Muslim children are considered as precious gifts from Almighty Allah They are loved immensely by their parents and they become the fondness of the family. But children should also be aware of the many rights and responsibilities of their parents. There are many verses in the Holy Qur’an which acknowledge the debt that an individual owes to his or her parents. One responsibility of a parent is to make sure the child gets educated. Parents have to make sure the child is happy, honest, and religious and has knowledge about Islam irrespective of the fact that they might be boys or girls. When teaching children, parents should remember that a child often learns from examples. The examples of parents play a very important role in bringing up a child. Parents who want their child to be religious, honest and disciplined should themselves be religious, honest and disciplined. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has said “Be careful of your duty to Allah and be fair and just to the children”. Parents should also be fair to their children so that they can be fair with others around them. A father should not bestow more favors on some children than others without a valid reason since this kind of treatment will produce jealousy and hatred among siblings. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has said “Do justice among your sons” and he repeated it twice. Almighty Allah has promised us that. He will not change a person’s condition until the person changes himself or herself. Parents should be respectful and not say lies if they want their child to be respectful and truthful because a child does what he sees. When a child is born, it is the responsibility of the parents to give him or her a good name. It is also Sunnah to slaughter an animal when a baby is born and to feed friends and the poor as a sign of thankfulness to Allah Ta’ala for the blessing, which is bestowed on them. The parents are also responsible for circumcising a male child at any time, which is convenient. Parents should provide a pleasant environment for their children so that they feel that they are secure and loved. One huge responsibility of a parent is to teach the child good manners. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has said “No father can give his child anything better than good manners” (Tirmidhi).
Children should be taught how to read the holy Qur’an and Hadith at an early age so that they develop the love for it when they’re older. They should be taught good morals, good characters, good Islamic knowledge and proper Islamic behaviour.
A Muslim parent is responsible to teach their children how to greet people, how to eat, how to sit, how to drink and so on. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has also said, “Those who do not show respect to others, respect will not be shown to him”. They should be taught that they should treat people the same way that they would like to be treated and that they should have good manners and good habits because Almighty Allah dislikes people with bad manners and bad habits. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has said, “Among the virtues and habits they should develop are the habits of being honest, and truthful, gentle and polite, helpful and considerate without being loutish in their behavior to others and the habit of being clean, neat and tidy when looking after their personal hygiene and appearance”. They should be taught how to be clean so that they could look after themselves when they’re older. Parents should send their children to a Modern Madrasa (with an integrated curricula) to give the child guidance to be a good Muslim. They should make sure the child knows how to read the Qur’an well and has good knowledge of Islam. A child should develop a thirst for knowledge through listening, observing, reading and interacting with others. Children should be taught how to read the holy Qur’an and Hadith at an early age so that they develop the love for it when they’re older. They should be taught good morals, good characters, good Islamic knowledge and proper Islamic behavior.
