Trophies Of This Life

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Umrah and Hajj are two special times for Muslims who yearn and long to look at the Ka'bah and pray in the Prophet's masjid. This is also the time when we leave everything behind and worship Allah.

Nowadays, we can hear and see more and more people, especially the young people, traveling to the holy land to perform hajj or umrah. Some have gone multiple times, some have made it a yearly occasion, and some made it a habit to go to umrah more than once a year.

While we rush and busy ourselves with our own worship of Allah, for those who have children, remember our responsibilities towards our children. We should also busy ourselves with our children--talk with them, play with them, eat with them, show our good examples and teach them Islam.

When young people decide to get married, they automatically ask Allah for that responsibility because they are bound to have children, whether they plan for it or not.

Parents' duty to their children is not just providing for their physical and emotional needs but also for their spiritual needs. This is a serious obligation that cannot be neglected and must be given priority over our supererogatory and voluntary worship.

Our children are our assets for the next life, that if they are pious and make du'a for us. Otherwise, they are just trophies of this life.

You can't go to umrah or hajj or pray or fast or give charity after you die. But if you leave a pious child and who then raise pious children (and who then raise pious children and this trend continues till the end of time), your child and their children (and continues on) will continue your good deeds and you will continue to reap the benefits even after you die till the end of time.

If you can go to umrah or hajj multiple times (or vacation for that matter) but neglect and can't afford to pay for qualified and good teachers to teach your children Qur'an and Islam (and teach you same for that matter), then you are doing something wrong and a great disservice to yourself.

One of the most important thing that we should teach our children from very young is praying and covering their nakedness. You cannot wait until they reach puberty to do this because chances are they will refuse and some children will rebel if you force them. If they don't pray and cover their nakedness (or they don't do this properly) after they reach puberty, they sin. If they sin, you sin because you didn't teach them properly when you are supposed to.

When your children reach the age of 7, you are obligated to command them to pray and cover their nakedness. This serves as a training. If you have done this correctly, by the time they reach puberty, they would have been accustomed to doing this and make your job easier to raise them to be pious.

Start your children to memorize Qur'an before they become of school age because when they start knowing how to read and write, they will start feeling what is already in their hearts--Allah.

We have to work smart in this life because our time here is limited. So we should focus on what benefit us most in the next life.

Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that Allah's Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

When a human being dies, all of his deeds are terminated except for three types: an ongoing sadaqah (charity), a knowledge (of Islam) from which others benefit, and a righteous child who makes du'a (supplication) for him.

[Muslim and others].

May Allah guide us and give us tawfiq. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

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