Worry about the Islaah of Children – Part 2
Luqman-e-Hakeem and the Tarbiat of his son
Luqman-e-hakeem made tarbiat of his children and it was so liked by Allah ﷻ that He ﷻ preserved those words in His Kalam, Quran till qayamat implying that this is how the tarbiat of Muslim children should be. What were those first words? Ya Bunayya! He didn’t call him as son but Ya Bunayya. This word Ya Bunayya is such a word that it is so much filled with love. “laa tushrik billaah”, “Do not associate partners with Allah”. Just like a man of more ghayrah (sense of honor) cannot tolerate shirkat in his women, ghayyoor Rabb cannot tolerate shirkat in His ibadah and his shifaat (unique characteristics of Allah ﷻ). Just like how a man cannot tolerate his wife saying that she has another man as her friend other than him, even after she does his khidmat day and night, Allah ﷻ too cannot tolerate His slaves when they say there is another ilaah (God) other than Him ﷻ even if they do many good things for all their deeds will be destroyed just like the wife’s khidmat of her husband is destroyed with her words and acts. If someone tells the husband all good about his wife that his wife washes and iron his clothes, prepares food for him and obeys him at his mere glance, the husband will not tolerate her, saying that she is not loyal to him. Similarly a man may do so many good acts but if keeps shirk to Allah ﷻ, it will never be tolerable to the ghayyoor Rabb. He ﷻ can forgive any sin but not shirk. So here is a father doing tarbiat of his child, “O My dear son, Join not in worship others with Allah” Innash shirka lazulmun azeem, “Verily joining others in worship with Allah is a great Zulm (wrong) indeed”.
Place the azmat of Allah ﷻ in the child’s heart
A mushrik keeps shirk when he doesn’t recognize Allah ﷻ. “Wamaa qadrullaaha haqqa qadrihi”. “They made not a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him”. A Muslim when doing tarbiat of children, he first implants the azmat (greatness) of Allah, His ﷻ tarruf (recognition) in their heart that there is Allah ﷻ, Wahuwa Al- Mumin, He ﷻ is Al-Mu’min and He ﷻ is the one Who gives peace, wahuwa Al-Muhaimin, He is the Over-seeing protector, Wahuwa Al-Maalik, He is the King, wahuwa Ar-Razzaq, He is the One Who gives provision and such tarruf (recognition) of Allah ﷻ is left in the hearts of children. The mothers used to do tarbiat of their children from young with the words, “Hasbi Rabbi Jallallaah maafi qalbi ghairullaah, noor-e-Muhammad sallallaah, laa ilaaha illallaah” The tarbiat so goes on by saying, “Allah is enough for us”. When a child brought up in such a manner, will he ever fear anyone other than Allah ﷻ, will he ever bow down before others other than Allah ﷻ and will he ever tolerate humiliation before others? Laa mabuda illaallaah. Laa mahmuda illallaah. There is none more worthy of worship other than Allah ﷻ. There is none more beloved other than Allah ﷻ. This was how the Muslim mothers brought up the children. A mother’s lap used to be the child’s first educational institute. In fact well before the child falls on the lap, the Muslim mothers used to worry a lot about the children’s islaah.
There was a ruler named Muhammad in Afghanistan. When the child grew up as a young man, his father sent him to war. Thereby the father got the news that his son ran away from the battle fearing the enemies and this worried his father a lot. When the father told the mother about the news, she denied it firmly. The father got the news again that his son didn’t run but he fought the enemies bravely and now when the father informed this news to the mother, she told that now this is the correct news. The father astonished asked her how is that she believes the second news strongly while not the first one. The mother replied that when she was assured of her pregnancy by Allah ﷻ, she was more keen that not a single grain of haram food entered her mouth and when the child was born, she never touched him and fed him unless she was in wudhu and so she had a firm belief that he will have the quality of Imaan. Such was the brought up of Muslim children. The Muslim parents never made their children instruments of dunya but as sadaqah-e-jaariya for their akhirah. Such was the attitude of the parents. They never made them money earning machines. So here a father is advising his son, laa tushrik billaah for a mushrik is never forgiven. Teach the child first Allah. How fortunate are those children whose first word is Allah and the last word when they leave this dunya is Allah! And how fortunate are those parents! How foolish is to plant an acacia and then expect it to give mangoes? You will get only thorns and not sweet mangoes. When the tarbiat is like a disbeliever’s tabiat, how can one expect that the child will have love and azmat of parents?
