Fulfilling The Rights Of Our Children – Hadhrat Maulana Thanvi رحمه الله

Hakeemul Ummah Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thaanwi Sahib رحمه الله has said in Aadaabul Mu’aasharah that we nowadays rear our children in a similar manner as cattle are reared. The cattle are well fed and fattened and eventually they are slaughtered. Similarly, we feed our children well, adorn them with (designer) garments and (accessories) jewellery and rear them in luxury. The ultimate end of such children is Jahannum. In the process, the parents will also suffer punishment due to the children being brought up in luxuries whilst at the same time being deprived of proper Islamic training. Many of our children are ignorant of the importance of Salaah and Saum (fasting); the fault lying with the parents who have deliberately kept the children ignorant of the fundamentals of Deen.

How pitiful our situation has become! We find time for engaging in sports but there is no time for the proper tarbiyyah for our children! Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thaanwi Sahib رحمه الله has advised that it is imperative that parents have a daily schedule for moral training. Just as we have fixed times for schooling and other related activities, we should ensure our children sit with the Ulama and acquire Deeni knowledge and guidance. If our children are morally trained, the greatest bounty will be that their beliefs and ideas will be in order even if they do not become obedient. The constant exposure to tarbiyyah will eventually make our children committed Muslims.

Nowadays we notice that the parents are particular with their Salaah and remain blissfully content on their regularity with Salaah; but they do not impart the temperament of Salaah in the lives of the children. Let the parents realise that they too will enter Jahannum with their children on the Day of Qiyaamah because they were the actual cause of their offspring’s deviation from Islam.

These are our Muslim children today….they have been brought up in Muslim homes but will be assigned to Jahannum. Muslim parents are happy with the acquisition of degrees and at the detachment from Deen; we have left our children on the brink of Jahannum. We, as Muslim parents, have become so consumed with the world that it has blinded our vision towards Jannah. The warning given by Hazrat Moulana Muhammad Manzoor Nomani Sahib رحمه الله is so alarmingly true; the learned scholar said that there will be disbelief in Muslim homes because of the lack of attention to protecting the beliefs and ideas of our children. The importance of a proper Maktab education for our children cannot be overemphasised. Most certainly, the Maktab is the foundation for hidāyah. Hazrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thaanwi Sahib رحمه الله further added that we, as parents, are guilty of employing incompetent teachers for the elementary education of our children. People think that elementary kitābs are simple, hence there is no need for someone highly qualified whereas there is a great need for highly qualified experts who will nurture and impart the true reality of Islam in the hearts of our children.

Sharia Rights

Hadhrat Thanvi (رحمة الله عليه) in (Huququl Islam p. 6-7) and some other Ulama have only mentioned four Shariah rights.

They are as follows:

(1) To marry them with pious and virtuous woman.

(2) To bring up them in childhood with love.

(3) To teach them religious education and etiquettes.

(4) To marry them in some appropriate place when they reach the age of nikah These four rights are proven from hadith.

May Allah Ta’ala جل جلاله first grant us, as parents, the tawfeeq to acknowledge and rectify our errors. May Allah Ta’ala جل جلاله protect and guide our children towards the path of eternal success.