Ramadan Reflections: Day 8

Bismillah

Assalamu alaikum dear readers,

As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I hope to study the Qur'an in this month to get closer to my Rabb. Just reciting or even completing the whole Qur'an is not enough to understand the real message of this great Book. This month is the month of the Qur'an and I hope to do my best to connect to it and gain the pleasure of my Rabb, bi'idnillahi ta'ala. I hope to share the gems through regular (hopefully daily) posts inshAllah. And I hope to keep it short ( which is quite difficult for moi!).

I have been listening to brother Nouman Ali Khan's series on Parenting. One great series, I must admit, mashAllah. One of the topic is 'Concerned parents' in the Qur'an. He talks about our father Ibrahim (AS). He was always in state of gratitude towards Allah subhanau wa ta'ala. As we know, he has gone through really difficult tests and trails in his life. From the very start of his life, he started facing hardship. Even his own dad was against his faith. One of the ayah (verses) brother Nouman went through is:

And remember when his Lord tried Ibrahim with His commands and he fulfilled them; He said: Verily, I have appointed you a leader for people. (Ibrahim) said: And of my offspring (will there be leaders)? He said: My covenant includes not the wrongdoers. Surah Al-Baqara: 124

After successfully passing all of his tests, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala appointed him as the leader of the whole humanity. This is a great honour but for Ibrahim AS it was also a huge responsibility. When we do something good, we feel closer to our Rabb and like to ask Him what we want. For Ibrahim AS as a very concerned parent, it was the perfect time to ask Allah to save all of his children from kufr (disbelief). He asked Allah to keep his children and the children of his children Muslim. But Allah subhana wa ta'ala made it very clear that He will not guide the wrongdoers even if they are from the children of Ibrahim (AS).

As a parent, Ibrahim AS was really concerned about his children and the children of his children and all the generations afterwards. He knew his children was his responsibility and he wanted to make sure every one of them remain good Muslims. There is a great lesson here. No matter how perfect someone is as a parent, still there is no guarantee that the child will turn up good. For example, Nuh AS was an awesome parent but his son refused to listen to him. Yakoob AS was a great parent. Not all of his sons turned out great except Yusuf AS. As parents we really need to understand that we may do our best but it doesn't mean all of our children will be good Muslims. 

This talk made me think deeply about my role as a parent. Yes I can understand that even if I try to be the best parent ever, my children still can mess up and end up in hell. The fact is whats the guarantee that I will not end up in hell. May Allah subahana wa ta'ala save us and our precious children from the Fire and let us enter His Garden, Jannatul ferdous, ameen!

As parents, we are the imam (leader) over our children. If we don't raise our children the right way, we are going to face the consequence of that. Allah will ask us what we do with the trust given to us from Him. We have to carry their burden too if we haven't done our parenting job properly. Unfortunately, so many of us are negligent of our responsibility as parents. The first 7 years is very crucial to inculcate good values and Islamic etiquette. By the time, our children are teenagers, (confess it or not) we start to face the not-so-cute side of them. Immediately, we start questing ourselves what went wrong. But unfortunately it becomes quite late! The damage is already done. May Allah subhana wa ta'lala save us all from this very sad situation we witness around us, ameen!  

As it's the month of Ramadan and people go to pray Taraweeh in the mosque at night, we see the naughty teenagers around the mosque premises or worse on the streets of London causing problem for the community. Antisocial behaviour is not just common in black and white youth in this country. Unfortunately quite a lot of Muslim youth has been playing their part in this regard. Sometimes I wonder, how much of their lifestyle is known to their parents. I guess lot of these parents go to mosque thinking their 'lovely' kids are at home, sleeping peacefully. In reality, they are causing sleepless nights for the people around them. I feel specially sad for the elders in the community. They are very vulnerable and quite scared by these antisocial thugs. I feel ashamed that lot of  these youth are Muslims. I guess they were never taught Islam in real sense. Or may be they have been raised with the basics of Islam but they chose to ignore.

I hope in this month, we as a community, will look inward and try our best to understand the problem and do our best to come up with a good solution, bi'idnillah. To solve any problem, first and foremost, we must admit that the problem exists. Let us be honest and sincere with ourselves and think critically what went wrong and how we as the parents solve this issue. 

"My Rabb! Grant me the power and ability that I may be grateful for Your Favour which You have bestowed upon me and my parents and that I may do righteous good deeds such as please You and make my offspring good. Truly I have turned to You in repentance and truly I am one of the Muslims. " [Qur'an 46:15]