Serving the mother who cannot help herself and who has none to help her

Q: I have a great and tender mother who sacrificed a lot for my sake. She did not remarry after my father's death and devoted herself to raising me for twenty-three years. I am her only son. She is now sick and cannot move. She needs someone to help her go to the bathroom. She has no female relatives except one sister who lives in a distant place. Since I am not married, I look after her, help her relieve herself, wash and cleanse her, and give her food and drink. When I asked the religious scholars of Al-Azhar about this, they said: It is not permissible for you to cleanse and wash her, because it is not permissible to (Part No. 25; Page No. 237) see your mother's `Awrah (parts of the body that must be covered in public). There is no woman who can take care of my mother, except my maternal aunt who comes once a week. What should I do? Should I follow their opinion or continue looking after her? Some of my honorable friends advised me to send my question to Shaykh `Abdul-`Aziz ibn `Abdullah ibn Baz and gave me your address. I hope your Eminence will send me a solution for this problem. Should I go on carrying out the tasks mentioned above or should I stop what I am doing? If I have to stop, who else can carry out these tasks? There is no one to do this and I cannot get married under these circumstances. Even if I get married, my wife would not carry out these tasks and her family would not accept this. Once I proposed to a girl but her family refused, saying: You need a servant, not a wife. What should I do? May Allah be merciful to you.

A: There is nothing wrong with seeing parts of your mother's body which are not `Awrah. As for the `Awrah, you should place a screen to wash it from behind the screen and wear gloves, or the like, so that you will not touch it.May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.