UPBRINGING OF CHILDREN

UPBRINGING OF CHILDREN Actions Speak Louder than Words A CERTAIN person had special arrangements made for the training of his children. A Maulvi would come every day to give them religious education, while he himself would urge them to say their prayers regularly. Daily he would spend some time with them to help them memorize the basic Islamic creed kalima and the verses of benediction from the Quran. He would attempt to impart to them such moral values as respecting their elders, behaving with propriety towards others and so on. Nevertheless, when his children grew up, they were no different from the average person who is worldly and clever whenever his own interests are at stake. The reason for their early training having had so little effect was that it had been little better than a form of lip service. It had all been so many empty words—empty, because the role model presented by the father was that of a man of the world. When it came to mere words, he could be described as religious. But when it came to actions, all the aura of religiosity fell away from him. For such a man it was impossible to create a truly religious atmosphere within his own home. For example, there was a neighbour of his for whom he felt nothing but the most deadly antagonism. Having once imagined himself insulted by this man, his own ego went on fanning the flames of revenge. Out of sheer spite, he reviled his supposed enemy at home and did his level best to defame him in public. He even went to the extreme of trying to destroy his means of livelihood, by going to court and filing false cases against him. These reprehensible activities went on for fifteen long years. His children would, of course, hear of religious values from his lips but all the while they would be breathing in an atmosphere which had been poisoned by his destructive activities. And wherever the atmosphere does not match the pious utterances made in it, a set of double standards is bound to be the result. We should never forget that actions speak louder than words. Religious training is not achieved by the uttering of religious words; it calls for the sedulous building up of a religious atmosphere.