Today we’ll be looking at the all-important topic of imparting Islamic identity to our children in the West. Obviously, the parents themselves should have a strong Muslim identity but there are additional important points to be kept in mind.
In developing their Muslim identity we have to naturally impress upon our children that our ways are quite different from those of the rest of the western society. But this should not be done in such a way as to create hostility towards the western society as a whole. This can create emotional conflict in a child. The Holy Qur’an says of the people of the book that “they are not all alike” (3:113) and it praises some of their good qualities along with condemnation of what is wrong with them (5:85-87, 57:27, etc.). Continue Reading…
While this site mainly deals with how to raise children and the responsibilities of parents, we thought it would it also be useful to also have a category about the rights and status of parents in Islam. So in this post, we want to briefly mention the major sin of disobeying parents. As parents, this is something we should teach our children - not only for our personal gain, but to avoid children from committing a major sin.
We shouldn’t raise our children to be “scared of us” and that’s the only reason they don’t disobey us. Rather we should instil the fear of Allah in their hearts and as part of this, they should know that Allah does not like them to be disobedient to us. A child’s fear of their parents will eventually reduce as they get older, but the fear of Allah should always be there, and this is what we should base our teachings on in this regard.
In Islam, it is the right of parents that their children should treat them with kindness, obedience, and honor. Devotion to parents is a natural instinct which must be strengthened by deliberate actions. Continue Reading…
A little boy came up to her mother in the kitchen one evening while she was making some food, and he handed her a piece of paper that he had been writing on. After his mum finished what she was doing , she read it, and this is what it said:
For cutting the grass: $5.00
For cleaning up my room this week: $1.00
For going to the store for you: .50 Continue Reading…
It is a good idea to pray in front of your small children. This will get them used to the actions and the regularity in which it is done. Many times, children will imitate their parents when they pray and other times they might playfully climb on their parents. So what should we do when children are climbing on us during prayer?
Below is a fatwa from Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid which explains the situation. SubhanaAllah, it also demonstrates the gentle and compassionate nature of the Prophet (peace be upon him). The question is as follows, Is there a sunnah of the holy prophet regarding him allowing children to climb upon him during prayer and Continue Reading…
As Muslims, we should take the Prophets as our example in everything that we do. This includes parenting. One of the best examples of parenting mentioned in the Qur’an is that of the advice given by Luqman (peace be upon him) to his son. Many articles have been written about this advice but today we want to focus on one aspect. Insha Allah we will discuss others in later posts.
In the below verse, we see Luqman describing some of Allah’s Might:
“O my son! If it be equal to the weight of a grain of mustard seed, and tough it be as a rock, or in the Heavens or the earth, Allah will bring it forth. Verily Allah is subtle in bringing out that grain, well aware of its place.” [Qur'an 31:16]
We should keep in mind that the knowledge of Allah is the most excellent Continue Reading…