Bismihi Ta’ala
At the beginning of the academic year, after the long vacation, a parent brought her child to a maktab on the first day of Madrasah and requested to meet her child’s Apa. After chatting a while with the Apa, she mentioned to her, “I don’t know what you have done to my child. We come from a fairly affluent background. My husband and I are both professionals and work late almost every day. In December, we went to the sea side for a week’s break. I was surprised to note that at the time of every salaah, my son made sure that we all performed our salaah on time. He put an alert tone on the Salaah App to alert us and would wake up himself at the time of Fajar to call out the azaan loudly in the room.”
Saying this, the mother left her child and went on her way. The Apa thanked Allah Ta’ala for what she heard and at the end of the day called the child to speak to him. She praised him for performing all his salaah on time and asked him what prompted him to do so.
“Apa, I was motivated by that book you read to us every day,” he said pointing to the Fazaail-e-Aamaal on the shelf. “When you read to us the stories of the Sahaabah (radiyallahu anhum) and the pious and how punctual they were on their salaah, I also felt encouraged to read my salaah on time and encouraged my parents and siblings to do the same.”
Every day at the maktab, the Apa reads out a section from the Fazaail-e-Aamaal to encourage and motivate the children to perform salaah, recite Qur-aan Shareef, make zikr, etc. Reading the Ahaadith of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam from these books is one of the most effective ways of moulding the mind of a Muslim child.
Our senior Ulama and pious elders are stressing the importance of reading the “Fazaail-e-A’maal” and Fazaail-e-Sadaqaat” written by Shaikhul Hadeeth, Hadhrat Moulana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi Saahib (rahmatullahi alayh). These books have been written with lots of sincerity and sacrifice by one of the greatest saints of his time. Reading the advices of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) most definitely will leave its mark on the hearts and minds of these little children.
A time should be allocated daily for the entire family to sit together and read these books. This will create a desire in our hearts to practice on our Deen and to refrain from sins.
May Allah Ta’ala grant us all the taufeeq to diligently read these books daily.