Build Our Houses As Boarding Schools

Every parent wants to see his/her children grow up to be pious children. Not infrequently they send their children to a boarding school in the hope of their obtaining a better religious education, but sometimes, not all of the parents’ wishes come true. As it is written in the word of Allah:

Indeed, [O Muhammad], you do not guide whom you like, but Allah guides whom He wills. And He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided (QS Al-Qasas: 56).

This verse clearly confirms that there is no guarantee when we hand over our children to boarding schools that they will definitely become pious children. Creating a pious child is just like a sculptor who is sculpting each detail carefully, patiently, persistently and consistently until finally the statue is in accordance with the desired shape. When developing a pious child, the father and mother cannot leave him/her to someone else.

Fathers and mothers, let’s create a boarding school in our homes with a variety of regulations that starts from early childhood and let’s not have to rely upon other people. Establish an environment of study for the children in their own homes, because their wish is to be close to their parents in their own houses.

When creating a family boarding school, the father becomes an ustadz and the mother becomes the chairman of the dorm; it’s even better if a brother could be the teacher. If the teacher is not learned enough, call a teacher from outside and then the children, the mother, and the father can be the students. Begin with the early morning ritual of fajr prayer together, dhikr before dawn, prayers to the mosque in congregation, and read alMatsurat together followed by recitations and two lines of inline memorizing of the Holy Qur’an. In this way the father becomes a chaplain who can give a brief lecture and a light but weighty tadabur (a prepared list if necessaryof what the tadabur is for the day and the next, as well as any verses within the context of the story for the daily life and the father should be diligent in reading).

Regulations, leadership, and the routine events of a boarding school can also be replicated at home. Let the children see and enjoy living in the house. Piousness does not have to be learned somewhere else if it can be obtained from the family and if it can be obtained in the house why would we have to find out of the house? Is it not the parents who will be held accountable for their children’s education in the hereafter rather than teachers or ustadzs at school?

I have come to realize that the best education is at home and that parents as role models are a necessity through which piousness must be cultivated, from within the house and not by relying upon others. Finally, Al Qur’an, Surah Hud 123 reads:

And to Allah belongs the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth and to Him will be returned the matter, all of it, so worship Him and rely upon Him. And your Lord is not unaware of that which you do.

This verse helps us solidify our stance forward, namely that Allah (SWT) will not be negligent for all that we have done.

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Wallahu’alam

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