|
Training Children to Fast
Q. Fasting becomes required as a duty when a boy or a girl attains the age of puberty. Prior to that, it is not obligatory. This is the case with all Islamic duties of worship. But we are recommended to train our children to pray when they become seven years old. A Hadith directs us to tell our children to pray when they are seven and to beat them up lightly for not praying when they are ten. The question arises whether the same applies to fasting. How do parents encourage their children to fast during Ramadan
A. Generally speaking, the best answer to a question like this is that which is provided by an authentic Hadith. In this respect, we have a Hadith related by Al Bukhari on the authority of one of the youngest lady companions of the Prophet named Arrubayyk bint Moawith. She reports: “The Prophet (Pbuh) sent messengers to the villages of the Ansar on the morning of Ashura (i.e. tenth Muharram) with the message: He who has started the day not fasting, let him finish his day, and he who has started the day fasting, let him continue fasting. We used to fast that day afterwards, and make our children fast as well. We would make them woollen toys. If any of them cried of hunger, we would give him a toy to play with until it was time for ending the fast.”
It is important to note here that prior to making fasting obligatory during the month of Ramadan, it was a duty for Muslims to fast on the tenth of Muharram. When the Prophet migrated to Madinah, he found out that Jews fasted on that day. When he questioned them, they told him that they celebrated the anniversary of the event when Moses was saved by Allah from his enemies. The Prophet said that he and the Muslims have more in common with Moses and they were better entitled to celebrate that occasion. He ordered his companions to fast on that day. Although fasting on the tenth of Muharram is no longer obligatory, it is still recommended as a Sunnah.
It is perfectly clear from this Hadith that the companions of the Prophet used to make their children fast. It is important to understand that fasting is not obligatory to children until they have attained the age of puberty. Most scholars agree that children may be encouraged to fast, if they can bear the hardship. There are differences among scholars, however, with regard to when to start the training of children to fast. Some of them suggest the age of seven or ten, as in the case of prayers. Others, like Ahmad ibn Hanhal, suggest beginning at ten, while some mention the age of twelve. The Maliki scholars generally have a different view which suggested that children need not be encouraged to fast. But this view cannot be supported by valid evidence. I have already mentioned that the Maliki school of thought considers “the practice of the people of Madinah” a valid indicator of what is acceptable in Islam. The fact that Madinah was the cradle of Islamic society and that most of the companions of the Prophet lived there and continued to be there for a long time after the Prophet has moulded life in Madinah in the proper Islamic fashion, makes its way of life an example of Islamic life. Hence, when something is a common practice among the people of Madinah, it must be supported by Islamic teachings. Al Bukhari points out that the practice of the people of Madinah in this particular connection was to encourage children to fast. He relates that Umar, the second Caliph, saw a man who was drunk during one day in Ramadan. He rebuked him saying: “Confound you, how do you do this when our children are fasting?” This report suggests that it was a common practice among the people of Madinah at the time of Umar, when Islamic practice was still perhaps at its purest, to encourage children to fast, as a means of training. According to the Hadith which we have quoted, the children who were encouraged to fast at the time of the Prophet must have been very young, probably less than ten years of age. This is evident when the companion of the Prophet who reports this Hadith says that mothers used to make soft toys in order to use them as a distraction to their children who might cry from hunger.
It is needless to say that encouraging a child to fast does not mean forcing him to fast throughout the month. That is neither wise nor necessary. Parents should approach the training of their children to fast in an easy, relaxed way which makes fasting desirable to the child. Moreover, a child may be encouraged to fast one or two days to begin with, perhaps when he is nine or ten years old. The number of days may then increase gradually, so that when he attains the age of puberty, he finds that fasting the whole month presents no difficulty. Such an easy way will be in tune with the Islamic approach to religious duties.
|
