Parents shape children through daily choices
“Are the choices I'm making today helping raise my child and bringing them closer to Allah or is it helping push them away?”
Parents are responsible shepherds whose daily faith, character, marriage, and home environment profoundly shape the next generation.
The khutbah in 5 steps
- Expresses gratitude for Allah’s blessings and reminds listeners that although they cannot choose when they die, they can choose how they live and depart.
- Introduces the community’s expanded youth program and emphasizes parents’ primary influence over children’s upbringing.
- Explains the hadith that every person is a shepherd responsible for their flock, applying it to imams, fathers, mothers, and households.
- Uses the upbringing of Imam Malik, Imam al-Shafi‘i, Imam al-Bukhari, Imam Ahmad, and Salahuddin al-Ayyubi to show the impact of parental effort, character, prayer, and environment.
- Concludes by asking families to evaluate whether their choices bring children closer to Allah and announcing the youth-program preview.
In the khateeb's words
“So once again, you and I cannot choose when we depart, but we can choose how we depart.”
“It is not a matter of knowing many ahadith. It is a matter of what ahadith you allow to transform you.”
“Are the choices I'm making today helping raise my child and bringing them closer to Allah or is it helping push them away?”
For the dinner table
The khateeb reminded us that each of us is a shepherd, responsible for caring for the people entrusted to us. Youth programs can help young people grow, and parents have an important role in nurturing faith at home. Children learn from how adults treat each other, especially when they disagree, so listening and controlling anger are part of teaching good character. Through stories about the mothers of Muslim scholars, he emphasized nurturing children’s gifts and teaching kindness and good manners alongside knowledge. He encouraged families to make choices that bring children closer to Allah and prayed that parents raising children alone receive the community’s support.
- What is one way you could care for someone who looks up to you this week?
- What helps you listen kindly when you disagree with someone?
- What could we do at home to make learning about Islam something we look forward to together?
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