Grand Mufti Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi: Upbringing of the children is a right and an obligation of their parents

Nowadays we are witnessing attempts for searching substitutes for the parents and the people, in particular the children, to be identified as objects and to be evaluated in money. This contradicts the human nature and it also do not comply with the principles of the Islamic ethics at all. This fact can be confirmed by several principles.

First: Parents – and the mother in particular, cannot be substituted neither from foster parents, nor from social services or organizations, because the child need maternal care, filled with love and spirituality. In whatever difficult circumstances a child may be, it feels comfortable and cozy under the protection and the care of its mother, and not of anyone else, even if that other person provides it with shiny toys or “good conditions”. The so called good conditions can be good in the eyes of someone but they are not this cozy environment for the child who has to live with them. The elder generation knows well the conditions in which they lived and were brought up, but they also know the happiness which they experienced in their childhood. In short, here it is not a question neither of discipline, nor of norms, but of spirituality and soul which the parents have given to their children and they have to continue to bring up this spirituality day and night, and not by imposing certain norms by someone.

Second: Qur’an-i Kerim is reference which helps people to go in the right direction. If a person loses his orientation, he loses himself. Practice has shown that when humanity deviates from the way of the Qur’an it gets a lot of bitter fruits. Now the same will happen if people do not comply with the principles of the Holy book. But let us not forget that this time it is not a matter of justice, neither of material gain, nor of environmental protection, but of preserving the vicegerent of the Exalted Allah on the earth.

Let us see what Allah says about the upbringing of children who follow their parents:

 “And those who believed and whose descendants followed them in faith - We will join with them their descendants, and We will not deprive them of anything of their deeds.”

(Holy Qur’an, Sura At-Tur:21)

It is very important to pay attention to the phrase “and their descendants followed them”, because this is about transmitting values which are genetically driven in the parents and not in strange people or organizations. In practice it is known that even the animals follow the parental instinct which enables the younger generation to accept the norms and the way of life of their parents.

Third: By taking children away from their parents and giving them to foster families or social organizations the human dignity and its superiority over the other creatures of the Exalted Allah becomes meaningless. This taking away and adoption is a kind of returning to slavery that has historically passed and which equates the person with a product which is being sold or bought.

Fourth: Can someone imagine a child, which has been brought up without parents or more exactly – without parental care?! How will it itself one day be able to be a parent and will it be able to take care of its children?! And one more thing, what kind of society and what kind of nation is expected from people who have lost their genetically driven values?

Taking a child away from its parents and bringing it up in another environment (whatever it is) is an another attempt to change the human nature for which the Exalted Allah says:

“So direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the fitrah of Allah upon which He has created [all] people.”

(Holy Qur’an, Sura Ar-Rum:30)

While the change of human nature is mentioned as an act of the shaitan (Satan) in another verse:

“…and I will command them so they will change the creation of Allah ."

(Holy Qur’an, Sura An-Nisa:119)

No one of the religions allows disrespect to the most cherished feelings of people such as the parental.

The philosophy of Islam is clear:

“Upbringing of the children is a right and an obligation of their parents”

Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi, 

Grand Mufti of the Muslims in the Republic of Bulgaria