Proper Islamic Education & upbringing and parent's responsibility

[A translation of an article published in Tameer-e-Hayat magazine published fortnightly from Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow, India. For more information about the magazine please see  the author of this article in Urdu is Hadhrat maulana sayyed abulhasan ali hasani nadwi rahmatullahi aleyh]

[Disclaimer: Please remember that by no means this is a perfect translation and it is bound to have some mistakes. Please leave a comment if you find one]

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ عَلَيْهَا مَلائِكَةٌ غِلاظٌ شِدَادٌ لا يَعْصُونَ اللَّهَ مَا أَمَرَهُمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ

066.006 O ye who believe! save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is Men and Stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern (and) severe, who flinch not (from executing) the Commands they receive from Allah, but do (precisely) what they are commanded.

Al-Qur'an, 066.006 (At-Tahrim [Banning, Prohibition])

Text Copied from DivineIslam's Qur'an Viewer software v2.913

People, I just read a verse of holy Quran before you that would have been read numerous times before you in the past and you would have come across the verse while reciting Quran; but it is not necessary that one ponders over something that one sees everyday. You just go past the road; the billboards have been hanging for years, you even look at them but ask yourself how many times you actually read them attentively and remembered what was written on them.

Only few will be able to recall, if asked about the billboards that they saw while driving past a road.

The Quranic verse puts one in amazement. This verse is such that if there was no danger, that something that one sees and confronts daily, loses its importance, I would have said and urged that this verse be inscribed on walls and hung (i.e for it to be seen) in mosques.

Allah says O people who have believed “ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا" the word آمَنُوا is a past form of the verb. Pay attention to each word; None of the words of Quran are mere co-incidence or just used to fill in and complete the sentence. This is not some poetic art. It could have been said “ايها المومنون", it could have been said “ايها المسلمون". O you who believe or O you muslims.Instead the group of believers are addressed “ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا" O you people who themselves have believed “ قُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا وَقُودُهَاالنَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ". Save yourself, your family members, your contacts, your subordinates from a fire whose fuel is men and stones.

The addressees of this verse were muslims, companions of the prophet (صلّى اللة علية وسلّم) who were present at the time when Quran was revealed. Those were the first and foremost addressees. However, all muslim generations until the judgement day and anyone who is born and calls himself muslim is addressed by this verse.

The first among the addressees were the companions of the prophet (صلّى اللة علية وسلّم), who had believed in the prophet's hand, those who had given their hand to him, those who were given the blessing of companionship of the prophet. And verily those who will swear fealty to the prophet were also addressed. Those who had decided to lay their life and swore fealty to the prophet at the treaty of Hudaibiyah, about whom the verse is

“048.018 لَقَدْ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ يُبَايِعُونَكَ تَحْتَ الشَّجَرَةِ فَعَلِمَ مَا فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ فَأَنْزَلَ السَّكِينَةَ عَلَيْهِمْ وَأَثَابَهُمْ فَتْحًا قَرِيبًا

048.018 Allah's Good Pleasure was on the Believers when they swore Fealty to thee under the Tree: He knew what was in their hearts, and He sent down Tranquillity to them; and He rewarded them with a speedy Victory;

Al-Qur'an, 048.018 (Al-Fath [Victory, Conquest])

Text Copied from DivineIslam's Qur'an Viewer software v2.913”

Allah was happy with those who had received this blessing and was happy with those who had received a Sanad (synonymous to authority and authenticity) from Allah. The people with authority and high status who took part in the Ridwan Fealty (bayat-e-Rizwan) are also addressed by this Quranic verse. The ten promised paradise (Ashrah Mubashsharah) are also surely included in this. High ranking companions of the prophet are also included in this address. “Living Martyrs” of Ohud and Badr (Names of two millitary campaigns) are also the addressees of this Quranic verse.

Now I ask you, does anyone throw their children and family into fire ? Let's them go into fire ?

What does it mean when Allah says to those who believed, 'Now it is your duty to save yourself, save your family members from the Hell fire'? Have you seen or read any incident where a companion of the prophet (صلّى اللة علية وسلّم), may God forbid, allowed their child to fall into fire, or if the children wanted to proceed towards fire and the companions if prophet(صلّى اللة علية وسلّم) and muslims of that time let them do this without saying or doing anything. Has anyone seen or read an incident like this ?

So, is this statement made without any purpose that O you who believed it is now your duty to save yourself and your family from fire? Which fire is referred to here ? And when did this incident occur ? Or was about to occur ? That muslim children wanted to jump into fire and parents were sleeping; oblivious? When was it that Allah sent down a revelation (Quranic Ayah), everyone was caught by surprise and worried that their children should not jump into fire?

Then what was referred to by this verse ? Can the verse mean something besides the protection of one's children and one's family members, from the things that lead towards fire ? The upshot of which, will be that these people end up in hell fire. Otherwise, are their some people who see their children heading towards fire and don't stop them ?

The only danger is that one doesn't know that doing this will result in burning in hellfire. So to protect from hellfire actually means to protect from the means that lead towards hellfire. This is termed as “اسباب مؤدیہ” (Urdu, unable to translate this) in islamic legal terminology (Fiqh). In other words those means that lead towards the result. According to islamic jurists (Fuqahaa') these means also take the ruling of the end result. For example, if a person is being given a medicine which results in death (sooner or later) then this act is considered murder. Simply because the person who gave the medicine undertook means that certainly result in death. Law would call such a person murderer; Medical personnel would also consider him a murderer. So it is understandable that protection here refers to protection from the things that take or lead towards hellfire.

Now, I say to you and this is the current situation: Not arranging islamic education for the children, letting the children free in such an atmosphere and leaving them at the mercy of the atmosphere which can in no way give the children the education on which our salvation depends; the education brought to us by the prophets, the neglect of which endangers our faith (Iman), is ruining our hereafter (Akhirah); So, we should now think, that how is this being allowed for the child ?

Current education system is not merely secular, but it is a positive system of education, Hindu mythology is a part of it. During the british rule of India, the education system was secular; the stories circled around dogs and cats. Many of us have studied english during british period. During those times neither the basic education system affected anyone's creed (Aqidah) nor it led to the idea of sanctification of any creation (Creation refers to anything else besides Allah) and it didn't show power and control of any creation in this universe. During those times children used to read stories of cats, dogs and other various animals and used to return home unaffected (i.e their faith and creed remained unaffected). The current situation is different. The government school's syllabus consists of lessons, stories and articles that affect our creed (Aqeedah). Teachers leave no stone unturned in making sure that anything that is left mis-understood or not understood has been understood by the students. The students have to do things that are against islamic belief of monotheism. (Tauheed)

Let me ask you, consider this, there is a downhill path, one is not even able to hold his feet firmly because of steepness of the slope, a child is riding his bike and moving downhill and heading towards a chasm, the bicycle brakes are ineffective, the father sees all this and knows well that bicycle brakes are dysfunctional and ineffective, and also knows that there is no other way his child will be able to survive (except that he saves his child), then would it not be appropriate to say that the father consciously and knowingly allowed his child to reach the dead-end and fall off? Can any person not agree to this statement ?

If you agree to this then I ask you how can the child's religion (Islam) be protected if there is no provision for external and additional islamic education (which is comparable to the bicycle brakes in our analogy mentioned above) which is a means of protection?

That whatever the child learns from school is rectified, and if the child is given an islamic monotheistic dose, attending morning or evening islamic classes, is attending circles of islamic education, listens to an islamic book, parents practice and inculcate islam (deen) into him, narrate interesting and appropriate islamic events and stories, the atmosphere at home is islamic, then this is comparable to the bicycle brakes mentioned in the analogy above.

And, if it isn't like this, it is as if you've whispered into your child's ears “accept everything that you learn at school”. If you admitted your child to a school and did nothing separately to protect him (i.e his faith/iman) then it is like you have told your child to accept everything that you learn at school. Neither he knows Urdu that he may study islamic books nor there is any islamic institution in the locality.

Now tell me, are we not the ones who are addressed to in this Quranic verse (Ayah) ?

There was a large attendance of women in one ladies gathering in lucknow. I said to them let me tell you a story of a mother.

One educated lady was attending a feast gathering. Other women noticed that she was fairly anxious and worried and didn't seem much interested in the conversation that was going on. Her close friends and women were enjoying the interesting talk that was going on. They had gathered after a long hiatus but it appeared as if her mind and heart are not present and are thinking of something else..

So, she was asked 'Sister, what's wrong?' , 'Are you ill?', 'Do you have a problem?'. After repeated questioning she said nothing major, I just forgot to hide the matchbox in my house and my child is at home. I am worried that the child may pull out a matchstick from the matchbox, kindle it and may burn his clothes. Other women asked may god save, 'What is your child's age?', Lady answered just about 2 years.

Now think whether the child knows how to open the matchbox or not ? Even if the child manages to open the matchbox woule he be able to rub the matchstick correctly on the matchbox and start a fire ? But …..

عشق است و ہزار بدگمانی

Love produces such things; after all she is a mother, God has given her deep affection towards her children and that is why inspite of things that are highly practically improbable and that occur seldom, she has drawn a complete sequence of events in her mind of how the child may get burnt. It goes like this:

'The child obliviously reaches a matchbox while playing, lifts it up, and the child had once seen his elder brother or sister using it in the past, he imitates them and burns his clothes, when we reached we found that this incident (May God forbid) had happened.'

The lady was anxious and worried from such a remote possibility and behaving as if someone is standing on a burning stone or someone is sitting on an array of thorns.

Are the possibilities of losing one's faith and religion (iman and deen), in an atmosphere that is against islamic teachings (deen), not greater than the possibilities of losing one's life ?

The same possibilities that disturbed this mother's (story of women mentioned earlier in this article) heart and made her anxious? Our kids that are studying in schools and you didn't explain to them even once what is meant by islamic monotheism (Tauheed)? You didn't make any arrangements for the child to study in an islamic institution (deeni makatib)? The children could have studied there and then they would have acquired the capability to safeguard their faith (Iman) while going to schools (Usual schools). Neither the kid's home has such an atmosphere nor the locality and neighbourhood. Why should I blame schools, I am a person who is related to arabic islamic institutions (Madrasas) and the condition is such that the students that are coming to these islamic institutions are unaware of such basic fundamental teachings which, during our childhood days, we could not have imagined that a muslim child can be unaware of.

What will be the upshot of all this ? Generations after generations, will become deprived of deen, would not be able to read Urdu. The current situation is such that once there was a requirement for a traditional medical student (student of Tibb, Hakeemi/Unani medicine) of a reputed medical college, that has a reputation in history, to write an article or a letter. So it was thought that these students study Tibb books which are usually in Arabic or persian (Farsi) and if we descend even lower, then in Urdu (perhaps because there may be some contemporary Unani medicine books in Urdu). This student was told to write and he kept on writing and people kept thinking that he has finished writing. It was later discovered that it was in Hindi!. He was asked that you study Unani Tibb and can not even write Urdu ? He answered ' This is what we have been taught'.

So, not the possibility of such a generation, but, we are already seing such a generation, lack of awareness of basic fundamental islamic teachings, unaware of basic tenets of faith, unaware of islamic creed of God (Allah) and prophet (صلّى اللة علية وسلّم) that is instilled in our minds and hearts. This generation has already taken birth and is reaching the stage of youth and maturity. The beginning era has gone. It has been observed, a speech of prophetic biography (Seerah) is to be delivered, in an islamic school, college, university, and someone gives an article of prophetic biography to a matured muslim islamic student, he brought it written in Hindi, and read it in Urdu, words used were from Urdu language but written in Hindi script. This script (رسم الخط) is such a thing that Arnold Toynbee, a big Historian philosopher of recent times, has said that during these times there is no need to burn a library, changing the script is enough. This changing of the script will break the bonds between the nation and its past and its complete culture will become meaningless to him, and then they can be lead to whichever direction you want. The thing that joins a nation, with it's past, with its religion and with its culture is the script. No sooner that the script changes the generation changes. This is what is happening in India today. Sectarian riots just defame the country, they are of no benefit. Changing the education system will be enough (i.e it will do enough damage). Sixty years ago Akbar (probably an urdu poet) said

شیخ مرحوم کا قول مجھے یاد اٌتا ھے

دل بدل جائںگے تعلیم بدل جانے سے

A long term plan is in place, only little time will pass, In about thirty to forty years without any effort a generation will become ready, to them the distinction, between faith and disbelief, between islamic monotheism and polytheism, between tenets of faith and Madhhab (madhhab could mean a school of islamic jurisprudence and it sometimes is also used just to mean religion in Urdu), will all be non-sensical, nothing will be needed to be done.

Muslim parents, for the fear that their child's career will be spoiled, don't let their children write their mother tongue as Urdu, don't make provisions for the education of islamic jurisprudence (Deeniyat). Can this thinking and faith (Iman) go hand in hand? A muslim's matter is such that if by any means he comes to know that Islam is not destined for his child, or god forbid he will not be a muslim, then he should ask God (Allah) that He lifts the child with goodness and well-being. This is a muslim's affair (شاْن).

Hadhrat Khansaa' (Radiyallaho Anha) is a female companion of prophet Mohammad (صلّى اللة علية وسلّم) and a big poetess of her time. She posseses a heart full of pity. All her life she read elegies of her brothers who had died (داغ مفارقت was the term used here in Urdu). It can be said that such a great volume of elegies that she sung can not be found elsewhere. Her whole diwan (A collection of poems of a poet.) is filled with elegies of her brothers. Such a lady with a heart full of pity calls one of her sons on the occasion of a muslim campaign (Jihad), and tells him “My son, go. This is the day for which I reared you. Go and sacrifice you life in Allah's cause.” Then she calls her second son and then her third son. When finally the news of martyrdom of her sons reaches her, she says “الحمد لله الذى اكرمنى بشهادتهم" Thanks to the God who honoured me by their (her sons') martyrdom. This is the matter(شاْن) of faith (Iman) that everything is sacrificed for Islam