We might assume that the governments can encourage the...

We might assume that the governments can encourage the people to set up families by giving them various rewards and incentives and thus eliminate the problems of regeneration and reproduction; but it should be noted that the social methods and customs that are devoid of natural backing (like parent-children affection) cannot last. Besides this fact, not benefiting from one of the natural instincts will inevitably deprive man of a series of pure spiritual pleasures.

The Rights of Children on Parents Since man is created in such a manner that his life is not everlasting in this world, and because willingly or not, he dies after some time, Allah has established the method of reproduction, has provided people with the means of reproduction, and has directed man’s inner feelings towards it in order to safeguard the mankind from total annihilation.

It is because of this overall mobilization that man naturally considers his child to be an inherent part of himself and assumes his child’s survival to be that of his own. For this very reason, man goes through all kinds of endeavors and makes efforts for the comfort and happiness of his children and endures various hardships, for he considers the annihilation of his child or his child’s personality to be his own annihilation or the annihilation of his own personality.

Indeed, man obeys the order of the world of creation, which demands the survival of mankind. Thus it is the duty of parents to implement the order enjoined by conscience and religious laws with regard to their children and to bring them up very well, so that they may grow into decent human beings. Parents are also duty bound to consider rightful for their children those things that they consider rightful for themselves from the viewpoint of humanity.

Some of the duties of parents are as given below: (1) Parents must establish and make firm the foundation of praiseworthy ethics and decent attributes in the natures of their children from the very first day that they begin to understand words and signs. They must not frighten their children with superstitious subjects as much as they can. They must prevent them from committing evil and unchaste acts.

The parents, too, must avoid lying, ill-speaking, and using bad language and obscene words in front of the children. The parents should perform decent deeds, so that the children might be brought up as chaste and magnanimous people.