How to save your kids from hellfire? That is a topic I have been thinking about quite often lately? This question is not only related to our kids but the future generations of Muslims as well. We are responsible for the coming generations who will come after us until the Day of Judgement. This question becomes even more important for Muslims who have been living in non-Muslim societies such as Japan, North America, Europe, Oceania, etc.
Insha Allah, I plan to expand this topic a bit and touch upon the various facets of this question. We also intend to discuss some possible ways to address this most important issue of our generation when economic mobility has become so prevalent. People have been moving to far-off lands to improve their worldly well-being. There is nothing wrong with doing so. But, we need to think hard about the kind of religious education we have been imparting to our children in these non-Muslim societies.
How to Save Your Kids From Hellfire?
Why This Question?
Some of our readers may think why we are even addressing this question as all of us including our kids, are, Alhamdulillah, Muslims. The reason we wanted to take up this issue upfront is that we have been getting information from various countries that, many young Muslim brothers and sisters have been leaving Islam. Unfortunately, one such high-profile case is that of Zayn Malik, a top British singer who said in November 2018 that he no longer associated himself with Islam. Due to the societal pressures in countries like India, this phenomenon is, unfortunately spreading among young and educated Muslims as well.
The very first question which comes to mind about why these Muslims left Islam is very important. An article written on a similar topic by Maulana Shibli Nomani, a famous scholar in British India was published in 1908. He wrote that the people who leave Islam, generally, have no clear concept of Islam, are not aware of even the fundamental beliefs of our religion, and have no clue of the glorious Islamic history.
We do not have any problem sending our kids to get worldly education from secular institutions. Of course, we do not deny the importance of that type of education. However, many of us do so at the cost of religious education. We give lip service to Islam. But, we do not think seriously about how we should train our kids to be better Muslims. The biggest problem we, as Muslim communities are facing is that we do not even realize how tragic the situation is.
To our understanding, there are three main reasons our kids have problems understanding even the basics of Islam. These are as follows.
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We give greater importance to form over the substance. We have, somehow, realized that by insisting on some of the issues, we fulfill our duties as parents. We wrongly think that if somebody looks like a Muslim, has a beard, and wears a turban or a cap, he is a good Muslim. These things are not the basis of Islam. We fight with one another over petty issues which are not important in our deen.
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Most of us have become senseless on individual and collective levels. We have become so selfish that we can not even think beyond the narrow boundaries of our groups. We like spending time on issues that will not bring to any of us.
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The third problem we face is that we spend a lot of time lying, and backbiting. We consume most of our time on useless pursuits. We try hard to find faults in others while utterly ignoring our own.
How Do We Turn The Tide?
There is no doubt we have been a lot of challenges as Muslims in many Muslim and non-Muslim countries. Many of the problems we face on regular basis are of our own making. We may need to do the following to solve the insurmountable challenges we, as Muslims, have been facing.
- We should give some space to others to express their views. We should leave our narrow boundaries of caste, and religious animosity toward one another
- We need to turn to the basics of Islam, understand it to the core, and start educating our new generation on an emergency basis.
- We should become role models to the young generations o that they feel proud of us
- We need to educate our young kids and teach them the basics of Islam, clearly explain the fundamentals of Islam, the importance of Deen in one`s life, and how they can come closer to Allah and His Messenger, Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallim.
Who Should Take The Charge?
Most of us are good at discussing issues at great length. However, a few of us fully realize that we can only solve our problems by handling them one by one. We need to organize ourselves, discuss these issues among the community members upfront, draft clear roadmaps for improving our Iman, and pass on the torch of Islam to young generations. It is the responsibility of every individual to think about this issue seriously and take some action to improve our understanding of religion. We can not just blame our Ulema and other religious scholars if the people on the bottom, at the grassroots levels do not fulfill their duties properly.
We have to start thinking about this issue at the community level. We need to fix our problems and then assign the tasks to the individuals and institutions who can do the job properly. Last but not least, we need to strengthen the hands of all the individuals and organizations who have been working at various levels to bring our kids back to the fold of Islam. We can not afford to wait for change from our religious scholars only. We have to force the change from within and then expect someone to buy into our ideas and concerns about saving our kids from hellfire.
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