Muslim Parenting

MashAllah! Soundvision offers a really great list of tips for Muslim parents of teenagers on supporting their children in growing into good Muslim adults.

Some of the tips focus on increasing family time and fortifying ourselves first as a way of strengthening our parenting. Other tips, like ‘building’ a masjid in your home, dating your teenager, and having a halal fun day once a month are pretty innovative.

The article suggests that we marry our teenagers early - I think the assumption here is that although married the couple may continue living with their respective parents and keep going with their studies. This is culturally foreign to me - but may well be a good strategy if well thought out and managed.

Anyway, teens can be exasperating and full of novel ideas as the Soundvision article is, it is worth a read.

There have been a number of well-publicized cases in Quebec, Canada recently involving Muslim hijabi girls who had been denied the right to participate in their chosen sports because they wanted to do so while wearing their headscarves.

Alhamdullilah, most hijabis won’t face such overt prejudice and blocks to taking part in sports. But the lack of role models in this area may be just as disheartening.

With that in mind, I was blown away when I came across this Iranian Women’s Sports Federation video. While I could have done without the heavy nationalism, it was wonderful to see women competing fully in modest dress.  I for, one had never seen so many hijabis competing before and in in what form!

To be fair, it’s obvious that some sports are more suited to hijabis than others. I felt rather sorry for the female runners, for example and saw no swimmers or divers (though I do know that Iran sponsors an all-women’s games that may feature these sports).  On the plus side, martial arts stands out, as a hijabi sport and Iran is well known for its female archers. At any rate, the video is remarkable for showing that the muhajaba sisters can at least compete in most sports.

Insha’Allah, an inspirational clip for our daughters who cover.