What principles guide raising children in Islam?

Every child is born with a pure and good nature. The task of parents is to preserve that goodness, and they do this above all by living by it themselves.

Upbringing in Islam starts from a hopeful idea. A child is not a blank page, nor is it bad from the start. God has created every human being with a pure nature that leans towards goodness and towards Him. So parents are given a good beginning.

It is a little like a journey. Sailing with the wind is far easier than struggling against it. Parents who strengthen a child’s good nature are working with that force, not against it. Their main task, therefore, is to preserve the goodness that is already there.

The biggest obstacle is usually not the child but the parents themselves. Children learn less from what they are told than from what they see at home. If parents do not care about truthfulness, prayer and kindness, their children will gradually follow them down the same path. The hadith above describes exactly this. The child is born pure, and it is the parents who shape it in one direction or another.

From this follow the principles the verses above mention. First comes faith in the One God. Then come prayer, doing good and patience in difficult times. All of this works best when children see it lived by their parents, in a home full of warmth and affection.

In this sense parents are stewards of something precious. They will be asked whether they protected the goodness in their children. The best upbringing, therefore, is a good example.