Once by God’s will the child is born into this material world...
Once by God’s will the child is born into this material world, Islam considers the parents highly responsible towards him. They should first realize the importance of this issue, and seek God’s help in fulfilling their heavy duties. We will briefly discuss these duties here. To successfully raise children, parents should consider the following two important points.
First, they should revive the child’s potential talents, and secondly they should work to eliminate the child’s wrong or harmful inclinations. A good teacher is one who studies and discovers the child’s talents and uses practical and scientific methods to develop them to the point of their perfection and application. He also destroys the potentially bad hereditary inclinations left over in the child from his parents or grandparents.
Imam Sadiq said: وَيَجِبُ لِلوَلَدِ عَلى والِدِهِ ثَلاثُ خِصالٍ: اخْتِيارُهُ لِوالِدَتِهِ وَتَحْسِينُ اسْمِهِ وَالمُبالَغَةُ في تَأدِيبِهِ. “Three rights for the child are incumbent upon his father: selecting a (good) mother for him, giving him a good name, and exerting the utmost effort in raising him well.” [^2] Thus Imam Sadiq has considered that parents must exert all efforts to raise their children. Imam Sajjad said: وَأَعِنِّي عَلى تَربِيَتِهِم وَتَأدِيبِهِم وَبَرِّهِم. “O God!
Please help me in raising and educating my children and making them good people.” [^3] Thus, we realize that raising children is a hard task and everyone should seek God’s help in this important affair. The Rights of Children Children have certain rights over their parents from the time that they are born. The first right relates to naming them. This right has been mentioned in many traditions. The Prophet said: مِنْ حَقِّ الوَلَدِ عَلى الوالِدِ ِ أنْ يُحْسِنَ اسْمَهُ ويُحَسِّنَ أدَبَه.
“Among the rights of child over the father are that he chooses a good name for him, and raises him well.” [^4] The Prophet said: سَمُّوا أوْلادَكُم أسْماءَ الأنْبِياءِ وَأَحْسَنُ الأسمَاءِ عَبْدُاللهِ وَعَبْدُالرَّحْمنِ. “Give your children the names of the Prophets. The best names are Abdullah and Abd al-Rahman.” [^5] The Prophet said: مِن حَقِّ الوَلَدِ عَلى والِدِهِ ثَلاثَة: يُحْسِنُ اسمَهُ ويُعَلِّمُهُ الكِتابَةَ ويُزَوِّجُهُ إذا بَلَغَ.
“Children have three rights over their father: that he give them a good name, teach them how to read and write, and marry them off when they mature.” ^6 Imam Ali said: حَقُّ الوَلَدِ عَلى الوالِدِ أنْ يُحْسِنَ اسمَهُ ويُحَسِّنَ أدَبَهُ ويُعَلِّمَهُ القْرآنَ.