment in time. Is that maybe what you need to aim is more to do with obedience. You know, when they ask you for something doing it right away, more to do with the kind and gentle speech and avoiding any kind of rough speech or any kind of like, don't say to them, not even a small word or even a sound of sort of disobedience or rebellion and that kind of thing. When you bring that sort of behavior, what you might find is that that will actually bring the result that you want and break down those barriers. And it's not the case that, you know, it's just about having fun with them, so to speak, but focus on the obligations and how you behave towards them. And then inshallah, ta'ala, that sort of kind and gentle relationship and that love and affection will naturally come back. And I think that there's something that we see from every parent is that parents have a mercy to children that subhanAllah is among the greatest mercies that people show to one another. And there's no doubt the mercy of Allah is infinitely greater than that. But the mercy that people show to one another, you perhaps cannot find. A mercy that people show to one another, like the mercy that parents show to their children and their willingness to forgive and overlook. But they need to see from you that bir that is the obligation that you have. And of course, in the course, we spoke about that in some detail. And Allah, SAW, knows best. Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. How can you do a two second action right now that will give you a share of the reward of everything we're doing on this YouTube channel? Simple. Like this video and click subscribe. Why? It will allow YouTube to recommend our videos to other users. And imagine the huge amount of reward that could be waiting for you on the day of judgment if you did that with a sincere intention of spreading the Deen of Allah. You'll be rewarded for every single person who benefits from one of our videos as a result of your like or subscribe. 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