Following the footsteps of the brothers of Yusuf عليه السلام in raising the children?!

بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله ، وبعد

Earlier, the whole society would look out for the welfare of the children in the neighborhood. If a child was found outside doing something bad, the uncles in the society would discipline the child even before informing the parents; later they would inform the parents, who would discipline the child even further.

And then times changed and the mentality of the parents changed. They would now fight the uncles in the society for such a thing as even raising an eyebrow at the child. Further down the line, now in some countries the parents can be disciplined for disciplining the children.

Then our condition deteriorated even further. Now, some of the parents join the children in doing lewd and immoral things. The whole meaning of parenthood / parenting / parentage has changed.

Worse still, is the mentality of introducing evil to the children – either by the parents or through school syllabus, all in the pretext of creating awareness in the children.

It is like asking the children to do the sin and then making them to repent! This is like following the footsteps of the brothers of Yusuf عليه السلام; who were determined to commit the sin and had already intended to repent even before committing it.

﴿اقْتُلُوا يُوسُفَ أَوِ اطْرَحُوهُ أَرْضًا يَخْلُ لَكُمْ وَجْهُ أَبِيكُمْ وَتَكُونُوا مِن بَعْدِهِ قَوْمًا صَالِحِينَ﴾

{(They said): “Kill Yusuf or cast him out to some (other) land, so that the favor of your father may be given to you alone, and after that you will be righteous folk (by repenting).”} [Surah Yusuf (12): 9]

Moreover, this is not the way of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, or his Companions or the pious predecessors. They never introduced their children to evil; rather, they would protect them from evil like how one would protect a child from the scorching heat.

Introducing children to evil is like throwing them into destruction:

﴿وَلَا تُلْقُوا بِأَيْدِيكُمْ إِلَى التَّهْلُكَةِ﴾

{...and do not throw yourselves into destruction} [Surah al-Baqarah (2): 195]

One will not directly say: “let the children do drugs so that they know the evils of drugs”; or “let them consume wine so that they know the evils of intoxication”; or “let them fornicate so that they know its evil impact on the society.” But they will open the backdoors for the children in the form of music, movies and the likes, allowing them to watch scantily dressed people, doing immodest things – considering that earlier even kissing in public or watching people kissing in the movies was considered as something immoral.

﴿وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَىٰ ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ فَاحِشَةً وَسَاءَ سَبِيلًا﴾

{And come not near to unlawful sexual intercourse; for it is a Faahishah (shameful deed) and an evil way (opening the road to other evils).} [Surah al-Israa’ (17): 32]

Allaah تعالى not only prohibited unlawful sex, but He تعالى also instructed to avoid all the paths leading towards it. As the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

“The adultery of the eye is the lustful look and the adultery of the ears is listening to voluptuous (song or talk) and the adultery of the tongue is licentious speech and the adultery of the hand is the lustful grip (embrace) and the adultery of the feet is to walk (to the place) where he intends to commit adultery and the heart yearns and desires which he may or may not put into effect.” [Saheeh al-Bukhaaree and Saheeh Muslim and the wordings are his]

In order to close the paths for adultery, Allaah تعالى also instructed that both men and women should lower their gaze and dress up appropriately, as mentioned in Surah al-Noor. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم also instructed the people who had the desire but could not marry to observe optional Fasts, which would help them in controlling their desire.

How can we be sure that we will get a chance to seek forgiveness?

The brothers of Yusuf عليه السلام had received the opportunity to repent for their sins, and they repented and were forgiven. But what guarantee do we have that we would be receiving the same opportunity to repent after committing the sin? What assurance do we have that we would not die while we are still engaged in that act of sin? Have we not read the news that many people perished because the disco club caught fire or the movie theatre caught fire or that the walls caved in while people were committing sins?

﴿أَفَأَمِنَ أَهْلُ الْقُرَىٰ أَن يَأْتِيَهُم بَأْسُنَا بَيَاتًا وَهُمْ نَائِمُونَ * أَوَأَمِنَ أَهْلُ الْقُرَىٰ أَن يَأْتِيَهُم بَأْسُنَا ضُحًى وَهُمْ يَلْعَبُونَ * أَفَأَمِنُوا مَكْرَ اللَّـهِ ۚ فَلَا يَأْمَنُ مَكْرَ اللَّـهِ إِلَّا الْقَوْمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ﴾

{Did the people of the towns then feel secure against the coming of Our Punishment by night while they are asleep? Or, did the people of the towns then feel secure against the coming of Our Punishment in the forenoon while they are at play? Did they then feel secure against the Plan of Allaah? None feels secure from the Plan of Allaah except the people who are the losers.} [Surah alA`raaf (7): 97-99]

It is a sign of great destruction when we feel secured from the punishment of Allaah.

My mother-in-law would not allow her son to watch “He-Man” because of the blasphemy it contained (he claims to be “master of the universe”), and she is a Christian lady. We, being Muslim, should take even more care in preventing our children from being exposed to such evil.

Then there is “superman”, who is given “god” like powers only to have a silly weakness. Then there is the concept of “Time Traveling”, all these things are aiming to harm the `Aqeedah (Creed) of the children from their childhood.

Then there are immoral cartoons such as “Snow White” who shown to be living in seclusion with seven men; “Little Mermaid”, glamorizing partial nudity; and the list goes on.

Indeed it is a great struggle for the parents in this age to protect their children when evil is so widespread. Muslims parents are supposed to standout and prevent their children from watching these things. But when the parents give in to this evil, it will only send wrong signals to the children - making them believe that watching such things are socially and religiously acceptable.

We seek Allaah’s protection for ourselves and our children.