AS THE CHILD DEVIATES: SHOULD WRONG ACTION BE MET WITH WRONG REACTION?

In the name of Allah , the Beneficent, the Merciful. May His peace and blessing be upon the noble prophet , Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم), his household, companions and the generality of Muslims both the living and the dead.
In all conscience, I feel sorry for those parents whose children have fallen victims of perverted creeds and ideologies of some deviant sects. Most painful is that of those whose children or wards were preyed upon through the rhetorical bait of some volatile preachers. No one can actually claim to really feel the pain of these parents. Their pain is too profound to share in if one has never experienced same. Some have lost their children to the course of the ISIS which reliable scholars of Islam unanimously declared unfounded, perverted and outrightly mischievous. Some others have their children brainwashed and taken to unknown world where they are either married out, in the case of females; or made to serve as foot soldiers, in the case of males, in a phenomenal struggle shrouded in obscurity.

No doubt, the pain is bound to be compounded if any word of advice sounds like a blame to the parent. But, when we weep, we try not to allow our teary eyes to blur our vision and focus. Else, we might hit our heads against another imminent rock of calamity. We have heard of cases where parents who have been trialed by this ordeal, as a result of the shock from it, stand against their wards in the strict adherence to the teaching of Islam. To some, that is exactly the way the one they lost to wrong ideology of Islam started. Therefore, they prevent the females in their custody from wearing the Hijab as commanded by Islam and the males from practising certain Sunnah. Obviously, this is borne out of a lopsided perception about the origin of the problem. It is a sheer reaction to an adversity that can probably be said to have resulted from their inactions. Moreso, there are one thousand and one dangerous sects in this precarious age ascribing to different faith and not only Islam which any unsuspecting mind can fall into any time. Parents need to answer some critical questions at the recess of their mind as diverting ones children from practising what is clearly in the teaching of Islam will only amount to meeting a wrong action with a wrong reaction.

Firstly, parents need to ask why their children could not confide in them before taking drastic steps. If I may consider a plausible answer as far as the issue at stake is concerned , I will say it is because they never trust their practice of Islam. There was a crack in the wall. Those they played into their hands appeared more honest in the issue of faith. Issues of Islam that should have been clarified within the four walls of the home were never given precedence till these children were accosted by them outside. They were laid ambush on with matters that should have been in the know about. The poor understanding of the parents about the creed of Islam and sheer hostility to strict adherence to it could have made their wards scampered for a safe haven in the hand of notorious individuals disguising as authorities in Islam.

Secondly, an Arabic adage says, the most endearing thing to man is what he has been prohibited from. At certain age you cannot just tell a person : do not go near A or B. The psychology of man is such that when you tell him A is bad , his mind becomes disturbed about the thought of A. Why is it bad? It is proper foundation and true knowledge (in this case knowledge of Islam) that guides in his quest to know why A is bad. It is not enough you come home and say certain people are extremists as you might have ranked them on your personal scale of liberal Islam (such an absurdity!) If a parent is poor in knowledge he should identify the righteous scholars who call to the pristine Islamic creed drawing from the Qur'an, hadith and the understanding of the Salaf and attach his child to them rather than postponing the dooms day with this sense of acutely misleading paranoia.
Where there are such scholars , wrong ideologies do not thrive. This is something those contemplating rehabilitative policies for a post Boko Haram North East has to put into consideration. They can get the blue print of institutions like the Islamic University of Madinah and cite one of such there to produce scholars who will work towards phasing out the remaining bastion of corrosive ideologies attributed to Islam.

This message is to be concise. My target readers are too weighed down by emotion to read anything appearing long without any assurance to bring back their jewels. It might benefit others and perchance, it might benefit them as well. The problem started with our lukewarm attitude to the matters of creed and Tawheed. The knowledgeable ones saw it coming , they warned but no one took heed. Hostility to Sunnah is never a solution to it. None of us is totally safe from trial we pray Allah never make us derail. Finally, I pray Allah bring back those who are still alive and extricate them from the clutches of the pseudo scholars of doom.

Ahmed Kamal