They say that only those in it knows what it is, but I can’t help but want to grow up too fast and perhaps be in it to make the difference it needs. Time and again, when I come across a child with behavioral loopholes, I want to do something, I want to fix him so bad that I want to meet his mom. But I soon realized that I can’t fix every spoilt child. I can’t meet the parents of every spoilt child but I can be a parent that groom my child the way I want those kids to be. So this is it:
When I grow up, In shaa Allah, I will teach my kids all there is to know about what the world neglected. I will teach them things I was never taught but had to learn through hardcore experiences. I will teach them all the things the world is ignorant about.
Yes, when I grow up, In shaa Allah, I will teach my kids the deen in depth. With the help of Allah, I will nurture in them Tauheed, for this is the foundation upon which they will live. They will learn that their Lord is Allah and no one else. They will learn to worship Allah alone and no one else. They will learn never to associate partners in any form with The One Who has created them.
After this, they will learn Tawakkul, then sabr, then Shukr. They will learn to place their entire trust in Allah alone, knowing that the entire creation in the heavens and the earth can neither benefit nor harm them, except by the Will of Allah. They will learn and master the three types of patience; patience in bearing hardship, patience in abstaining from evil, and patience in persevering in goodness. They will learn that gratitude to Allah brings more goodness and that one who is ungrateful is doomed to a life of despair.
For bedtime stories, I will teach them the definition of true love; love between one’s self and Allah, love for the beloved RasuluLlah (peace be upon him), love for humanity, love for the poor, the orphans, the widows, the lost souls…
By the moonlight, they will learn the love stories between the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and his wives. They will learn the love between the Sahaba, how they would sacrifice their pleasure for the pleasure of their brothers and how the ummah matched forth in battle to defend the honor of a single Muslim woman.
In my arms, they will learn that the greatest jihad is to battle the evil within one’s self, the purification of one’s body, mind and soul. I will teach them to feed on the delicacies of salaah and to drink from the sweet river of dhikr, and to find healing in the recitation of the Noble Qur’an.
I hope that Allah will guide them to memorize the Qur’an as much as they master the back of their palms, for I hope to teach them the virtue of acting on one’s knowledge, and teaching it to others, because I hope that they will stand tall in the army of Allah as they guide lost souls back to their Lord.
Every moment of their childhood, they will learn the reality of death. They will not learn to be too comfortable in the dunya, thinking they will never leave, no. I will teach them that they were not created to live for the dunya but to build their Aakhirah with what they have of the dunya. I will teach them never to get lost in the illusion created by the pain or desires of the dunya. And that there is no other way but Allah’s way.
I have these dreams…
These dreams, only Allah Alone knows if I will ever live to see them come true, or if they will ever see the breaking light of reality even if I were to live…
رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُّسْلِمَةً لَّكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبْ عَلَيْنَا إِنَّكَ أَنتَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيم
“Our Lord! And make us submissive unto You and of our offspring a nation submissive unto You, and show us our Manasik (all the ceremonies of pilgrimage – Hajj and ‘Umrah, etc.), and accept our repentance. Truly, You are the One Who accepts repentance, the Most Merciful.
Author: Intisaar Abubakar
Editor: Umm Naml
