Teaching Our Children to Love Islamic Knowledge

As parents, we want our children to grow up loving Islam. We want them reading the Qur’an, attending Islamic lessons, learning ʿAqīdah, the Sunnah, fiqh and good manners. We want them to know where to go when they have questions and to ask trustworthy people of knowledge when they do not know.

But we have to ask ourselves something:

How will our children learn to love these things if they do not see us loving them?

We cannot expect our children to have a love for Islamic knowledge that they never see in their own homes.

Allah has placed a huge responsibility upon parents when it comes to raising and teaching our children. We have to take this responsibility seriously and make the deen an important part of our homes and our everyday lives.

Abū Khadījah has spoken about the importance of parents and elders being righteous role models for their children, and TROID’s Establishing an Islamic Home reminds parents to make the dīn an important part of their own lives and the lives of their children. (Abu Khadeejah)

How Will They Love the Qur’an If They Do Not See Us Loving It?

How will our children develop a love for reading the Qur’an if they rarely see us reading it?

How will they love listening to it if they never hear it being listened to in their home?

How will they understand the importance of memorising it, learning what it means and trying to live according to it if they do not see us making an effort to do the same?

Our children need to see that the Qur’an is not something we pick up only when we have an Islamic lesson to teach them.

They need to see that we need the Qur’an too.

Let them see us reading it.

Let them hear us reciting it.

Let them see us trying to memorise it.

Let them hear us talking about what we have learnt from it.

Let them see us trying to change ourselves because of what Allah has taught us.

We do not have to be perfect before we can teach our children. But they should be able to see that their mother and father value the Book of Allah and are trying to live by it.

Let Them See Us Attending Islamic Lessons

How will our children learn to love Islamic classes and gatherings of knowledge if we never attend them ourselves?

How will they understand the blessing of sitting amongst people who love Allah, learning His Book and learning the Sunnah, if we do not take them to these gatherings?

The Prophet ﷺ explained the tremendous virtue of people gathering in a house from the houses of Allah, reciting the Book of Allah and studying it together: tranquillity descends upon them, mercy envelops them, the angels surround them and Allah mentions them to those who are with Him.

You can read the evidence in TROID’s article on the blessings of gathering to study knowledge. (troid.org | Digital Daʿwah)

What a beautiful environment for our children to become familiar with.

They should grow up knowing what it feels like to sit in a lesson.

To take notes.

To listen.

To ask questions.

To sit amongst Muslims who have gathered because they want to learn their religion.

TROID also mentions that children should be taught the Qur’an and prayer and, as they grow, be connected to trustworthy Salafi teachers and attend classes so that they can properly understand their religion and be protected from harmful influences. (troid.org | Digital Daʿwah)

Islamic classes should not feel strange to our children.

They should feel like part of their lives.

Teach Them the Importance of ʿAqīdah

Our children are growing up surrounded by different beliefs.

They will hear different ideas about Allah.

They will hear different ideas about religion.

They will meet people with completely different beliefs to theirs.

They may hear Muslims themselves saying things that are incorrect.

So how will they recognise what is right and what is wrong if we have never taught them their ʿAqīdah?

ʿAqīdah is not something that should only be studied by adults or students of knowledge.

Our children need to know what they believe and why.

They need to learn about Allah.

They need to learn Tawḥīd.

They need to learn the pillars of īmān.

They need to know the correct beliefs of Ahlus-Sunnah so that when other beliefs are presented to them, they have something firm to return to.

Shaykh Ṣāliḥ Āl al-Shaykh explained that ʿAqīdah is based upon clarity and includes explanation of the pillars of īmān. He also explained that when misconceptions became widespread, the scholars wrote books explaining ʿAqīdah and the beliefs of the Salaf.

You can read more in TROID’s How to Read the Books of the People of Knowledge. (troid.org | Digital Daʿwah)

We cannot wait until our children are already confused before deciding that they need to learn their beliefs.

We need to give them that foundation first.

How Will They Love the Sunnah If We Do Not Love It?

We want our children to love Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

But part of loving him is loving and following his Sunnah.

How will our children grow up loving the Sunnah actions of our beloved Prophet ﷺ if they see us treating them as though they are unimportant?

Let them hear us talking about the Sunnah.

Let them see us happy to learn something new about the Prophet ﷺ.

Let them see us trying to correct our worship when we discover that we were doing something incorrectly.

Let them understand that we do not follow Islam according to trends, personalities or whatever happens to be popular at the time.

We return to the Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah upon the understanding of the Salaf.

That principle needs to become part of the way our children think.

Teach Them Fiqh — The Rulings They Need for Everyday Life

Our children also need fiqh.

They need to know how to worship Allah correctly.

How do we make wuḍūʾ?

How do we pray?

What breaks wuḍūʾ?

What is allowed and what is forbidden?

What should a child do when they make a mistake in their prayer?

As they become older, the questions will become bigger.

They need to become comfortable with learning Islamic rulings rather than simply doing what everyone around them happens to be doing.

We should teach our children that Islam is based upon knowledge and evidence.

What About Their Manners and Character?

We can teach lesson after lesson about good manners, but what happens when our own manners are terrible?

If we speak badly to people, gossip about them, lose our temper constantly, insult others or behave badly when something does not go our way, what lesson are our children really learning?

They are watching us.

How will we teach them patience if they never see us trying to be patient?

How will we teach them kindness while they watch us treating people badly?

How will we teach them to control their tongues while they hear us speaking badly about others?

Good character cannot only exist on a worksheet.

Our children need to see it being practised.

TROID discusses the importance of examining our shortcomings in character, improving them and modelling ourselves upon the character taught by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. (troid.org | Digital Daʿwah)

We will make mistakes. Our children will see some of those mistakes.

But they should also see us correcting ourselves, apologising when necessary, asking Allah for forgiveness and trying again.

That itself teaches them something.

Have We Taught Them Who to Ask?

This is something I think we really need to think about.

What will our children do when they have an Islamic question that they do not know the answer to?

Because that day will come.

Will they know who to ask?

Have we taught them which scholars and trustworthy students of knowledge they can return to?

Have we shown them reliable Islamic websites?

Or will their first reaction be to open TikTok, YouTube or Google and accept the first answer that appears?

Shaykh Ibn ʿUthaymīn explained an important principle: knowledge should be taken from its people. Islamic knowledge is asked of the people qualified in Islamic knowledge, just as specialist worldly matters are returned to their specialists.

This principle is explained on AbuIyaad.com in The Scholars Defer to Specialists in Matters of Medicine. (abuiyaad.com)

This is something our children desperately need to understand.

Not everyone who talks about Islam is qualified to teach Islam.

A large following does not make someone a scholar.

A beautiful video does not make someone trustworthy.

Being confident does not make someone correct.

Being popular amongst young Muslims does not mean that a person should be taken as a teacher.

IslamTees has also warned about the confusion caused when Muslims take their religion from popular personalities while neglecting grounded scholars and regular Islamic learning. Their advice emphasises remaining connected to the dīn by seeking knowledge consistently. You can read more in The Deviations, Innovations and Misguidance of Some Individuals Made Plain and Clear. (Islam Tees)

We Cannot Leave Them to Social Media

This worries me greatly.

We cannot neglect teaching our children and then leave TikTok, YouTube and social media to educate them about Islam.

Who knows where they will end up?

Who knows who they will listen to?

Who knows what beliefs will slowly enter their hearts because they were never given a strong foundation?

Who knows which confident speaker they will trust simply because nobody taught them how Islamic knowledge is actually taken?

Abū khadeejah has long warned parents about guarding children from harmful influences and taking responsibility for what enters the home, including through the internet. His advice on cultivating children emphasises teaching them worship, good character and sound Islamic principles rather than leaving their upbringing to outside influences. Read Twelve Steps in Cultivating Our Children here. (Abu Khadeejah)

This does not mean that nothing beneficial can ever be found online.

There are beneficial lessons, websites and recordings available.

But we need to teach our children where to look and who to trust.

There is a huge difference between deliberately listening to a lesson from a trustworthy scholar or student of knowledge and endlessly scrolling until an algorithm decides who will teach your child their religion.

It Has to Begin With Us

Before asking why our children do not love Islamic knowledge, perhaps we should first look at what they see from us.

Do they see us reading Qur’an?

Do they see us listening to lessons?

Do they see us attending classes?

Do they hear us talking about what we have learnt?

Do they see Islamic books in our homes being opened and read rather than simply sitting beautifully on a shelf?

Do they see us asking trustworthy people when we do not know?

Do they see us trying to follow the Sunnah?

Do they see us correcting our character?

Do they see us excited about learning our religion?

Because this is the environment in which a love of knowledge can begin to grow.

We cannot place a seed in dry soil, never water it, and then wonder why nothing grew.

Our children need to see that Islamic knowledge matters to us.

Not only because we tell them it matters.

But because of the way we live.

Allah commanded the believers to protect themselves and their families from the Fire. Raising and educating our children upon Islam is therefore not a small responsibility that we can simply push to one side. Abū Khadījah discusses this responsibility in detail here. (Abu Khadeejah)

May Allah place a true love of beneficial Islamic knowledge in our hearts and the hearts of our children.

May He make the Qur’an beloved to them, the Sunnah beloved to them and the gatherings of knowledge beloved to them.

May He give them a sound ʿAqīdah, understanding of their religion and beautiful manners.

May Allah connect them to trustworthy scholars and students of knowledge, protect them from misguidance and protect them from those who speak about His religion without knowledge.

And may Allah forgive us for our shortcomings and negligence in teaching them and showing them the way.

Aameen. ❤️