(Continued)
7- Training children to perform acts of worship and observing religious rituals:
Worship is the effective way to cultivate the heart, because it establishes an uninterrupted connection with Allah The Exalted. The key rationale behind all acts of worship, such as prayer, fast, Zakah (obligatory alms) and Hajj, is to connect the slave with his Lord and strengthen their relationship.
Weakness of this relationship means decay of the soul, indulgence in the material and sensual desires and confining one’s hopes and aspirations to worldly and temporary pleasures.
Training the child to observe acts of worship, particularly prayer, requires habituating him to perform them until they turn into regular practices. In this way, the child cannot feel rest or comfortable unless he performs them. This applies to all acts of worship and Islamic manners. Muslim parents should habituate their child to these rituals through good example, teaching, follow-up, and guidance. In this way, the child will be habituated to the manners of Islam before reaching adulthood.
This process is not easy and requires great effort; however, acts of worship become very easy later and the child will perform them with the least effort, if any.
Establishing habits during childhood is much easier than doing so in adulthood. This is why the Prophet, , commanded us to habituate and train children to perform prayer a long time before it becomes obligatory for them, so that by the time it is obligatory, it would have become a habit and regular practice.
All Islamic duties and manners follow the same methodology, even if the Prophet, , did not specify a particular age for them like he did concerning prayer. But all acts of worship and Islamic manners require early voluntary training, in addition to a period of making them an obligation if the child does not become accustomed to them voluntarily.
Parents should make use of habituation along with avoiding its side effects. This means that the children should feel the Islamic values and principles behind their daily practices, not just perform them automatically. This should be stressed, particularly regarding prayer, which is the peak of Islam.
8- Belief in the unseen:
Children’s cognition is usually based on material things, and they question what they do not see. Parents should realize this fact and identify the aspects of their children’s psychology. Then, they should adopt a gradual approach when educating them about religious matters starting with material things and ending with matters of the unseen.
They should try to convince the children with what they try to teach them using the proper means.
In this regard, we can find no methods better than those used by the Quran including the following:
A- Likening matters of the unseen to material matters, which makes the meaning clearer. For example, Allah The Almighty does this to the foods of Paradise, Saying (what means): {Is the description of Paradise, which the righteous are promised, wherein are rivers of water unaltered, rivers of milk the taste of which never changes...} [Quran 47:15]
B- Likening matters of the unseen to other matters of the unseen that have a certain image in the human mind. For example, Allah The Almighty does this to the Zaqoom Tree, Saying (what means): {Its emerging fruit as if it was heads of the devils.}[Quran 37:65] Traditionally, the devil symbolizes the ultimate ugliness.
Hence, giving examples is one of the strongest educational methods that parents should use, because they play an important role in clarifying meaning and makes it more comprehendible to the child.
Creating a picture, even if it is approximate, is better than leaving the child to give full reign to his imagination regarding matters of the unseen, away from reality.
9- Keeping away from creed-related violations:
Parents must keep their children away from myths, superstitions, illusions, sorcery, soothsaying and any other impermissible concepts and practices that may make their children vulnerable to believing the people of Bid‘ah (religious innovation) or major sins, which may render their good deeds void and threaten their Hereafter. The Prophet, , said: "He who goes to a soothsayer and asks him about something, his prayers will not be accepted for forty nights.''[Muslim]
Parents should clarify to the child that no human being can know the unseen, because this is exclusive to Allah The Almighty, who Says (what means): {[He is] Knower of the unseen, and He does not disclose His [knowledge of the] unseen to anyone. Except whom He has approved of messengers, and indeed, He sends before each messenger and behind him observers.}[Quran 72:26-27]
Parents should also teach the child that swearing by anything other than Allah The Almighty is impermissible and that this is considered a form of minor Shirk (polytheism). This applies to oaths like, “I swear by your life,” “I swear by the Prophet, ,” “I ask you by your honesty (or conscience or honor),” and other such expressions. The Prophet, , said: “Whoever swears by other than Allah has committed Kufr or Shirk.”[At-Tirmithi (Al-Albaani: Saheeh (Authentic))]
Innovations in religion that parents must avoid first and then make their child avoid include holding birthday parties, celebrating Mother’s Day, and so on.
They should explain to the child why they avoid these celebrations and festivals:
1- Because they are innovations in religion
2- Muslims have only two festivals a year ‘Eed Al-Fitr and ‘Eed Al-Adha
3- Celebrating these festivals means that we act in conformity with the People of the Book and other non-Muslim nations who innovated these festivals
10- Teaching the children to take pride in Islam:
Parents should teach their children to take pride in Islam and the fact that they are Muslims. This requires them to be distinguished from non-Muslims in everything including appearance, feelings, objectives and hopes.
They should feel that they belong to a nation that is connected to Allah The Almighty and that follows His guidance. It is the only nation on earth that possesses the sources of light represented in the Book of Allah (Divine methodology) and Sunnah of the Prophet, .
They should teach them from early childhood that their nation faces vicious campaigns waged by its enemies to loot it, destroy its children, profane its sanctuaries, transgress its honor, and invade its lands.
Hence, our nation expects all its daughters and sons to guard its borders, reform its condition and strengthen its power to be able to face the difficulties and challenges bravely.