Islaam is a complete way of life. Not only does it teach us the correct way of worship, it also teaches us the correct way of living.
One of the biggest favours of Almighty Allaah is that not only He gave us certain rules to live by, but HE also explained them in great detail, sometimes in Quraan and sometimes through the Blessed life of His Messenger (may peace be upon Him). Bringing up children is no exception. We have got such clear rules to follow that if practiced upon, everyone can succeed in the difficult and sensitive responsibilty of rearing pious children.
Hence everyone embarking upon the journey of bringing up children should know and practice upon the basic rules and guidance provided by Islaam.
Most of the times we take parenting for a normal part of life, coming to us automatically and instinctively. While many of the elements of parenting do come naturally to us, alot has to be learned, and who can be a better teacher than our beloved Prophet peace be upon him. In this blog, we will try to take one parenting problem/responsibility at a time and explain the solution/duties in the light of shariah as given to us by Almight Allaah and explained by our beloved Nabi peace be upon him, inshAllah.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

When A Child Is Born .... (part II)

Adhaan and Iqaamah in child's ear

Islaam teaches us to utter Adhaan (Muslim’s call to prayer) and Iqaamah (call to stand for prayers) in an infant’s ears. This should be done immediately after the birth. It is narrated in Abu Dawood from AbuRafi' that he says:
“I saw the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) uttering the call to prayer (Adhaan) in the ear of al-Hasan ibn Ali when Fatimah gave birth to him.”
And Abdullah bin Abbas (raa) narrates that when Hasan ibn Ali (raa) was born, Rasoolullah (saw) uttered Adhaan in his right ear and Iqaamah in his left ear.
blog-pa Ibn qayyim writes in his book “tauhfat-ul-maulood” that the wisdom behind uttering Adhaan and Iqaamah in an infant’s ears is that the first thing heard by a child be the auspicious words declaring Allaah’s (swt) greatness, and may he/she first hear those words which are the means of entering the fold of Islaam. This way he/she is invited towards Islaam, like a dying person is told to recite shahaadah at the time of demise to declare his/her Imaan yet again.. And though the human infant is unable to understand the words or the invitation behind those words, but these words have an effect nonetheless.
Another benefit of Adhaan and Iqaamah is that Satan runs away from the vicinity of the infant. Ever since before the birth, Satan is planning to contaminate the pure heart of the infant, but when he hears the words which weakens him, he leaves the infant alone.
Ibn Qayyim has written in great detail about the wisdom behind the utterance of Adhaan and Iqamaah in an infant’s ears. In short, when the child comes in the world and is starting his life, this utterance is an invitations towards Rahmaan, before the invitation towards Shaytaan (Satan) comes so he/she may live his life in this mortal world being a true servant of Allaah.
May Allaah (swt) grant us all the understanding aamin.