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.

Monday, May 3, 2010

When A Child Is Born.… (part III)

Tahnik

Tahnik is an often forgotten and neglected Sunnah. Tahnik means to chew a date, take a tiny amount of the pulp and put it in the newborn child’s mouth. If date is not available then any other sweet thing can be used in its place though using date is preferred. Tahnik should better be performed by a pious person.

It is narrated in Saheeh Bukhaari and Saheeh Muslim:

Narrated Abu Musa:

“A son was born to me and I took him to the Prophet who named him Ibrahim, did Tahnik for him with a date, invoked Allah to bless him and returned him to me. (The narrator added: That was Abu Musa's eldest son.)”

There are lots of benefits in Tahnik. First and foremost is that it is a source of blessing being a Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Secondly this Sunnah is a very neglected one in today's day, so anyone refreshing this sunnah will get even more reward, as stated by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Third the child will get the barakah of having the first thing entering his/her mouth being a date (which was often eaten by Prophet Muhammad (SAW)) and the barakah of it being done by a pious person.

Some people also state the benefits of date for a newborn in terms of health, to which many people agree and many disagree. But being Muslims, for us this practice should be important even if there are no known health benefits as it incurs the blessings of practicing upon Sunnaah.

Posted by Homeschool 4 Muslims
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1 comment:

  1. mishkashMay 16, 2010 at 1:12 AM

    It is advisable to purchase the good varieties of dates and to wash them thoroughly before use especially when used as food or remedy for children. Here, we should mention the prophetic tradition of (Al Tahneek); rubbing the newborn’s mouth with a well-chewed date and feeding him with it. Science has proved that giving the newborn some sugar dissolved in water provides the child with the necessary nutrition and improves their immunity against diseases.
    nd when we know that sugar in dates is the most easily absorbed and digested type of sugar so it will be suitable nutriment for newborns but the dates should be well-chewed or soaked in water to be easy for the newborn to take. This proves that the great prophet (PBUH) preceded today’s doctors to this type of nutrition. It’s no wonder that he preceded them as he is the messenger of their God.
    Thanks for sharing

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