Word of Advice by Maulana Thanvi (rahmatullahi alayh)

A Word of Advice to Secular School Students :

For Allâh’s sake, take more pity than this on your children. The storm of atheism has engulfed the present generation. One has to be very careful. Ensure that you prevent your children from joining bad company and seek pious company for them.

You are probably under the impression that it is rather difficult to compel them to leave secular education and pursue Islamic education. I do accept your position. So let us do away with that as well. Allow them to study at school but please do accept a single request of mine. Instead of your children loitering about during the school holidays, send them to the Ahlullah (saints of Allâh) during the school holidays at least.

However, if you remonstrate that you won’t have any time left with your children if they attend school during the year and pursue the company of the pious during the holidays, I have a solution to that problem as well. Analyse the duration of the holidays and keep them with you for a greater part of the holiday and send them to the Ahlullah for a few days only. This advice was in favour of the children.

Now there remains a group towards which people pay no attention whatsoever, neither in regards to their education nor to their spiritual enhancement. People pay attention to their children albeit in an ungraceful way but they pay no attention to this group at all. And this group is the group of women. There is an urgent need to (spiritually) reform them. If they are in order, the children will also turn out to be pious because the very first years of a child’s life is spent in their company. This (spiritual) reformation can be achieved either by teaching them or by reading to them books dealing with jurisprudence and stories of the pious. Whether she listens or not, don’t let it bother you. Sit at home and recite these books aloud. Continue doing this and Insha-Allâh it will have a fruitful effect on her. However, don’t purchase the books without consulting the Ulama. Request them to make a selection of good books. In short, this is a method of (spiritual) reformation which doesn’t entail much physical exertion nor will it affect one’s worldly activities.