۱۰ فروردین ۱۴۰۳ |۱۹ رمضان ۱۴۴۵ | Mar 29, 2024
News ID: 351572
11 April 2018 - 09:10
۴ Instructions to help children understand Quran

One of the best decisions we can make for our children as Muslim parents is to help them understand the Quran and to help them start a lifetime journey of getting to know Allah and worship Him as He has commanded us to do.

Hawzah News Agency - This is in fact one of our duties as Muslim parents to raise children who are successful in this life and in the hereafter through their adherence to the Quran and the Sunnah. This is why the task of helping our children to understand the Quran is important. Whether you are a new parent or not, there are some tips that can help you in your journey to raising a child that understands the Quran.

 

Find an Excellent Teacher:

The reality of life is that not every parent can teach their child the Quran at home, for several reasons. A large part of which is the fact that even though we ourselves can read the Quran, we may not have the expertise/knowledge required to teach it to someone else.

This is why one of the best decisions that you can make for your child is to find them an excellent teacher of the Quran who can teach, guide and instill a love of the words of Allah into their hearts.

 

 

How do you find an excellent teacher?

Being a Hafidh or Hafidha (someone who has memorized the whole Quran) is excellent, but beyond that, there are other qualities that you may want to look out for in your child’s prospective teacher.

  • What is their curriculum for teaching like? Is it only Quran memorization? Or does it include other aspects of the Deen that will help the child become a well-rounded individual?
  • If the child is going to attend a Quran school outside the home, how are the school’s environment and facility like? Are they safe and conducive for children?
  • What are currently enrolled students’ parents saying about the school?

 

All of these questions are what any parent will normally ask themselves when enrolling their child in a regular school, and it is equally important to ask these questions when enrolling your child in a Quran school.

Beyond these questions, it is advisable to also find out about the prospective teacher. The kind of person that they are in their community, how they interact with others and what people/students have to say about them.

 

 

This may seem like digging into someone’s life, but if this person is going to be responsible for helping you build the foundation of Islam in your child, you want to be sure that they themselves are an embodiment of those values as much as humanly possible.

With a good teacher, there is a higher chance that a child will understand the Quran fairly more easily.

 

 

Effective Revision:

The only way that you can see a teacher’s efforts and have it everlasting, is to help your child revise consistently at home. The teacher may have laid the foundation, but for the knowledge to stick, you need to help your child follow up with what they have been taught.

 

 

How do you make revisions effective?

Revisions are effective when the child is able to retain and use what they have been taught by the teacher. And this does not come by accident or because of intelligence. It requires consistently ensuring that your child gets all that they need to help them revise what they were taught.

 

To make their revision of the Quran effective, three things are important:

  • Time: Many people say that the early hours of the day, before or after Fajr salah, are the best for memorizing and reviewing the Quran. Help your child pick a suitable time and stick to that time every day so that you can create a familiar routine.

 

  • Space: It is also a good idea to find a secluded spot in the house, for the purpose of memorization/revision of the Quran. Because it will reduce distractions and help the child attach that spot to their learning, the same way we attach the Masjid to Salah.

 

  • Attention: Everyone can benefit from having someone help them with their revision of the Quran, but more importantly for children, having you there to guide them, remind of forgotten bits or even keep them company while they revise can easily boost their revision sessions. Your presence will also help their minds from straying from their Quran.

 

Arabic Immersion:

As the language of the Quran, Arabic plays a big role in how we understand the Quran. It’s nearly impossible to say that you understand a book when you do not understand the language that it was written it. This is why, in the journey to understand the Quran, your child will also need the knowledge of the Arabic language.

For non-Arabs, many teachers of the Quran will also teach Arabic. And like the Quran, a child needs constant revision and practice to understand Arabic.

 

 

Now, one of the best methods that have been proven to work for children, is to immerse them in the language, even if it is artificially. This means that you don’t have to migrate to an Arab country, but you can create an atmosphere of Arabic in the home through the following methods:

  • Label everyday data-x-items in Arabic (e.g fridge, spoons, plates, etc.)
  • Teach (and continue to use) Arabic phrases for everyday sentences (e.g "put on your shoes")
  • Use learning resources (books, downloaded printables, etc.) to increase their Arabic vocabulary and reinforce the vocabulary with real-life examples.

 

 

All of these methods will help them understand Arabic better and this will, in turn, have a positive effect on their recognition of words in the Quran, and ultimately, their understanding of the Quran.

 

Hold or Attend Tafsir Sessions:

The Quran holds a huge wealth of information, probably more than any of us can fully grasp in our lifetime. It is not a storybook, but it is a book full of stories that should guide our lives. This is why, in your child’s journey to understand the Quran, let there be lessons about the Quran. Tell them the history/background/reason behind a verse or chapter, so that it can deepen their understanding of it.

 

 

Even if you think that you are not a teacher of the Quran, you can read up on Tafsirs of verses and chapters of the Quran and share that knowledge with your child, or you can strive to attend excellent lectures hosted by local mosques around you. You can build this into a family-bonding tradition that will help all of you understand the Quran better.

Having the proper knowledge of the Quran is a duty that every Muslim must fulfill in their lifetime, and as Muslim parents, there is no greater responsibility that we have towards our child than to help him/her acquire this knowledge so that they can fulfill their life's purpose of worshipping Allah.

 

 

Comment

You are replying to: .