Raising our children

I came across a video today on 'Raising a newborn in Islam' by Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman, posted by a group I subscribed on Facebook.

It is such a beautiful lecture on parents' responsibilities towards our children which we might already be well aware of, but delivered in such a way that it struck every chord in my body. It made me think hard about what I have done so far to raise my son and which path am I leading him to. 

Subhanallah, such an eye-opener and very inspiring. Makes me want to be better and better for the sake of my children and also to contribute to the upbringing of the ummah in general.

Do have a watch, you will gain more than what you expect, I assure you. Anyway, here are some of the important points that I really like to share from the lecture :

Allah doesn't simply delight us with a beautiful, healthy child, but for us to be responsible of his upbringing, providing him/her to the path of Allah SWT

Behind every great nikmah is a great test. When Allah grant you a child (nikmah), it is to see what you are going to do with him/her (test). Parents are responsible for their children's upbringing, providing them to the path of Allah and seeking His pleasure

The money and time you spent on your family and children are the most well-spent and will definitely benefit their proper upbringing

 Babies are born Islam, but more often than not parents tend to change their children's religion through their upbringing

Children's  greatest role-models are their parents so we must teach them the goodness and the love for Allah SWT and Muhammad SAW so that they grow up knowing about Islam

We need to be more cautious of what we do/say in front of our children than in front of strangers

Let us strive to better ourselves so that we can be great role models to our children, insyaAllah! I pray that our jihad in raising our children the right way will be eased and guided and may Allah be pleased with what we are striving for, ameen!