Passing on lasting faith and raising strong Muslim children is no easy feat. There is an alarming statistics about the youth leaving the Muslim faith in droves. If you’re a Muslim with kids, you have almost certainly looked for tips to raise strong Muslim children or asked yourself, “What can I do to strengthen their Muslim Identity?”

Without the guidance from Allah raising children with strong faith is an impossible task. So, reliance on Allah is the first step and a must!  With that reliance, while you continue to pray to raise successful Muslim children for this life and the next, here’s a few ways you can model to help strengthen kids Muslim identity.

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Talk to your Kids about Allah to help build faith

Engage in conversation about Allah. Teach your child who Allah is and how unconditionally He loves them. This most certainly will incite curiosity resulting a lot of question. Be open to answer any questions they have.

My daughter, for the longest time, was upset that Allah was referred to as He and not she. It was difficult one for her to comprehend because how can Allah be referred to as ‘He’ when He loves her more than her mother does.

I remember asking the same question when I first learned English. I was told Allah is referred to as He because men are more powerful than women and since Allah is Almighty and The Most Powerful, ‘she’ should not be used. It’s a flawed and totally wrong answer. I didn’t want to give the same answer I received as a child to my daughter. She was too young to understand the gender roles and the honor women have in Islam. And I didn’t want to confuse her more.

I was unsure how to answer because it was a non-issue in Bangla, my native tongue. So, I spoke to friends who have kids of similar age to my daughter. Many of them said Allah doesn’t have a gender and I knew that answer wasn’t going to be easy for a 5 year old to understand.

After some research, I found out that the issue is mostly for English speaking kids and any language that has gender differentiating pronouns. So, I had to be careful that I don’t use a pronoun when I was referring to Allah until she grew a bit older and understood how the Arabic language works differently than English when it comes to he/she.

It is very important that we take kids questions seriously. If you don’t know how to answer a question, seek knowledge from books, friends, research together or better yet go to your local imam/scholar together with your child to learn and understand the answer together.

Here’s some recommended books that teaches children about Allah’s love.

Plant a seed in your kids for them to aspire to be in Jannah

While you encourage your kids in learning about Islam and doing good deeds, talk to them, in an age appropriate way, how they will be rewarded with Jannah for their good deeds. Talking about the rewards gained through their actions can be a good motivation for the kids.

One of the biggest aspiration you can instill in children is to be in Jannah, the hereafter promised by Allah to all believers. Plant the seed early in your kids and motivate them to adopt good deeds and character which can help them strengthening their faith towards the journey of attaining Jannah. Ask them what they would like in Jannah. You will be amused by the things they want in Hannah. Assure them they will have everything they desire in Jannah.

Build Faith by Worshiping Together

Encourage your kids to join you in praying together. Kids often repeat and learn from the actions of the adults around them, so being a good example in front of them is very important. Be the role model for them. Take them to the masjid as often as you can to pray in congregation to Help them build faith, find a sense of community which will strengthen their Muslim identity.

Strengthen strong Muslim Identity through stories

Kids tend to lose interest quickly and have a very short attention span. But stories captivate them and is one of the best way to hold their attention. Teach them important faith lessons through stories from the Quran, seerah and the lives of sahabas.

Better yet, inspire them to chose their Super heros by telling them stories of real life super hero a.k.a the stories of many of the prophets. Tell them the story of Prophet Yusuf who had the superhero power to interpret dreams. Prophet Ibrahim (as) being able to resist fire as Allah made the fire cool for him. Prophet Musa (as) who had a ‘power stick’ that turned into a snake and ate all the snakes of the ‘bad guys’, and that his hand shone with the ‘power’ that Allah gave him. Or the story of how Musa used the power that Allah gave him in his ‘power stick’ to part the whole sea, and save the ‘good guys’ from the evil pharaoh.

Captivate and instill deep love of Islam in children through the many stories from Quran, seerah and the Sahabas.

Teach them how to make duaa

Duaa is a powerful weapon for believers. Teach them the basics of how to make dua for everything.

Duas are important ways to seek protection and assistance from Allah. Therefore, make it their priority to guide your child in making duas daily for many aspects of their life. This includes daily duas such as dua for waking up, before sleeping, before and after eating, while entering bathroom, while traveling etc.

Teach them that they can make due for the small stuff too such as toys, chips, and so on including protection and guidance.

Help Build Good Habits

According to Prophet (s.a.w)

“the most beloved deed to Allah is the most regular and constant even if it were little”

– Bukhari

This is why it’s important to encourage kids to build good habits in their daily life. After all good habits turn into good character. Here’s a few habits that you can encourage to build lifelong faith habit.

• Teach how to make wudu and pray correctly
• Take them to the masjid often
• Recite short duas i.e. duas for going to bed/waking up, dua for going out of the house, Ayatul kursi for protection, etc.
• Read the Quran daily – even if it is half a page.

Practice patience, do your best. In the end everything is in the hands of Allah so the most important is to make lots of dua for guidance for you and your child from Allah.

What Islamic parenting tips do you have to help children build firm faith and strengthen their Muslim identity?

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