THE IDEAL MUSLIMAH

In a far away land, a long time ago, a boy was born blind. His widowed mother, the good Muslimah that she was, did not lose hope in her supplication and prayers for him, which she did continuously. A few years later, the boy’s sight returned. Alhamdulillaah.

She realized that her village was not befitting for her son to excel in his Islamic education, so with her son in her hands they undertook a difficult migration to Makkah. There she made sure that he was instructed in Qur'aan and Hadith, the latter becoming the young man’s focus. He went out far and wide collecting Prophetic Narrations and compiled a Hadith book that sits next to the Qur'aan in authenticity. His mother named him Muhammad ibn Ismaa’eel, and many of us today know him as: al-Imaam al-Bukhari!

Dear brothers and sisters, how often is it that a farmer plants wheat and it comes out as a sunflower? You may say, never! For how can someone farm the seed of one plant and expect some other plant to grow. It just does not happen. Similarly, some parents leave their children waddling in the mud of television, music, movies, and disbelieving friends. Then when the child reaches grade 12 and asks to go to the final dance with a girlfriend, or when he enters University and stops praying, or when he gets married to a non-Musoim and himself becomes one, then the parents say, “What happened?”

Brothers and sisters, it is the harvest of what we planted. If we do not raise our children to be obedient, what do we expect them to learn? If we do not practice Islaam ourselves, who will be our children’s example? How do you teach a child to wake up for Fajr, when he sees his own father and mother sleeping in, day after day? You may ask, how do I raise my children to be good Muslims and obedient to their parents? Consider the following:

Firstly: One should discipline their children throughout their youth. Hishaam ibn 'Abd al-Malik could not find a son of his during Jumu’ah one week. When he met him later, he asked him, “Why did you miss Jumu’ah?” He son replied, “My donkey couldn’t make the trip.” His father then said, “Couldn’t you have walked!” For an entire year after that, Hishaam ibn 'Abd Al-Malik made his son walk to Jumu’ah.

Secondly: The piety of the father and mother reaches the children. In the Qur’aan, Allah recalls for us the story of Khidr, and how he rebuilt a wall for 2 orphans,

{And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the town. Under it was a treasure belonging to them and their father was a righteous man…} (Qur'aan, Al-Kahf [18]:82)

Look at how Allah protected these orphans because of the piety of their father. In the commentary to this verse, it is said that it was their grandfather seven generations back!

I end with one qoute of Sa’eed ibn Jubayr. He said,

“I often lengthen my Salah for the sake of my son, perhaps Allah may protect him (because of it).”