An Important Point About Raising Children

By al-`Allaamah Muhammad ibn Saalih al-`Uthaymeen (رحمه الله):

“Children should be taught rulings with their evidences. Eg: If you want to say to your child: ‘Mention the name of Allaah upon eating and praise Allaah when you’ve finished’, if you say that then you have achieved the objective.
However, if you say: ‘Mention the name of Allaah upon eating and praise Allaah when you’ve finished, because the Prophet ﷺ commanded us to mention Allaah upon eating – he said:
‘Indeed Allaah is pleased with the servant who eats food and praises Him over it, and who drinks and praises Him over it.’

If you say that, you will have achieved 2 benefits:

1 – You accustom your child to follow the evidences
2 – You nurture them upon love of the Prophet ﷺ and instill in them the belief that the Prophet ﷺ is the Imaam who is followed who’s directions we must take.

This is, in reality, something which many are heedless of; most people only teach their child the rulings but they don’t attach these instructions to their source, which is the Qur’an and Sunnah.”

• al-Qawl al-Mufeed `Alaa Kitaab al-Tawheed 2/423