Shaykh Muqbil, the Muḥaddith of Yemen, was asked his advice on the upbringing and nurturing of our children. The following was his reply, which should be written in gold:

All praise be to Allāh and may the peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ. To proceed: The upbringing of children is from the important affairs and is problematic. As for it being important, that is because the child takes from whomsoever he mixes with. If his father is a singer, then he will not hear except that his father singing. And if his father is an author, then from the very start, he will have a sheet of paper and pen drawing in a notebook until he fills up the notebook.

We say it’s like this: if his father is a officer and you were to say to him: “What would you like to be,” he will say, “I would like to be a officer,” and if his father is a scholar and you were to ask him, “what would you like to be,” he would say “I would like to be a scholar.” This is in his childhood before he begins to mingle in the streets. Continue reading →