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With Ramadan right around the corner, it's time to start gearing up and adjusting our schedules accordingly. One of the things we have to plan for during Ramadan is tarawih. Now I'm not going to delve into a fiqh discussion in regards to tarawih (plus there's some video coming your way soon inshā'Allāh). What I'd like to talk about is the potential impact that Tarawih can have, particularly on children.
One question most Imams, Shuyūkh, Du'at, etc get asked is, “How and when did you know this is what you wanted to do?” Often this question is asked by parents in order to get an idea of how to get their kids interested in similar things. Well my answer to this question has to do with attending tarawih in Ramadan. Alḥamdulillāh since the age of about 5 my father used to take me to tarawih every night in Ramadan, even on school nights. Around the time I was 8 I remember being amazed by the imām's recitation of the Qur'an from memory in tarawih. I even told my father that I want to be able to do what he does. So bi'idhnillah when the opportunity presented itself to go and memorize the Qur'an, I jumped at it and insisted that I be allowed to go. Keep in mind that this involved traveling overseas at the age of 10. Alḥamdulillāh, since then one thing Allāh has granted me the ability to do consistently is lead tarawih every Ramadan. This was the beginning of my journey down the road of seeking knowledge and serving the Deen.
So I recommended the same thing to my community and last year there was a family who regularly attended tarawih all Ramadan and even stayed afterwards to listen to the tafseer sessions. By the end of Ramadan they came to me with their 10 year old son saying that he insists he wants to memorize the Qur'an – and asking advice for how to go about doing it.
It's really simple to understand, take your son to NASA and on the way home he'll tell you that he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. Take your daughter to the zoo and now she wants to be a veterinarian. Same thing goes for sports and athletes, Tiger Woods' father starting taking him to the golf course at an early age. So if we want our children to develop a love for the Qur'an and knowledge in general and aspire to be students of sacred knowledge, then we have to introduce them to it. Inshā'Allāh no time better than the present, use this Ramadan and tarawih wisely.
jazakAllah khair, nice, succint and practical post. Highly relevant and timely for parents with small children.
Jazakallah khair for this super advice!!
jazakallah khair for this insightful post. In a world where it is becoming increasingly difficult to bring our children up on the Siratul-Mustaqeem, it is incredible how something as simple as taking children to the masjid for tarawih can be so pivotal to a child’s future, as well as theirs and our akhiraah.
JazakAllahu Khairun
masha’allah great advice for the future insha’allah
And as a reminder to us all (including myself), as important as Taraweeh is, praying Isha or Maghrib or Asr or Dhuhr or Fajr in Jamaa’ah is EVEN more important, subhanAllah. (This is what Sh. Isam shared with us once at our masjid in Houston upon seeing many people miss Isha but come for Tarawih)
Jazakumullahu khayran for the article shaykh. One thing that is an issue in many of our communities is that our masajid are often not that child-friendly. Any ideas/advices for how to overcome such issues? Same question to anyone else with ideas for this issue.
wa jazaakumullaahu khayran.
Good question… also how do you deal with sisters who want to come pray but who have young kids prone to making a lot of noise? At what age should you take your kid considering that at a very young age, he/she could be also disturb other masallees?
Alhamdulillah, your questions got answered :) – http://muslimmatters.org/2009/09/06/children-taraweeh-storm-in-a-teacup
Assalamualaikum
When we were in Athens, Georgia, during Ramadan, the masjid organized kid-watching, where sisters who can’t pray would hoard the kiddies into the library and watch them there while the mothers prayed. if some kids cry wanting their mothers during the taraweeh, the sister watching would get the mother.
It’s a win-win situation. The sister watching gets ajr while she herself can’t pray, and the mothers get a break and get to pray, and the rest of the congregation can also concentrate.
But most of all, this is an opportunity for sisters who can’t pray to hoard ajr during Ramadan…subhanallah
it would depend on logistics though..some masaajid are not big enough to accomodate this kind of set up
The difficulty with most Masjids is that they lack of volunteers to run it. Where I live, we have a designated area for that, but lack volunteers to manage it. I doubt any mother would leave their children knowing that theirs only one or two volunteers.
MashaAllah tabarakAllah, and may Allah reward your father. Seems the attitude with some parents these days is “oh no, my boy/girl needs his/her sleep for school tomorrow” when it is Allah who determines how well we do in all of our affairs.
Jazaka Allah Kheir. Beautiful reminder masha Allah.
Shaikh, i can’t wait for your Meaningful Prayer Bayyinah class in Windsor insha Allah.
May Allah put barakah in your time and tawfique in all your words.
Salam,
May Allah Almighty’s Blessings & Mercy Be with U all!!!
@ Ahmad AlFarsi – excellent question. In fact, I spoke about this last night at my Masjid. First of all there is a very fine line between ensuring that people’s Salah is not disturbed and creating an environment that is unwelcoming to families and children. The best solutions require certain facilities such as separate rooms with A/V arrangements for parents to pray in with their children, and Alhamdulillah we have such arrangements.
However many Masajid do not have the luxury of such facilities, in that case the community has to be taught to be tolerant and see the bigger picture. If a child cries during Tarawih (which is not fardh in any opinion) it’s not the end of the world. I’ve often told my community that the one bothered by it the most is probably the one leading Tarawih (me :) ) and if I’m not fussing then everyone else needs to chill-out (mandatory 80′s reference). Basically it has to come from the top down and people need to be educated on the matter and made to understand what’s at stake.
@Juli – another very practical solution for mothers, particularly in case the children go to bed before Tarawih, is that the parents need to tag team the kids :) I recommended this to couples that were experiencing some frustration and issues during Ramadan and Alhamdulillah it helped ease the tension. Often new mothers can experience Ramadan withdrawal so they need to take turns watching or staying with the kiddos.
@Ahmed – Yes Alhamdulillah, I thank Allah and my father for his decision to do so. I know there might be those more knowledgeable than me who don’t agree with me on this, but I feel it’s an invaluable experience and whatever little inconvenience it causes to their school routine is more than worth the trouble. BTW one thing I didn’t mention in the post is that Alhamdulillah despite attending Tarawih and fasting everyday from an early age, I was always top of the class.
@Mostafa – I myself am really looking forward to coming to Windsor for the class InshaAllah :)
well said, jazakallahukhair.
Where is the masjid in the above picture? It looks very much like one I used to pray in in Jeddah in the diplomatic district, behind were Fuddruker’s (sp?) used to be. This may sound like a petty question, but I really must know or else this is going to bother me…
Allaho Akbar! Allaho Akbar! Allaho Akbar!
After reading this article, I love your dad. :) May Allah protect him and be pleased with him. May the crowns your parents wear for their supporting you in becoming haafidh of Qur’an be resplendent, and may Allah give us all tawfiqh to follow the sunnah and their example.
You are soooo handsome with that beard.