A man came to Abu Darda and said, "I have a wife, and my mother is ordering me to divorce her."Abu Darda replied, "I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, 'The parent is the middlemost gate of Paradise. So if you wish, abandon that gate, or guard it.'"
أن رجلا أتاه فقال: إن لي امرأة، وإن أمي تأمرني بطلاقها. قال أبو الدرداء: سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقول: الوالد أوسط أبواب الجنة، فإن شئت فأضع ذلك الباب، أو احفظه.
Tirmidhi (1900), Ahmad (27511), and Hakim (4/152) all narrated it through the route of Sufyan bin Uyayna, from Ata bin Saaib, from Abu Abdul-Rahman Sulami, from Abu Darda, who mentioned it.Tirmidhi said, "This is a sahih hadith." I say, its chain is sahih. Ata bin Saaib had his memory become mixed up in his later years, but Sufyan bin Uyayna heard from him before that happened. Shubah also narrated from him in agreement, and he too was among those who heard from him before his memory became mixed up. Through Shubah's route, Ibn Majah (2089), Ahmad (21717), and Hakim (4/152) narrated it, and in it a man's father, or his mother, or both of them, ordered him to divorce his wife.