Friday, January 8, 2010

Seerah and your kids

Assalamu alaikum,

A few months ago I thought it would be a good idea to read the Seerah of the Prophet, alayhis-salam, to my 6 year old boy. I purchased a few books and began to read from them to my son. The endeavor soon went very, very stale. The author had chosen to omit the more dramatic incidents of the Seerah, such as Bilal's torture, the conversion of Hamzah, and any level of detail regarding the famous and pivotal battles of Islam. I presume the author felt that such intense and sometimes violent content was inappropriate for children and while I respect his decision and efforts, I do not agree with him. The Seerah is about Life, or to be more precise, how Life Should Be Lived. And according to the Quran, The Sunnah, and the experience of every human being in history, Life is full of struggle, defeat, pain, victory, joy, death, birth, and rebirth. Are we doing our children a favor by sheltering them from these realities at such a young age? Is it not better to gently introduce them to these truths through the Seerah of the Prophet, alayhis-salam, as told to them by their own Father, in the comfort of their own home and bed? That is the conclusion that I reached and I did not believe that any of the Seerah books for children currently available would meet that goal (feel free to let me know if I am wrong and that you have found a great resource), so I proceeded to deliver my own narration of the Seerah to my son.

As a reference, I used one of my favorite Arabic books, السيرة النبوية في ضوء مصادرها الأصلية, "The Prophetic Seerah in the Light of its Original Sources", by Mahdi Rizq-Ullah, and to put it simply, the experience has been absolutely awesome. Together, my son and I have experienced all the most dramatic moments from the greatest and truest adventure ever lived, toned down (and sometimes exaggerated for comedic effect) to a level that I felt was appropriate. We visited the Prophet's infancy and the loneliness of his childhood after the death of his parents, then his growing prestige as a trusted merchant of Quraish, alayhis-salam. We witnessed the awesome terror and power of the first revelation and the comfort given to him by his noble wife, alayhis-salam and radhy Allahu 'anha. The ups and downs, the joys and defeats, the sacrifices and the struggles of the greatest generation this world has ever seen became a part of our nighttime routine and I swear that at times I was so moved that I could barely continue ... in fact, out of all the ways that I have experienced the seerah of Muhammad, alayhis-salatu was-salam, through reading, listening to tapes, and even attending a seerah class as a student of Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Uthaymeen, rahimahullah, I feel that this has been the most rewarding... may Allah forgive my inadequacy at finding the right words, but all I can say is that it is one thing to learn the Seerah for yourself and an entirely other thing to learn it and teach it for the sake of your children.

My experience in re-delivering the Story of Muhammad, alayhis-salam, and his Companions has been one of the most positive endeavors that I have undertaken as a father. It provided me with an unique opportunity to teach my son lessons about perseverance, mercy, faith, bravery, and a long list of other virtues rarely talked about in today's society. I've shared this with you in the hope that there is something useful to be learned from it for yourself and your family. And Allah knows best.

8 comments:

  1. Assalaamu alaikum. Thank you for raising an important matter. I doubt any English book matches the quality of an Arabic one, however, for those looking for something in English, I've used a book called "The Praised One" by Merium Khan with 8 year-old boys with good results. The language is simple, yet it's detailed and interesting. It was available in the Sooq last I checked.

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  2. Cool, thanks for that info. By "Sooq" I assume that your mean the Al Huda Sooq in College Park MD. A few people have actually suggested that I write a children's book of Seerah based off of the experience with my son and it is something that I am contemplating...

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  3. Asalaam alaikum,

    I think the most positive part of your experience was sharing with your child your own experience with the sirah. Having looked for books for my own children over the years, I know we have many uninspired works out there. But what is inspiring to one may be uninteresting to another. That's why we need many choices. And the parent who spends time sharing his or her own sense of awe or wonder or concern, this is where our children learn to look deeper into the material and start to find their own personal meaning.

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  4. @ Muslim Grandma,

    I couldn't agree more

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  5. Such a great piece mashallah. I pray that more fathers will be following this example. The English book market is still much much better than the German one which I am familiar with. Muslim kids in Germany dont speak the native languages well and we unfortunately dont have many good Islamic children books in German.

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  6. MasyaAllah. What a great father you are alhamdulillah and may Allah make your son righteous and contribute greatly to Islam aamiin. Alhamdulillah i am granted 4 children and i have been struggling to find good islamic children books. I have purchased few books and recently series of prophets book. But that books dont really satisfy me. I do plan to prepare my own story but since i am also working so i am struggling to do so. But you are so so so lucky you can understand arabic. InsyaAllah nx year i will learn arabic. Btw, if you have prepared any materials such as presentation slides or plots for the rasilulullah saw seerah, would you mind emailing to me at hmurniatgmaildotcom? Jazakallahu khayran.

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  7. JazakAllah for an inspiring article.I am currently doing Dora e Quran with my kids at home during Ramadan. For seerah my favorite is Adil Salahi's Man and the Prophet. I was looking into buying it for my sisters ; but couldn't find it online for anything under $60 or exorbitant amounts like that. Would anyone know where I could purchase it; or some other options easy for English speakers. JazakAllah Khairun

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  8. Perhaps you could aspire to write what you shared with your son in English for those of us who do not have access to the great works in Arabic and who share with you in our lack of satisfaction with the works available in English. Then not only your son would benefit but countless Muslim children. It would be a great hasanat and sadaqa jariya for you.

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