When do Waqf-e-Nau children renew their dedication?

There is no fixed age. Whoever continues to identify with the dedication as an adult confirms it by doing so. An explicit renewal is only asked for when it is requested or when there is doubt whether the interest is still there.

With Waqf-e-Nau, parents dedicate their child to the service of faith even before it is born. The child itself could not be asked at the time. That is why it matters that, as an adult, it stands by this dedication itself. Many parents therefore ask when this should happen. At sixteen, on coming of age, or only after university?

The answer is simpler than expected. There is no particular age and no fixed ceremony that everyone has to go through. When a young person grows up and still sees himself as Waqf-e-Nau, he has thereby already confirmed his parents' dedication. He does not need to pronounce it formally again.

An explicit renewal only comes into question in two cases. The first is when the community asks young people to do so. Then they should do it. The second is when it becomes apparent that someone has lost interest in faith or in his task. Then he is asked directly and invited to make a clear decision.

This rule brings together two ideas from the Holy Qur’an. A promise that has been given must be taken seriously, as the second verse above says. At the same time, no one should be held to a religious commitment against his will. A dedication only has value when a person carries it with a free heart.

For parents this means not putting pressure on their child, but talking with it and guiding it well. In this way the willingness they once expressed on the child's behalf gradually becomes the child's own.