Today I received a letter from one of the diligent Shaykhs from Canada, whom I had known in the Holy City of Qum where we both studied some years ago. In his letter he had attached a very beautiful picture of his library with his young daughter. The picture, which was symbolically revealing, reminded me of a tradition of Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (‘a), in which he said: "Al-banaatu hasanaat wal banuna ni’ma.” (Daughters are beautiful deeds and sons are blessings.) [Al-Kafi, v.6, p.6]. The hadith continues to say “...wa innama yuthabu ‘ala al-hasanaat wa yus’alu ‘an al-ni’ma” (...and indeed one is only rewarded for good deeds and interrogated for blessings) which reveals how fortunate the parents of female offsprings are. Firstly, since they are good, they produce good, and secondly, because they produce good they are rewarded. In monotheistic terms, Allah gifts them with a female offspring first and then rewards them again for having accepted the reward. The challenge however, is to “maintain” the identity of one’s female offspring as “hasana” (good deed). If we take things for granted and be lax in training our “cutie” little daughters by not giving them a suitable environment to develop in matters of cognition and morality, they can lose their identities and instead of “cuties” turn into “snooties”. According to mystic scholars, a woman has the potential to brilliantly manifest Divine Attributes of Beauty if she struggles and travels on the path to Allah. We as parents, therefore, must assist our daughters in this journey. How? In facilitating a foundation that would motivate them to aspire and struggle for Immaculate Beauty. How euphoric it is when one realizes that her daughter is the foundation of an entire radiant generation! In a hadith, Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (‘a) explaining the verse “So We desired that their Lord should give them in exchange one better than him in respect of purity and closer in mercy” [18:81] says “[After the death of the child, Allah bestowed the parents with a female offspring from whom came seventy Prophets.” [Tafsir al-Burhan, v.3, p.656] Only a brilliant daughter can be the source of seventy Divine Prophets! This is how we should raise our cuties!!!
Monday, November 12, 2007
RAISING OUR CUTIES!!!
Today I received a letter from one of the diligent Shaykhs from Canada, whom I had known in the Holy City of Qum where we both studied some years ago. In his letter he had attached a very beautiful picture of his library with his young daughter. The picture, which was symbolically revealing, reminded me of a tradition of Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (‘a), in which he said: "Al-banaatu hasanaat wal banuna ni’ma.” (Daughters are beautiful deeds and sons are blessings.) [Al-Kafi, v.6, p.6]. The hadith continues to say “...wa innama yuthabu ‘ala al-hasanaat wa yus’alu ‘an al-ni’ma” (...and indeed one is only rewarded for good deeds and interrogated for blessings) which reveals how fortunate the parents of female offsprings are. Firstly, since they are good, they produce good, and secondly, because they produce good they are rewarded. In monotheistic terms, Allah gifts them with a female offspring first and then rewards them again for having accepted the reward. The challenge however, is to “maintain” the identity of one’s female offspring as “hasana” (good deed). If we take things for granted and be lax in training our “cutie” little daughters by not giving them a suitable environment to develop in matters of cognition and morality, they can lose their identities and instead of “cuties” turn into “snooties”. According to mystic scholars, a woman has the potential to brilliantly manifest Divine Attributes of Beauty if she struggles and travels on the path to Allah. We as parents, therefore, must assist our daughters in this journey. How? In facilitating a foundation that would motivate them to aspire and struggle for Immaculate Beauty. How euphoric it is when one realizes that her daughter is the foundation of an entire radiant generation! In a hadith, Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (‘a) explaining the verse “So We desired that their Lord should give them in exchange one better than him in respect of purity and closer in mercy” [18:81] says “[After the death of the child, Allah bestowed the parents with a female offspring from whom came seventy Prophets.” [Tafsir al-Burhan, v.3, p.656] Only a brilliant daughter can be the source of seventy Divine Prophets! This is how we should raise our cuties!!!
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