JQuery set active link

Question

i have a horizontal CSS Menu with this JQuery code:

function setActiveLink(target) {
        $(".MenuLink").removeClass("active");
        $('a[href=' + target + ']').addClass("active");
        //$('.tabcontent').addClass('hide');
        $(target).removeClass('hide');
    }

    $(document).ready(function(){
    $('.MenuLink').click(function(e) {
        e.preventDefault();
        var target = $(this).attr('href');
        document.location.hash = target;
        setActiveLink(target);
    });
    });

i want to set an active class on the clicked link (and remove all other active classes)

also, i want to be able to add the active class on the parent item when a sub menu item is clicked.

i tried creating the above function, but it doesnt add the class