Selections translated[2]
from the above book:
·
Shaykh Muhammad bin
Saalih al ‘Uthaymeen (p41)
·
Shaykh Muqbil (p122)
·
Shaykh Saalih
Fawzaan (p123)
·
Miscellaneous
Passages regarding teaching children
·
Shaykh Al Haafidth
adh Dhahabee (p63)
·
Imaam ibn al Qayyim
(p133)
·
TV Harms linked to
‘Aqeedah: Belief in Allaah (p76)
Shaykh Muhammad bin Saalih al ‘Uthaymeen (p41) rahimahullaah said[3]:
“The affairs of nurturing and educating is in
the hands of the husband if he is sane and practising his religion and not the
affair of the wife. The Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, “The man is a shepherd of his household and he is
responsible for his flock”. Due to this, it is not permissible for a wife to
come between a man and the raising of his children as many ignorant women do.
She comes between the father and his disciplining them regarding manners and
their upbringing. This is coming between a person and his right.
It is upon a person to be a man regarding his
family, a man of worth and meaning where he does not look at emotions, but he
looks at where the right course of action lies. Emotions make a person miss out
on a lot of good regarding educating and guiding children.
Regarding the education of children, the wise
one knows how to deal with it. The Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وسلم) ordered his ummah to command their children to pray the
five daily prayers at the age of seven and to beat them for it at age ten. This
is a proof that a child can bear a beating and benefit from it at the age of
ten. Beating does not benefit a young child. Guidance, direction and advice
should be through soft gentle speech which is kind and acceptable to the child.
As he grows and develops he reaches the age
limit which the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) specified. It is suitable for them because beating them will
educate them. However, beating them in this situation must be the last resort
to bring about a change for the good in them. If they can be changed without
it, beating should not be used. Beating should be used only if there is no
other way. However, it should not be violent. The scale of beating should be
according to what is needed to bring about a change for the better.
If a person takes the necessary steps and uses
wisdom he will not need to restrict himself to beating. Instead, he would place
more reliance upon supplicating to Allaah and asking Him for help in rectifying
his children.
If Allaah does not help a person in his
important matters he is bound to fail and lose and Allaah is the One who grants
success.”
*************************************************
Shaykh Muqbil (rahimahullaah) said[4]
(p122):
“Some people today leave their child to wander
like a kitten (I did not say ‘goat’ because they get lost). A kitten comes and
goes as it pleases. Our children do not come in from the street unless you hear
them say ‘jinn’ or ‘O cursed one!’ or ‘O evil one!’ They use language that I
can not mention in a gathering such as this. This is something that we have
witnessed amongst our relatives and our own children. They come in from the
streets using bad language. The Lord of Honour says in His Noble Book,
وَقُل رَّبِّ أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ هَمَزَاتِ الشَّيَاطِينِ وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ رَبِّ أَن يَحْضُرُونِ
And say: "My
Lord! I seek refuge with You from the whisperings (suggestions) of the Shayâtin
(devils).
"And
I seek Refuge with you, My Lord! Lest they may come near me."
[Mu’minoon
23:97-98]
We should teach our children to seek refuge in
Allaah from the shayaateen. They do not come and make du’aa,
their hearts are afraid of whom? The Mother of so and so or the demon, etc.
You should teach your child to be brave and not
fill his heart with fear so he is scared of his own shadow or he is afraid to
walk in the dark. You should teach your child to be brave and if you find that
he understands matters, you should make the most of it.
The main issue that befalls us is ignorance.
Since being a teacher I have seen children with extra-ordinary understanding,
surprising intelligence and strong memorization skills. Then after that, if
they are absent for a year or two, they become like the general folk. On the
other hand, a person from the common folk, comes here, he is uncivilized and
has bad manners. He learns and you do not know how he becomes educated and
protective over the religion. That is knowledge, knowledge.
Servant of Allaah, if you want to produce a
generation that is righteous, then you have to give importance to beneficial
knowledge.
As is mentioned in Saheeh Muslim in a hadeeth
by ‘Umar (رضي الله عنه),
“Indeed Allaah raises people by this Book and
He lowers others by it.”[5]
So if you want to produce generations who will
defend the religion of Islaam, you have to strive in teaching your children the
Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah (صلى الله عليه وسلم).”
***********************************
Shaykh Saalih al Fawzaan (P123)
The noble shaykh, may Allaah preserve him, said
in “Legal Rulings ‘Light upon the Path’[6]
when he was asked the question:
“When should I start teaching my children
the religion?”
“Teaching children starts when they have
reached the age of discernment (tamyeez). So teaching them religious education
begins as the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, ‘Order your children to pray at seven (years old).’ So if
the child reaches the age of discernment[7]
his Father is ordered to teach and educate him until he educates him to do good
and leave evil from when he is young. This is a very important matter which
some people neglect with their children.
Many people do not give importance to matters
pertaining to their children. They do not guide them in the right direction.
They leave them neglected. They do not order them to pray or direct them to do
good. Instead, they bring them up in ignorance and let them do acts which are
not good. They bring them up mixing with evil people and leave them to wander
in the streets. They neglect their studies along with other harms which many
Muslim youth have been raised upon due to their Father’s neglect. The Fathers
will be questioned about them in front of Allaah according to the hadeeth,
‘Order your children to pray...’ This is an order binding upon the Fathers. So
the one who does not order them will have disobeyed the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). He will have
committed something prohibited and will have left something compulsory upon him
that the Messenger of Allaah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has made binding upon him.
Unfortunately, some Fathers are busy with
matters of the worldly life and do not pay attention to their children. They do
not give them any of their time or make themselves available to spend time with
their children. All of his time is taken up with worldly matters. This is a
great danger which is common in the lands of the Muslims. For this reason
educating their children has been performed badly and children are not being
corrected in their religion or in their worldly lives. Laa hawla wa laa
quwwata illaa billaah: There
is no change (from one state to another) and no ability (to do that) except
with the aid of Allaah, the High, the Great.
*****************************
Miscellaneous Passages Regarding Teaching
Children
P25
‘Abdur Razzaaq in his Musannaf[8]
recorded a hadeeth from Ibn Abbaas (رضي الله عنه) from the Prophet(صلى الله عليه وسلم) who said,
“Hang up a whip so that the people of the
household see it as a deterrent”
(Silsilah 1447).
Tabaree (rahimahullah ) said that Ibn ‘Abdur
Raheem said that Ibn Abee Maryam said that Salam bin ‘Eesaa bin Abee Sulaymaan
said that Muhammad bin Ajlaan used to say,
“Do
not raise your stick at your household/family”
P63
Al Haafidh adh Dhahabee (may Allaah have mercy
on him) said[9],
“Yunus bin Muhammad al Mu’addab said, Ziyaad
informed me saying,
Zubayd bin al Haarith (may Allaah have mercy
upon him) was the mu’eththin of a masjid (caller to the 5 daily prayers)
and that he used to say to the children, ‘Come and pray, I’ll give you some
walnuts’. They used to pray and then crowd around him. I spoke to him about it
and he said, ‘It is nothing for me to buy them some nuts for five dirhams,
to make them used to the prayer.’
He said, I heard that if it was a rainy night
he would go around to the old people of the district and ask, ‘Do you need
anything from the market place?’”
P85
‘Alee bin Abee Hamlah from ‘Abdullaah bin
‘Abdil Malik said,
“We used to travel with our Father on his mount
and he used to say to us, ‘Say subhaanAllaah until you come to that
tree.’ So we used to say subhaan Allaah until we came to that tree. If
we saw another tree he would say to us, ‘Say Allaahu akbar until you
reach that tree.’ So we would say Allaahu akbar. This is what he used to
do with us.”[10]
P133
Ibn al Qayyim (May Allaah have mercy upon him) said in Tuhfah
al Mawlood (p289):
“The
first thing that a child hears should be knowledge about Allaah and tawheed.
That Allaah hears what they say and that He is with them wherever they are (by
His knowledge). This is what Banee Israa’eel used to do. The best names are
‘Abdullaah and ‘Abdur Rahmaan because when the child develops his intellect and
awareness he will know that he is the servant of Allaah (‘Abdullaah). Then he
should be taught about the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and that it is compulsory to love and obey him.”
P135
“Naafi’ (may Allaah have mercy upon him) said that ‘Abdullaah bin ‘Umar
(رضي الله عنه) used to teach a child the salaah when he knew his right from his
left.”
TV Harms Linked to Aqeedah: Belief in
Allaah
P76
“... look at how Allaah, the Exalted is
portrayed on the TV screens in the form of a character whose name is ‘Saasookee’
when he says to the sky, ‘Rain!’ and it rains. And he says to the earth,
‘Grow!’ and it grows. He says to the wind, ‘Destroy!’ and it destroys. And he
creates what he wishes when he wishes.
They liken the creation to Allaah, the Exalted
in a series called ‘As Sanaafir’ (Smurfs) where He becomes an unknown
entity ‘Mother Nature.’ This negates Allaah’s Existence and greatly corrupts
the creed of the Muslims.
They also liken (the creation) to Allaah (Allaah
is free from every imperfection) in the form of an old man with a long white
beard sitting on a throne in the sky holding his staff in the series ‘The
White Whale’ (al Hoot al Abyad).
They liken Him to His creation in the form of a
man with a yellow turban sitting on his throne above the heavens who gives
orders to the animals and they come willingly or unwillingly. This is in the
series called ‘Once upon a time...’ (Kaan yaa makaan).
They also ridicule Allaah’s Angels and
Messengers in the very famous ‘Tom and Jerry.’
They liken the angel Maalik (peace be upon him)
who is the keeper of Hell Fire, in the form of a red dog with horns and a tail.
He has tools to punish with fire and he laughs out loud when he tortures the
cats.
In the series ‘Journey of Dreams’, they
liken the angels to women. This is like the belief of the Jews and Christians.
Their series portrays some of them as good and others as bad.
I say, by Allaah this is only a snippet of the
enormous negative effects of these programmes upon the beliefs and manners of
children.[11]
Look at the beliefs, for example, that are
behind ‘Aladdin and the Magic Lamp’ which are implanted in the hearts of
children. The lamp is made into a Lord besides Allaah. If a difficulty befalls
a child or he has a desire for something, he only has to remember the lamp with
the magic touch and make all his wishes and requests. The lamp really repels
harm and brings about good so the child is nurtured upon this evil, idolatrous
‘aqeedah (belief) of shirk (setting up partners along with
Allaah). They say to each other, ‘I wish I had a lamp like that so that if
something bad happens the lamp can save me.’
P78
“...Popeye the ‘good’ ‘white’ sailor who looks
like a person from the West, and his continual opponent who is evil with dark
skin, black hair and black beard who looks like an Arab. Then at the end of the
dispute the white ‘goody’ wins over the dark ‘baddy.’”
P78
“Space and science fiction films import another
idolatrous belief to our children who watch them. These stories and narrations
portray types of clashes far away from Allaah as if the universe were not ruled
by Allaah’s Decree and Wish. They focus on the existence of enemies in this
universe who threaten mankind. This goes against the Muslim Creed that the
Qur’aan informs us of: that there are angels, mankind and jinn. This is a type
of superstition which corrupts the way a child thinks, it stamps his character
with an imaginary encompassing character far from the true knowledge. It
changes the perception of a child to giving importance to an enemy other than
the shaytaan who is the real enemy of mankind in this universe...”
P79
“A cartoon series called ‘Godzilla’ (al
ilaah Zilah) centres around the exploits of a family exploring the sea and
oceans. Superstitious beasts threaten them and only Godzilla can save them. By
the press of an electric button, he responds and saves humanity from the
beasts...”
P80
“The newspaper ‘al Muslimoon’[12]
published some negative effects and dangers of cartoons on children. Some of
them were:
·
Ibraaheem al Fahd, a
Father who did not believe in what was said about some of these films until he found
his son prostrating to a doll to give him what he wanted. When he asked his son
‘Who taught you this?’ He replied, ‘I saw it in such and such a film.’ So the Father
realized the danger. This is how Muslim children are taught clear shirk to make
prostration to other than Allaah. They do not think it is anything serious...
·
In the adventures of
‘The White Lion’ (al Layth al Abyad) there is a scene where people
experience a disaster and they gather around a big idol. They raise their hands
and humbly make supplication to it. Between them is a lit fire.
·
In the film ‘Superman’,
it depicts an American man who is able to do what other humans cannot. He is
the ‘perfect’ role model which weakens the belief among the Muslim youth of
separating ourselves from the disbelievers.[13]
[1] Dar al Fikr. 1424 AH/2003. Jordan.
Preface by ash Shaykh Mashhoor bin Hasan Aal Salmaan.
[2] Selections translated by Umm ‘Abdir Rahmaan
Tara bint Hashim. 1427/2006.
[3] ‘Fataawaa Manaar al Islaam’ (3/623) by
Shaykh al ‘Uthaymeen taken from ‘Fataawaa at Tifl al Muslim’ (pp125-127)
by Yahyaa bin Sa’eed and also in ‘Sharh Riyadh as Saaliheen’ by Shaykh
al ‘Uthaymeen (5/201-202).
[4] ‘Al Musaara’ah’
pp194-195
[5] Collected by Imaam Ahmad in his Musnad (1/35); Muslim in his Saheeh
(817); Ibn Maajah in his Sunan (218); and Aboo ‘Ubayd in ‘The Virtues of the
Qur’aan’ p94. among others.
[6] A Saudi Radio Programme that broadcasts daily
at 9pm 100 FM (Noorun ‘alad Darb) (3/115-116).
[7] See ‘al Fataawa’ (11/191-192) for a discussion
on the matter of discernment and when a child is ordered to do good deeds and
deeds of obedience. Translator’s note: Age of discernment: tamyeez = 7 years old.
[8] (9/447/17963)
[9] Siyar ‘Aalaam an Nubulaa’ (5/297)
[10] Collected by Imam Ahmad in ‘az Zuhd’ (p343-344 no. 1268).
[11] I obtained the information above from
books published by some researchers on the night after a special study
conducted on these programmes. They were published in papers with the title “Will
you not understand?” (p2-3).
[12] Edition 257. 8/6/1410 AH. P12
[13] Translator’s Note: This is alongside the other harms such as a
human sharing Allaah’s Attributes of knowing the unseen and having other
supernatural powers.
