Faith Of A Child – The Islamic Perspective

FAITH of a CHILD – The Islamic Perspective. the Beginning... The process of man's physical development began with the creation of Adam from elements of dust. The rest of us were then made from an extract of water (semen) held in light esteem. God then made us complete and arranged for an Angel to breath soul into us and then made our limbs ears, eyes and heart.1 The Process of Embryonic Development... The Embryonic Stages of the development of the Foetus first involves the coming together of the sperm with the female egg forming a clot of congealed blood. This clot then forms into a lump (foetus) and out of this lump bones are made, and the bones are then dressed with flesh, and God is the Best to create. 2 The entire process is witnessed by an Angel who is put in charge of the Uterus and reports back to God the various stages of development. This Angle is then told by God about what gender the foetus will take and what nature the child once it is born will have i.e. whether it will be a doer of good or evil, how long it will live and what provisions it will have, all this is established in a record book whilst the baby is still in the mothers womb. This recording of the baby's life particulars by an angel in a record like book could be God's reference to the writing of the Human Genome. 40 day Segments..... The various stages of embryonic development are divided into segments of 40 days each, and on the 41st day of conception when the clot of congealed blood takes the shape of a foetus, God commands the Angel (that has been put in charge of the Uterus) to Breath Soul into the foetus3. With all this being commanded by Allah and overseen by the assigned Angel, the baby is born with the natural tendency to worship Allah as its Sole Deity. The Gender of a Child The Gender of a Child is gifted by God and cannot be manipulated either by the parents or by the medical team. It is God who bestows the gift of female offspring on whomever He wills, and the gift of male offspring on whomever He wills, because God's alone is the dominion over the heavens and the earth, and He creates whatever He wills.4 Destiny of a child... The Recording of Life’s particulars in a divinely kept record book does not mean that everything about the baby is set in stone because the one who writes the destinies can also change them. As if the writer of destinies is sitting there with an eraser topped pencil and what encourages Him to blot out sins are sound repentances, numeracy of good deeds balancing out the wrong deeds and sincere supplications and which begin to change destinies for people. Expansion of the term of life and it's provisions can also be achieved simply by treating one's relatives well.5

1 Quran (32: 7 - 9) 2 Quran (23 : 14 ) 3 Another of Prophet Mohammad's Teaching Statement known as Hadith. Hadith is an umbrella term which describes what Prophet Mohammad Did by way of an Example, or what He said by way of a Teaching Statement (also referred to as Hadith in the narrative sense) or “what others did” which He Specifically approved of 4 Quran ( 42 : 49) 5 Prophet Mohammad's Teaching Statement, Hadith, Narrated by his companion Abu Huraira, and recorded in a collection by Imam Bukhari 1

Destiny Changed in Support of a Sagely Word.... Prophet Musa (Moses) was once approached by a lady wanting to know how many children were written in her destiny. So, Musa enquired from God about it and was informed that there were none. This was conveyed to that lady who quite naturally was very disappointed. As she walked back home she happened to pass by a sagely person sitting on the wayside who enquired about the reason for her melancholic look, she told that saintly looking person the bad news that was just conveyed to her by Musa, with a casual wave of the hand, the man retorted to her “go..you will have 4...” Some years later that woman went back to Musa with 4 kids in her wake and wondered how she has 4 kids when only a few years ago she was told that there were none in her destiny. Musa reverted back to God and wondered with him about the same thing. God replied that, that was so then, however when a devout servant i.e. the saintly person sitting on the wayside, made a statement, how could He (God) not back that up, So, God changed the destiny of that woman from having no children to having 4 as was uttered by His humble servant. A Baby Famous for over two thousand years…! One hugely famous baby highly revered by both Muslims, who refer to Him as Issa The son-of-Mary, confirmed His servitude to Allah when He was ennobled by God to Speak from his crib, saying: “ I am indeed the servant of Allah, He hath given me Revelation and made me a Prophet 6… At the time of birth, if all babies were vouchsafed a similar miracle whereby they were enabled by God to speak, then the Islamic belief holds that they would testify to the Sole and Exclusive Divinity of God. Welcoming a New Born Child…. The Islamic ceremony to welcome a new born child to this world is an affirmation of this Exclusive Divinity and is performed by whispering the words of summoning to the prayers, the Adhan, the Islamic Call to the Prayers, in the child’s right ear Testifying the Greatness of God, His Unity, the Prophethood of Mohammad (pbuh)7 and then summoning the world and the Child to Prosperity through Prayer, the next stage of the process entails whispering in the child’s left ear the words of the Iqamah which is a shortened version of the call to prayer indicating that the prayer is about to begin. Then on the seventh day, the ceremony of Aqiqa is held which consists of sacrificing an animal one for a baby girl and two for a boy as a thanks giving, naming the child and shaving of the baby's head. How do Babies Get Their Faith…? With Allah commanding the Angel to breath soul into the foetus, how is it then, that many babies are born non-Muslim?The answer to this question is that “all” the babies in the world are in fact born with the “same” natural tendency to worship Allah alone, but soon after their birth the Parents superimpose their own Will over Divine Will and take their babies either to a Church or a Synagogue or a Fire Worshipping temple said Prophet Mohammad thereby imposing a Faith on the Child other than the natural Faith with which the child was born. When the Child reaches the age of maturity, if allowed the freedom to choose a faith for itself, it often reverts back to its natural born tendency. Hence, those entering Islam as a matter of choice in later life disdain the idea of being called converts claiming that they are merely reverting back to what they were born as. When does life begin? There are three main strands of opinions on this subject. (1) The first one holds that life originated in the first instance when the “souls”(not the physical construct) of every one who has ever been and who will ever be were created before the physical creation of Adam and asked by God “Am I not your 6 Quran (19: 30) 7 pbuh = These are the abbreviations of the full sentence “..Peace be upon him”. It is a standard practice amongst Muslims that whenever the name of Prophet Mohammad is mentioned, to pronounce God's Peace Upon Him. 2

Lord?” to which all the souls replied “..Aye”8 (2) The second opinion suggests that life, as in the normative sense of life and death on this earth, begins when the sperm combines with an egg fertilising it to form a clot of congealed blood (see paragraph 1 above) (3) And the Third, and by far the most widely held belief, is that, Life really begins when the Supervising Angel appointed over the Uterus is Commanded by Allah to breath soul into the foetus which by universally agreed opinion takes place on the 41st day of conception. Pivotal Role of a Mother…! A Mother occupies a pivotal role in a Muslim family, none more so than one of the most famous of all the mothers, Maryam (Mary) who was chosen by God and purified by Him and chosen above women of all times, dedicating a whole chapter of the Quran by her name. According to a very famous legend, a young man once asked Prophet Mohammad(pbuh) about who deserved his love and affection most, Prophet Mohammad(pbuh) replied “…your mother”, the young man repeated the question about 4 times and each time Prophet Mohammad(pbuh) replied “…your mother” replying only on the fifth occasion with the words “…your father”. Another legend on the same theme has it that a young man felt very good after having carried his mother on his back through out the 10 days of Hajj (the once in a life time pilgrimage that Muslims who can afford it are obliged to do), only to be told later that with every pang of childbirth his mother did him more favour than he did to her by carrying her on his back for 10 days. Another legend has it that, once Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) himself performed the last rites of a young man giving him the last bath, dressing him in the shroud and arranging him in his grave on which the mother of that young lad thought that her son was very fortunate that the Messenger of God was himself performing those rites to which Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) replied, that even then that young man will still receive some punishment of the grave for having been rude to his mother once. It is a right of every child before it is even born upon it’s father to ensure that the woman he is marrying who will be the mother of his children is a pious lady, litigation of a father against an uncaring son can fall apart if the child can prove that the father was negligent in this duty, and another obligation that a father owes to the child is to “give him a good wholesome and a meaningful name” Once the piety of a mother is assured, then the child is honour bound to show rightful grace in caring for his / her mother, and one sure way of earning paradise is servitude to one’s mother, Paradise lies beneath the feet of the Mother says one of the Traditions of Prophet Mohammad(pbuh). Children of Tsunami …. God in His Mercy compensates parents who loose young children through death or disasters by granting them immunity from Hell Fire. Children Who Die Early are thought to act as a shield for their parents protecting them from the Hell Fire. The Prophet said, "A Muslim whose three children die before the age of puberty will be granted Paradise by Allah due to his mercy for them.", and this would be so even for parents who have lost one or two children.

Last Rites for a miscarried or a deceased foetus... The consensus of opinion has it if a foetus was miscarried or born prematurely after gestating for more than 4 months then whether it comes out alive and whether it's cry is heard or not, then it is to be given a name and the last rites of washing, shrouding and funeral prayers are it's right. With regards to a miscariied or deceased foetus whose gender is not apparent giving it a name suitable for either gender would suffice. 8 Quran ( 7:172) 3

If the Miscarriage or premature birth happens earlier then the border date of 120 days, then the the scholars are of the view that the foetus is not in need of the ritual washing and Funeral Prayers but should nevertheless be shrouded and buried. ============================================================

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