A child can be taught about Allah in a suitable manner, according to his (or her) level of understanding. They can be told that Allah is One and has no partner. They can be told that He is the Creator of all things, so He is the Creator of the earth, the heavens, people, animals, trees, rivers, etc.
You can make the most of some situations by asking the child, while walking through a garden or in the countryside, about Who made the water, rivers and things in nature seen around them, to draw his attention to the greatness of the Creator. The father or mother may be with a child or group of children in a car on a journey or a
trip at the time of sunset, when the sun disappears from sight gradually. All that they have to do at that point is to draw the attention of those who are with them the power of Allah displayed in the setting of the sun.
A child can also be taught to understand the bounty of Allah and the blessing of good health that He has bestowed upon them. For example, you could say to them, Who gave you your hearing, sight and mind? Who gave you strength and the ability to move? and so on.
The child can also be encouraged to love Allah and to thank Him for this blessing and bounty. Making a child love Allah and the things that Allah loves is a good which will bring educational benefits sooner or later, by Allah's Leave. A child may ask about his Lord, whether He eats or sleeps. In that case we have to answer and tell him or her that there is nothing like Allah, and He is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing; neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. Allah is not like us, He does not need to sleep, eat or drink. If these meanings are made simple for a child and explained to them in a way that is suited to their age, then the love of Allah in their hearts is one of the things that will help them to be aware that Allah is watching them in secret and in public.
Friday, January 16, 2009
How can we help a child to know about Allah?
Hilary Saunders, Why I took the Hijab
Hilary Saunders used to think that Islam was a relic from the dark ages. Now she has converted. Here she explains why ..
Source :http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,740616,00.html
The most significant thing I have ever done was in fact incredibly simple. A little over four weeks ago, in front of two witnesses, I recited a simple declaration, the shahada. "I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I bear witness that Mohammed is His messenger," I said; and from that moment, I was a Muslim.
Until the very second that I made my declaration, I wasn't entirely convinced that it was what I wanted to do. Would I wake up one day and want to change my mind? Would I feel like I had made a huge mistake? But already I feel as if my life has been transformed. I don't know how to describe it, but the moment I said those words, my heart filled with joy and love and it took about four days for me to come back down off the ceiling. I would almost describe it as "coming out", because a part of me that has been important, but always very private, is now out in the open.
The ritual of my conversion may have taken only minutes, but it was the culmination of a lifetime's quest. My parents are both agnostic - they don't believe in God, and raised me and my two sisters without any faith, so that we could make up our own minds when we were adults. As a child, I suppose I wanted to please my father, and so tried to mirror his views. But I have always been very conscious that I was looking for something, and I could never quite put my finger on what that was. In my darkest moments I have often felt like a ship adrift at sea, not knowing where to dock.
When I was at college I started investigating faith: I got interested in a philosophical system called the Work, which actually took a lot from Islam, although I didn't know it at the time. I was also investigating various new-age philosophies, practising Buddhist meditation, and reading a lot of alternative self-help books.
I have had some problematic relationships with men in the past, and after splitting up with one boyfriend I read Women Who Love Too Much, by Robin Norwood. I had read it before and had always thought it was for women who were overly attached to men who beat them up. But after this reading I thought: I am one of these women, and I want to do whatever the book suggests. It advised developing your spiritual life, learning to be more self-centred, and perhaps getting counselling. That was a significant turning point. I was also, at that stage, practising reiki, which is similarly concerned with channelling unconditional love. I was wrestling with the concept of the divine, trying to find out where I belonged spiritually. I was definitely a searcher.
And then, suddenly, I found myself going out with a Muslim guy. I hadn't set out to date a Muslim - ironically, in fact, it was the result of a drunken night out (I would describe him as a practising Muslim, but one who made mistakes along the way!). At that stage I was ignorant about Islam. I hadn't had any Muslim friends when I was growing up, and my assumptions about the faith were almost all negative. I thought it old-fashioned, a relic from the dark ages, and one that was oppressive and authoritarian with regard to women.
My sense that the religion was anti-women was one of the major sticking points. I wanted my partner to justify some of the doctrines that I saw as particularly anti-feminist. I went through all the usual western arguments, citing how the religion was about men putting women down. How come Islam permitted men to have four wives?
If I'm honest, it was talking about faith that kept us together for four years. He would try to answer my questions as best he could, and refer me to the Koran and the examples from the life of the Prophet. I started to read, and gradually my questions were answered, until I realised that a lot of my preconceptions were basically wrong. In knowing only a little - like the bare fact that a man can have four wives - I had jumped to the wrong conclusion.
One of the things I came to realise was that, in Islam, multiple marriages are not promoted, they are tolerated. Sometimes they are a necessity. But there are safeguards: before a man can take a second wife, the first wife has to agree to it and be happy, and both the wives have to be treated equally. If a man is married and for some reason his wife cannot conceive, he can take a second wife with her agreement. (On the other hand, if a woman's husband is not able to get her pregnant, then she can get a divorce.) This seems to me better than the western way, in which he might get divorced, leaving the first wife without any support. This doctrine is actually for the protection of women. It is not about men going out collecting trophies.
This was the kind of question I would raise, and on each I would get to the point where I couldn't argue any more. Why did women need the protection of men - why wasn't it possible for a woman to have several partners? A woman could not have four husbands, I realised, because it would be impossible to know who was the father of her children, and the fathers might argue over who should support the child. I realise that Islam made so much sense.
A couple of months ago, I split up with my partner, and went on holiday to Jordan. It was there that I finally decided that I wanted to convert. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but somehow the penny dropped. It is such a beautiful, amazing place to be; just watching how people interacted with each other, and the call to prayer - it really moved me. So when I came back, I enrolled on a three-day course at Central mosque in Regent's Park, north London. At the end of the three days I decided it was the right time to make my declaration.
I can see that there are practical problems in how this might work for me. But I am hugely excited about getting married and I believe that I will find, inshallah, a nice husband. I have wrestled with the idea of whether I could share my husband with another woman - I have always thought that I was far too jealous and insecure to be able to cope with that. But one day I woke up and it dawned on me: the women who are in multiple marriages must feel so loved and cherished - by their husbands, but also by God - to be able to cope. I am aware, however, that it is possible that some marriages might be unhappy - we are fallible human beings, after all.
Since my conversion, I have chosen to abide by the Islamic code of dress and wear the hijab. The hijab is about modesty, not showing off, not trying to attract the opposite sex, and avoiding causing envy. Islam advises both sexes, not just women, to dress modestly.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
How I Came To Islam, Cat Stevens
All I have to say is all what you know already, to confirm what you already know, the message of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) as given by God - the Religion of Truth. As human beings we are given a consciousness and a duty that has placed us at the top of creation. Man is created to be God's deputy on earth, and it is important to realize the obligation to rid ourselves of all illusions and to make our lives a preparation for the next life. Anybody who misses this chance is not
likely to be given another, to be brought back again and again, because it says in Qur'an Majeed that when man is brought to account, he will say, {O Lord, send us back and give us another chance} The Lord will say, {If I send you back you will do the same}
*
MY EARLY RELIGIOUS UPBRINGING
I was brought up in the modern world of all the luxury and the high life of show business. I was born in a Christian home, but we know that every child is born in his original nature - it is only his parents that turn him to this or that religion. I was given this religion (Christianity) and thought this way. I was taught that God exists, but there was no direct contact with God, so we had to make contact with Him through Jesus - he was in fact the door to God. This was more or less accepted by me, but I did not swallow it all.
I looked at some of the statues of Jesus; they were just stones with no life. And when they said that God is three, I was puzzled even more but could not argue. I more or less believed it, because I had to have respect for the faith of my parents.
POP STAR
Gradually I became alienated from this religious upbringing. I started making music. I wanted to be a big star. All those things I saw in the films and on the media took hold of me, and perhaps I thought this was my God, the goal of making money. I had an uncle who had a beautiful car. "Well," I said, "he has it made. He has a lot of money." The people around me influenced me to think that this was it; this world was their God.
I decided then that this was the life for me; to make a lot of money, have a 'great life.' Now my examples were the pop stars. I started making songs, but deep down I had a feeling for humanity, a feeling that if I became rich I would help the needy. (It says in the Qur'an, we make a promise, but when we make something, we want to hold onto it and become greedy.)
So what happened was that I became very famous. I was still a teenager, my name and photo were splashed in all the media. They made me larger than life, so I wanted to live larger than life and the only way to do that was to be intoxicated (with liquor and drugs).
IN HOSPITAL
After a year of financial success and 'high' living, I became very ill, contracted TB and had to be hospitalized. It was then that I started to think: What was to happen to me? Was I just a body, and my goal in life was merely to satisfy this body? I realized now that this calamity was a blessing given to me by Allah, a chance to open my eyes - "Why am I here? Why am I in bed?" - and I started looking for some of the answers. At that time there was great interest in the Eastern mysticism. I began reading, and the first thing I began to become aware of was death, and that the soul moves on; it does not stop. I felt I was taking the road to bliss and high accomplishment. I started meditating and even became a vegetarian. I now believed in 'peace and flower power,' and this was the general trend. But what I did believe in particular was that I was not just a body. This awareness came to me at the hospital.
One day when I was walking and I was caught in the rain, I began running to the shelter and then I realized, 'Wait a minute, my body is getting wet, my body is telling me I am getting wet.' This made me think of a saying that the body is like a donkey, and it has to be trained where it has to go. Otherwise, the donkey will lead you where it wants to go.
Then I realized I had a will, a God-given gift: follow the will of God. I was fascinated by the new termino- logy I was learning in the Eastern religion. By now I was fed up with Christianity. I started making music again and this time I started reflecting my own thoughts. I remember the lyric of one of my songs. It goes like this: "I wish I knew, I wish I knew what makes the Heaven, what makes the Hell. Do I get to know You in my bed or some dusty cell while others reach the big hotel?" and I knew I was on the Path.
I also wrote another song, "The Way to Find God Out." I became even more famous in the world of music. I really had a difficult time because I was getting rich and famous, and at the same time, I was sincerely searching for the Truth. Then I came to a stage where I decided that Buddhism is all right and noble, but I was not ready to leave the world. I was too attached to the world and was not prepared to become a monk and to isolate myself from society.
I tried Zen and Ching, numerology, tarot cards and astrology. I tried to look back into the Bible and could not find anything. At this time I did not know anything about Islam, and then, what I regarded as a miracle occurred. My brother had visited the mosque in Jerusalem and was greatly impressed that while on the one hand it throbbed with life (unlike the churches and synagogues which were empty), on the other hand, an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity prevailed.
THE QUR'AN
When he came to London he brought back a translation of the Qur'an, which he gave to me. He did not become a Muslim, but he felt something in this religion, and thought I might find something in it also.
And when I received the book, a guidance that would explain everything to me - who I was; what was the purpose of life; what was the reality and what would be the reality; and where I came from - I realized that this was the true religion; religion not in the sense the West understands it, not the type for only your old age. In the West, whoever wishes to embrace a religion and make it his only way of life is deemed a fanatic. I was not a fanatic, I was at first confused between the body and the soul. Then I realized that the body and soul are not apart and you don't have to go to the mountain to be religious. We must follow the will of God. Then we can rise higher than the angels. The first thing I wanted to do now was to be a Muslim.
I realized that everything belongs to God, that slumber does not overtake Him. He created everything. At this point I began to lose the pride in me, because hereto I had thought the reason I was here was because of my own greatness. But I realized that I did not create myself, and the whole purpose of my being here was to submit to the teaching that has been perfected by the religion we know as Al-Islam. At this point I started discovering my faith. I felt I was a Muslim. On reading the Qur'an, I now realized that all the Prophets sent by God brought the same message. Why then were the Jews and Christians different? I know now how the Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah and that they had changed His Word. Even the Christians misunderstand God's Word and called Jesus the son of God. Everything made so much sense. This is the beauty of the Qur'an; it asks you to reflect and reason, and not to worship the sun or moon but the One Who has created everything. The Qur'an asks man to reflect upon the sun and moon and God's creation in general. Do you realize how different the sun is from the moon? They are at varying distances from the earth, yet appear the same size to us; at times one seems to overlap the other.
Even when many of the astronauts go to space, they see the insignificant size of the earth and vastness of space. They become very religious, because they have seen the Signs of Allah.
When I read the Qur'an further, it talked about prayer, kindness and charity. I was not a Muslim yet, but I felt that the only answer for me was the Qur'an, and God had sent it to me, and I kept it a secret. But the Qur'an also speaks on different l I began to understand it on anothlevel, where the Qur'an says, {Those who believe do not take disbelievers for friends and the believers are brothers} Thus at this point I wished to meet my Muslim brothers.
CONVERSION
Then I decided to journey to Jerusalem (as my brother had done). At Jerusalem, I went to the mosque and sat down. A man asked me what I wanted. I told him I was a Muslim. He asked what was my name. I told him, "Stevens." He was confused. I then joined the prayer, though not so successfully. Back in London, I met a sister called Nafisa. I told her I wanted to embrace Islam and she directed me to the New Regent Mosque. This was in 1977, about one and a half years after I received the Qur'an.
Now I realized that I must get rid of my pride, get rid of Iblis, and face one direction. So on a Friday, after Jumma' I went to the Imam and declared my faith (the Kalima) at this hands. You have before you someone who had achieved fame and fortune. But guidance was something that eluded me, no matter how hard I tried, until I was shown the Qur'an. Now I realize I can get in direct contact with God, unlike Christianity or any other religion. As one Hindu lady told me, "You don't understand the Hindus. We believe in one God; we use these objects (idols) to merely concentrate." What she was saying was that in order to reach God, one has to create associates, that are idols for the purpose. But Islam removes all these barriers. The only thing that moves the believers from the disbelievers is the salat. This is the process of purification.
Finally I wish to say that everything I do is for the pleasure of Allah and pray that you gain some inspirations from my experiences. Furthermore, I would like to stress that I did not come into contact with any
Muslim before I embraced Islam. I read the Qur'an first and realized that no person is perfect. Islam is perfect, and if we imitate the conduct of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) we will be successful. May Allah give us guidance to follow the path of the ummah of Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). Ameen!
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