When I spoke about my daughter Noor's fasting (she's eight and a half by the way) and my encouragement to her about mee…

When I spoke about my daughter Noor's fasting (she's eight and a half by the way) and my encouragement to her about meeting Allah joyful with her, some brothers objected that we shouldn't tire children with fasting. So I say, dear ones: scholars stated that we shouldn't burden children if fasting harms them or weakens their strength, but at the same time, it's ((((completely)))) wrong to shield the boy or girl from the slightest hardship and be keen that they don't experience hunger for a moment!

I liked what I heard from my brother educator Anas Sheikh Akreem saying: (Hunger is the best way to teach patience...for the child to hunger for hours, then eat and feel the value and pleasure of food), and he mentioned the well-known saying: (Spare your children from your sparing of them!).

Yes, hunger while waiting for the next meal is a wonderful way to train patience, and we've unfortunately lost it with the sweets children buy with daily allowance and the open fridge policy at all times.

So how when teaching patience is joined by accustoming your child from a young age to sacrifice for Allah's sake...that you sacrifice the pleasure of food and drink seeking Allah's countenance. The meaning of sacrifice for Allah's sake is absent from our upbringing in many cases. And Ramadan is an opportunity for an intensive thirty-day course where this great meaning's seeds are watered every day.

It's narrated that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) used to make their children fast, and when they got hungry they gave them toys to distract them.

Spare your children from your sparing of them! And raise patience and sacrifice in them, for it's more beneficial for you and them in this world and the Hereafter. The child who doesn't endure or sacrifice is a burden on himself and on you.

The attached comment is from one of the sisters on the post about my daughter. Her son's face lit up when he heard (to meet Allah joyful with you)...these meanings find echoes in our children when they come from our hearts and they read that in our facial features...believe me! For Allah created children with innate love of Him...