TEACHING OUR CHILDREN ISLAM (3)

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalam alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatu 

And we finish up with the last post...

And so I come now to, as my talk winds down, I wanted to share with you some very practical immediate things that all of us can do, my self also. I personally believe that Islamic education needs to experience a revolution. That's my personal beliefs. That the Islamic education needs to experience a revolution. What do I mean by that? There’s Islamic studies for the ‘Alim. The ‘Alim will study fiqh, hadith, tafseer, aqidah, they will study all of these things and they will become an ‘Alim. And they will study them at the very high level. But there’s a level underneath that, we need to create actually, it doesn’t really exist too much yet. We need to create it, a level of learning Islam just for daily practice, daily life. 

Now I’m not talking about fiqh, I’m talking about advice for fathers. I’m talking about advice for wives. Just a curriculum. ‘How to be a good Muslim wife’ ‘How to be a good Muslim husband’ ‘How to be a good Muslim father’ ‘How to be a good son’ ‘How to be a good daughter’ ‘What advices Allah have’ Entire curriculum just based on making us good human beings. This is education. Real education is not that you know how to do C++ and your Microsoft’s something-something certified, and your cisco’s certified. And on top of that you have an accounting degree. And you got an MBA. All of that means you can make money. That doesn’t mean you’re educated. That just means you can make money. That's it. That’s all that means. That doesn't make you a better human being. I know plenty of physicians that are terrible human beings. I know plenty of programmers that are horrible human beings. They’re very jahil, they’re very uneducated on how to be a husband. They’re uneducated on how to be a father. What good is their education? All that is a skill labor. You’re just a better worker at the factory. That’s all it is now. It’s a virtual factory but that’s all you are. 

We have to revolutions our Islamic education and that we have to create this, you know, Islamic education revolving around becoming better human beings, Adam. Specific areas that need help now that are never needed help before. I told you what’s happening inside the homes that are being targeted.  Most Muslim fathers don't even know what it means to be a Muslim fathers anymore. These things came naturally to us. They were not difficult for us in the past. But now, because of the change of the world and the change of our lifestyle, we have to re-educate ourselves in these things. We have to come back and do them all over again. How to raise kids specifically. There’s one set of CD’s. I think you might be able to find MP3 online also. I want everybody here to listen to them. They’re not by me. They’re by a person I really really admire, brother Hisham al-wadi. “Children Around The Messenger”, that’s one series. And “Mother of The Believers”. These 2 series, I want every person, especially every father here, and the entire family to listen to both of these series. It’s really really important that you do. It benefited me tremendously and they can benefit parents in general. These are few resources we have but they’re gold. They’re really really valuable, we should take advantage of them. And we should, In sha Allahu ta’ala try to have our entire family listen to them. Put them on your ipod, put them on your car, listen to it everyday, you will benefit tremendously. 

Recite Qur’an with your children. Don’t hire a Qari to recite Qur’an, recite Qur’an with your children. Maulana Shab comes, reads Qur’an and goes home. What about you? You don’t have time? If you don’t have time for Qur’an why does your child has to have time for Qur’an? Sit down with your child, make those 20 minutes happen. Shaytaan will come, he will make you yawn, he will make you thirsty, he will make you sleepy, he will make you remember you had a meeting, all of that will happen in those 20 minutes. Why? Because you gave those 20 minutes for Qur’an. He hates that. He can’t stand it. But make those 20 minutes happen. Commit to it. Commit to it your children. Get the entire family, there’s one part of a day, we’re going to sit and we’re going to recite Qur’an. Listen to the explanation, at least the translation of the Qur’an together as a family. If you can’t do it for one hour, do it 10 minutes. It’s okay. Just listen to it. Just a little bit of 10 minutes of Qur’an. Beyond the recitation. The recitation, I told you, how many minutes? 20 minutes. Listening to translation, some tafseer, some explanation, how long? 10 minutes. So how long everyday? 30 minutes. 30 minutes everyday you and your family just did something for Allah. My recommendation between Maghreb and Isha. And my recommendation, you know, right, you’re going to say ‘You know, kids have exams, let the semester end’ Fine, you know what? I’ll give you that. This whole summer. This is what you do. 30 minutes everyday. Don’t say ‘Which program should I put my child in?’. You’re the program. Everything else is secondary. We have to come to terms with that. 

Islam is not on auto pilot. And I end with this. What do I mean by that? We were raised in a Muslim, many of us, including my self, we’re raised in a Muslim country. Our parents did not have to worry about our beliefs. They didn’t worry, ‘Is my child going to become a Christian, is he going to become Atheist, is he going to become Jewish?’. They didn’t have to worry about that. They didn’t have to worry ‘Is my child going to go somewhere else and not pray jum’ah?’ They didn’t have to worry about that. That thought never came in their mind. They don’t have to worry about you, that you’re going to end up in a gang or drugs or runaway from home. They don’t have these issues. So Islam, they didn’t have to worry about teaching you too much ‘cause the entire society in somewhere and another was teaching you. The school was teaching you, the adhaan was being heard all over the neighborhood. Society was giving you Islam. Are we in that situation now? No. So you cannot raise your kids the way your parents raised you. ‘Cause you’re not in the same world. Everything you assume will just be okay. ‘It’ll be okay. We came out okay.’ You came out okay because you lived in the different world, buddy. This is a different world. We have no guarantee our children will be holding on to Islam. We don’t have that guarantee. We don’t.

The pollution outside is not just of cars’ smog. The pollution outside is of ‘Kufr’. People are becoming doubtful. I cannot begin to tell you how many teenagers I hade met, who are not so sure about Islam. They’re just not sure. They hear so many bad things about the deen all the time. We’re in Texas, afterall. You hear so many terrible things. To this morning, two Mormon teenage boys came in to my house before jum’ah. Knock on the door, teenage boys. It’s amazing right, teenage boys doing da’wah. I was like, Man, if we had that, that’ll be awesome. Which teenage boys you, get dressed up, they got dress really nicely, like a uniform. They grab their bikes, it’s 92 degrees outside, and they go house to house. They wanted to tell you about the word of God. You know how much courage that takes? Before I start ripping their religion apart, I’m going to say ‘Man, I really appreciate what you’re guys doing.’ That’s amazing. They don’t even have the truth. And they’re so dedicate and they were able to put that in to the kids. Why? Because the Mormon community decided our children are on the top priority. Forget everything else. We’re not going to preach our religion, we’re not teach it to anybody else, we don’t have to build a huge centers, all we have to worry is about our kids. That’s it. We make sure they understand our religion. So, they’re teenage boys, carrying this religion. And I’m sitting, and I’m talking to them, you know, and they believe this is the word of God, and it’s a miracle. I was like, ‘Wow, guys..’ It’s not a miracle, but I really appreciate your dedication. I really really appreciate your dedication. I don't say that we become Mormon or be like the Mormons. I am saying, Man, when you see something good, you should appreciate it. And they’ve got the good qualities it is to be appreciated. We have something to learn from other communities, we do. 

And I tell you very quickly; the world is shifting. It’s going to be people who believe in God in one side, and people who don’t believe in any God on the other side. Right now we have disagreement among each other different schools of thought, even Muslims versus Christians versus Hindu etc etc. Pretty soon the world’s polarizing along two lines. ‘I don’t believe in any God and any religion’ and ‘I believe in God’ That’s the shift that’s going to be happening. That’s the polarization that’s happening in every corner of the United State. And it’s happening like a wild fire. Don’t you for a second, think, that it’s not going to affect the Muslims community. It is, it absolutely is. You and I have to learn Qur’an, as parents. Not for our children, for ourselves. We have to learn Qur’an, we have to love it so much, that our children as they are raised, they know, ‘My dad..’ Somebody ask ‘What is your Dad like to do?’ and they say ‘He loves to learn the Qur’an. He’s always talking about the Qur’an. I learned everything about the Qur’an, I learned most of it from my Dad. He’s always listening to the explanation of it. He’s always telling me to recite more. He’s always memorizing it. He loves the recitation of it, all the stuffs.’ We have to become the Nation of Qur’an. Why? Because the prophet (SAW) was surrounded by people who doubted, just like we are surrounded by the people who doubt. And the only thing that gave them belief was, what? Qur’an, The word of Allah. It kept them strong. We have to become that nation again. Us and our children, we have to become the generation of the Qur’an. It has to become center in our life. 30 minutes of a day is a starting point. 30 minutes a day. But for yourself, the parents, I don’t care if you’re 45, 55, 65 or 75…start memorizing Qur’an! Start doing it! Allah didn’t put an age limit on it. Allah did not. That’s you. Allah didn’t do it. Show Allah you love His book and Allah will put blessings in your life you didn’t even see. You would have to ask somebody else for advice for how to raise your children, but Allah will give you that advice in His book. He will have those answers for you and me in His book. We have to have that direct relationship with this book. I tell you, most of our problems in the Muslims community are because we are disconnected from the Qur’an. We don’t feel for it, we don't feel love for it, we don’t have the relationship with it, we don’t go to it for advice, we don’t recite it everyday, we don’t care to memorize it, we don’t care to learn more and more of it, we haven’t shown it enough love. This word Allah gave, honour this Ummah way and we haven’t given it enough love. If we did, I tell you, our problems will start disappearing. I guarantee you. 

Allah SWT talk about the people of the book, He says “If they only establish the Taurat and the Injil, they would’ve eaten from above and below.” Their dunya would’ve become Jannah. If they only establish Taurat and Injil. What is Allah saying to us then? If we only establish what? Qur’an. You will eat from above and below. Allah will make dunya into Jannah. Just come back to His book. This is the real advice to parents. The memory we leave our children with, ‘My Dad loved video games, My Dad loved movies, but he meant more than anything else..He loved Qur’an.’ ‘He really liked basketball, but He Loved Qur’an. Qur’an, he really really loved. And he make sure, he wanted us to love it too. He used to tell stories from it. He used to give advice from it.’ Tell your children the amazing stories from the Qur’an. And you won’t be able to tell them, if you yourself are not amazed by them. If you’re not in awe of the story itself, you won’t be able to impress your children. But Man, from early childhood, you, not anybody else, tell the stories from the Qur’an. You will have to do it. I was teaching one of my daughters the stories of Yusuf AS the other day and I didn’t finish the story, and she’s asking for days ‘Abah, what happened?’ ‘Ok he got thrown into jail’ ‘Then what happened?’ ‘I can’t tell you. I tell you later.’ And she’s been asking about it, I’ll tell her on the way back to the hotel later today in sha Allah. ‘What happened after he got thrown into jail?’ But we have to make it creative and interesting to our children. And the stories are so beautiful. They’re so remarkable. Especially when you tell them from the Qur’an’s point of view. They’re so beautifully put together. 

May Allah SWT make us the people of the Qur’an, and instill that gives us the ability to instill that to our children, have an honest, direct, open conversation with your children, and ask them about, you know, about what they heard in school, what problems they have, and then you yourself seek the answers from Allah’s book. ‘You know, the thing your friend just told you, or this terrible thing you saw, you know what Allah says about that? Let me show you’. Literally teaching your children how to go to Allah for answers. That’s what we have to do. We have to create that generation. May Allah SWT help all of us do that, May Allah SWT put the barakah in the lives of every muslims, and May Allah add barakah on top of the barakah, by means of our love and affection and time and dedication to this Qur’an. Ameen. 

Visit Amazedbythequran.com. Jazakumullah khairan katsiran, so very much for listening attentively. 

And Allah knows best.