Coping with Pain from Parents
Assalamu alaikum to anyone who takes the time to read this. I'm new to sharing my thoughts like this, so please be patient with me. Any advice would mean a lot as I try to figure things out. I truly love my parents, but since I was around 12 and started understanding things, I've thought about distancing myself once I can support myself financially. To give you some background, for as long as I can recall, my mother has been very harsh with me. It's not just harsh words-she's said things like "I wish I hadn't given birth to you"-but it's also been physical. I remember when I was 4, I picked up her phone and it was her boss, and she gave me a black eye. Another time, when I was 6, I had a small fight with my little sister, who was 2, over a toy and she started crying. My mother threw me to the floor so hard that my arm fractured from the wrist to the elbow. Through all this, my father was often away with friends or at work, or just didn't step in. In recent years, I hardly hear from him because he moved to another continent for work and hasn't been a steady part of my life since I was 11. Despite the mental, emotional, and physical hurt, my parents aren't entirely bad people. They don't smoke or drink, they pray their five daily prayers at the mosque when they can, and they read Qur'an every day or at least have it playing in the house. They made sure we never went hungry, we had good clothes, and the best education they could provide for me and my siblings. But the abuse hasn't stopped, even now that I'm an adult. Due to some circumstances, I lived apart from my mother for a year, and it was the only time I didn't have a new bruise for more than two weeks. It was the first time I didn't fear getting out of bed. I could sleep by 11 p.m. because I didn't need to stay up until 5 a.m. just to have time for myself. I could feel happy without guilt crushing me, without constantly feeling like a burden. I was able to reconnect with my faith because I could see the beauty of Islam without my parents' actions clouding it-they seemed like perfect Muslims to others, but to me they were filled with cruelty. Now I'm back living with my mother, and I've slipped into old habits and dark thoughts. It feels like I'm still that 4-year-old with a black eye, and I don't know what to do. Like I said, I love my parents, but I love Allah more. I know Islam forbids cutting off parents, but what is the ruling in a situation like this? I rarely hear it discussed because it's so taboo in many Muslim cultures. And I definitely don't want to talk about this with non-Muslims and risk adding to the stereotypes about abuse being accepted in Islam. Jazakum Allahu khayran.