CULTIVATING A RELIGIOUS ENVIRONMENT AT HOME

I met an educated Muslim. He enthusiastically shared his daily practice of gathering his family members every morning to recite a section of a religious book. Many individuals believe that this approach fulfills their religious obligations. However, this method is undoubtedly underestimating human nature, as people are not influenced solely by formalities.

Teaching family members through reciting religious books is only one aspect of the overall responsibility. The other essential component is cultivating a conducive religious environment within the home. Without a suitable environment, mere recitation will not yield the desired result.

Presently, the environment in many households has become entirely materialistic. Complaints against one another prevail within the home. Negative news remains the subject of discussion. Conversations related to human welfare are absent, replaced by an atmosphere of self-centeredness and a lack of empathy. Topics of discussion primarily revolve around food, clothing, money, business, and jobs.

Reading and reciting religious books at home is indeed a commendable act. However, for it to be effective, it is crucial to cultivate a conducive religious environment within the home. The same atmosphere described in the book should prevail in the house before and after reading the book. Creating a genuinely religious home requires complete sincerity. Such actions alone cannot fulfil the guardians' responsibility without establishing a spiritual environment at home.

I want to give an example in this regard. In August 1996, I travelled to America and attended a gathering at Mountain Valley Mosque in New Jersey. The event primarily involved women, and the focus of the speech was on the Islamic upbringing of children in American society. My message to them was that imparting Islamic upbringing to the next generation requires more than merely appointing a religious scholar to teach religious studies every evening or relying on distributing religious messages in the names of one’s children or exposing them to cultural practices. The solution lies in Islamizing your home. If you genuinely want to instil Islamic values in your children, make religion the centre of conversations at home, prioritizing it over worldly matters. Pivotal in this is the role of the mother.