What makes us love our Lord most? What is the act that Allah gives the most importance after belief? How do we communicate with our Creator? In which blessed time periods are we closer to him? What is our first deed presented to Allah? Which is the worship that is in all heavenly religions and that gathers all kinds of gratitude and dhikr in itself?
Our worship, which is an inseparable part of the life of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) and has many otherworldly and worldly benefits, is our prayer.
After entering the borders of the city of faith, almost all roads lead to it. Our Lord commands us to pray five times a day, as a requirement of our servitude agreement and to constantly remember that we are servants only to Him and not to other beings.
Our children! How should we order them to pray? How can we make them love prayer? At what age should we ask them to pray? What ways and methods should we use to do this? What should be done in order for them to be a conscious Muslim with wudu, prayer? Let's try to answer all these and similar questions by considering the exemplary practices of our Prophet and considering the interests and needs of today's children.
When we look at the matter from our children's side (if we make it easy), they are not responsible for the five basic worships of Islam, pilgrimage and zakat. The vast majority of people love to fast.
So one prayer remains. If only they could continue to pray! Wouldn't they have solved this? Since this prayer will prevent them from evil, here is a fully-fledged Muslim.
Why can't we show much less of our effort for the smallest worldly thing, for our child's school success, or for his health, for the eternal life of the hereafter?
Is it possible to be a Muslim without prayer? Yes, we cannot say, "He who does not pray has no faith". But I don't know how long the fire of faith will burn in hearts without prayer, prayer or worship.
From this point of view, lack of prayer is worse than the worst disease. The disease ends the life of this world at most. But the other means, God forbid, eternal frustration. If we are responsible for our environment, our family and our children, we have to be the doctor of the disease of prayerlessness in them.
THE FOLLOWING ORDER IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION ON PRAYER AND WORSHIP:
1. Information,
2. endearing, convincing,
3. Awareness,
4. Application.
Let's pay attention to this order! There is a wrong application that we have encountered for years. We tell our puppies how to pray and say, "Let's do it".
These trainings are not permanent because we skipped the steps of endearing (inducing, persuading) and raising awareness. The main purpose of the prayer education of our young children; it is not that they perform the regular five daily prayers, but that they love the prayer and believe in its necessity.
Based on the hadith of our Prophet (PBUH), "Command your children to pray when they reach the age of seven", we can examine prayer education in three stages.
a) Preschool age (0-7 years),
b) Age of appeal (7-10 years old),
c) Recent childhood and adolescence (10 years and above).
“Is there any prayer education at very young ages?” don't say. Before the child reaches the age of seven, some preliminary preparations must be completed.
The level of readiness in the child should be increased so that when it comes to the age of appeal (it is time to separate the good from the bad, the right from the wrong), “What is this?” don't say.
If we say, "My child has reached the age of seven, let's pray," without making any preparations for prayer, this will certainly not happen.
If we take it from the beginning, we can take this education to the choice of a righteous or righteous spouse. Adopting the Islamic lifestyle is very important in terms of laying a foundation, from the factors it is exposed to in the womb to the halal bite to eat and drink.
From now on, it is necessary to guide and raise awareness of our child, who was born with a fitra, that is, inclined to believe and worship. In fact, the fact that we are addressing the feelings that our children bring from their nature while giving this education to them makes us and our work comfortable.
Children who pass in front of us while praying at a young age, play games by holding on to us, or ride on our backs should not be scolded, they should be tolerated. As a matter of fact, we know what his attitude was when the grandchildren of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) did this. As he approached them with tolerance, he even extended his prostration so that the child who climbed on his back while praying would not fall. Children observe and imitate our every state at a young age. There are two beings that take pictures of every moment. The first is angels, the second is our angelic children. Both have to pose nicely. Prayerful, worshipful, loyal, tolerant poses.