The government granted my divorced mother a pension and a bonus because of the martyrdom of my brother, though she did not raise him and left him since he was young. Is it permissible for her to take the bonus and the pension?

     The answer: What the government has given to the mother of the questioner is a legal right for her, as long as the country has granted this money to the mother of the recruiter who was martyred during the performance of the military service, to please her, and as a compensation for breaking her heart by her son’s death. This gift does not concern the questioner or anyone else as the questioner is not a guardian of his mother or of the country.

     In this concern, it is better for the questioner to meet his mother’s negligence towards him with kindness, and he should know that dutifulness to parents in general and the mother in particular is not an equivalent to her upbringing and service, but rather is a command directed by Allah Almighty as a matter of obligation, and He coupled it with His monotheism.