Conversation over kids’ lunch I overheard just now, between my oldest child (8.5) and my youngest (3):
8-year-old:
خالد، فيه الله ؟
“Khalid, is there Allah?”
3-year-old:
آه.
“Yes.”
8-year-old:
صح. انت بتحب الله؟
“That’s right. Do you love Allah?”
3-year-old:
آه.
“Yes.”
8-year-old:
شاطر! الله جميل.
“Good job! Allah is beautiful.”
3-year-old:
آه. الله جاب القمر؟
“Yes. Allah brought the moon?”
8-year-old:
آه، الله خلق القمر والشمس و الشجر وأنا وانت وماما وبابا و موسى وهارون و نوح و كلنا!
“Yes. Allah created the moon and the sun and the trees and me and you and Mama and Baba and Musa and Harun and Nuh and all of us!” (Those are some of their friends and playmates)
Not thirty minutes before, my youngest was having a massive temper tantrum, complete with screaming and with no discernible reason. I still have a headache from his meltdown.
But as I stood in the kitchen off to the side, quietly observing their spontaneous conversation, it warmed my heart and more than made up for everything. Alhamdulillah.
Also, this random conversation between these young children reminds me of the hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم:
عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: ما من مولود إلا يولد على الفطرة، فأبواه يهودانه أو ينصرانه أو يمجسانه.
Abu Hurairah narrated that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “No child is born except that he is born upon the fitra. And it is his parents who make him Jewish or Christian or Zoroastrian.”
Our children are born with their fitra instinctively knowing and loving Allah and Islam. It is our primary duty as Muslim parents to nurture this sound fitra and guard against its corruption.
