Salam Alaykom. In the glorious Quran, alhamdouillah it states that "Paradise lies in the feet of mothers." Does this phrase apply to all mothers or just muslim mothers? And what does this phrase mean? Please explain.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The expression ‘Paradise is under the feet of mothers’ is not a verse from the Quran as you mentioned. However, a similar authentic narration is reported in this regard. The Prophet advised one companion to be kind and dutiful to his mother saying: “Be dutiful to your mother, as Paradise is at her foot.”, meaning be dutiful to her, obey her, and serve her and take care of her because being kind and dutiful to the parents and pleasing them is a reason of being admitted to Paradise. However, this does not apply to Muslim mothers only. Indeed, Allaah ordered us to be kind and dutiful to our parents even if they are non-Muslims.

For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 89177 and 91756, and for more benefit on being kind and dutiful to non-Muslim parents, please refer to Fatwa 85180.

Allaah Knows best.