Why an Islamic Shop is Ideal For Buying Educational Toys

Being a Muslim parent, I realize the importance of the selection of products for your child. From the very beginning, it is vital to purchase products that are suitable for a Muslim, as early childhood development has an impact on the personality of your child. Toys are an important part of your child's growth and development, in particular for teaching and stimulating the child's cognitive and linguistic skills. An Islamic shop can cater to the needs of your child's growth and development as there are numerous toys available which aid the parents and other care givers in providing the child the proper reinforcement which helps in developing his skills to their optimum level.

Today as the awareness is increasing in parents about the positive results of these toys and tools, there are more toy makers which are coming up with creative and innovative educational toys for children. In particular these trends can be seen in religiously active sectors of the society which want to coach and groom their child according to the teachings of their religion. An Islamic shop is the best place to find educational toys that not only entertain but also help your child learn about the basics of the religion from very early childhood.

Teaching your child can be turned into a fun and interactive experience by a series of DVD's titled "Adam's World", which features a small Muslim puppet going through the day to day routines of life and learning about the fundamentals of Islam. This series of movies can be attained from your local Islamic shop. Other such movies are also available that can teach your child about the different aspects of Islam in a fun narrative and interactive way.

For older children, there are slightly more complex educational toys available at your local Islamic shop. These include Islamic computers, which teach the children how to read and recite the Quran with proper Arabic accent and also have various other teaching software's that teach and quiz your child about the teachings of Islam. There are also certain Hadith games available which allow the children to play together with friends and take challenges. The wooden puzzles that teach Arabic alphabets and small Arabic words to young children are also very popular amongst the Muslim parents and can be easily purchased at any Islamic shop.

So then why go to a regular toy shop when the best educational toys are available at an Islamic shop!

Sohail Khan works for Islamic Impressions, which started as a traditional Islamic shop specialising in retail and wholesale products for the Islamic market, now with branches in London, Birmingham, Denmark and Trinidad.

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Education and Islam

Islam is the religion of peace, and it is one of the most sacred and trustworthy religions, which has given us guidance in every aspect of life. Islam has given us education with knowledge which has no limits. The Holy Quran is the most sacred book of Allah revealed on Prophet Muhammad (SAW), for the upliftment guidance and enriched messages to the humanity.

Education is the knowledge of putting one's potentials to maximum use. Without education, no one can find the proper right path in this world.

This importance of education is basically for two reasons. Education makes man a right thinker. Without education, no one can think properly in an appropriate context you. It tells man how to think and how to make decision. The second reason for the importance of education is that only through the attainment of education, man is enabled to receive information from the external world. It is well said that

"Without education, man is as though in a closed room and with education he finds himself in a room with all its windows open towards outside world."

This is why Islam attaches such great importance to knowledge and education. When the Quran began to be revealed, the first word of its first verse was 'Iqra' that is, read..

The reflective book of Holy Quran is so rich in content and meaning that if the history of human thought continues forever, this book is not likely to be read to its end. Every day it conveys a new message to the humanity. Every morning, it gives us new thoughtful ideas and bound us in the boundaries of ethics.

Islamic Education is one of the best systems of education, which makes an ethical groomed person with all the qualities, which he/she should have as a human being. The Western world has created the wrong image of Islam in the world. They don't know that our teachings are directly given to us from Allah, who is the creator of this world, through our Prophets.

The Muslims all over the world are thirsty of acquiring quality education. They know their boundaries and never try to cross it. It is the West, which has created a hype that the Muslim are not in a path of getting proper education. They think that our education teaches us fighting, about weapons, etc., which is so false. This is true that there are certain elements, which force an individual to be on the wrong path, because as we will mould a child, they will be like that, but it doesn't mean that our religion teaches improperly to us.

Our Holy Prophet (SAW), said,

Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.

And:

Seek knowledge even [if it is to be found in a place as distant as China. At the battle of Badr, in which our beloved Holy Prophet (SAW) gained victory over his foes, seventy people of the enemy rank were taken to prison. These prisoners were literate people. In order to benefit from their education the Prophet declared that if one prisoner teaches ten Muslim children how to read and write, this will serve as his ransom and he will be set free. This was the first school in the history of Islam established by the Prophet himself with all its teachers being non-Muslims. The Sunnah of the Prophet shows that education is to be received whatever the risk involved.

Today, the Muslims are acquiring good ideas, thoughts, knowledge, and skills, from all corners of the world. The world is moving very fast, and in this industrialize world, It is the duty of the teachers to give quality ethical integrated education to the Muslim students worldwide, because children are invaluable assets of future generations.

The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) encouraged all Muslims to acquire knowledge and share it. He said:

"Acquire knowledge, for he who acquires it in the way of Allah performs an act of piety; he who speaks of it, praises the Lord; he who seeks it, adores Allah; he who dispenses instruction in it, bestows alms; and he who imparts it to others, performs an act of devotion to Allah." (Bukhari, Muslim)

All the teachers of either secular or religious education should give more attention to the pupils inside the classroom. It is necessary that in the Islamic system that we should consider these dear children as our own children, and put aside all other considerations, and rise above all such things and realize our duty and our mission. We should raise the standards of education and attend to the needs of these children. We should realize our duties with earnestness and awaken to the sense of responsibility. It has been seen that there are certain teacher who are not fulfilling their duties with keen interest. I would like to request all the teachers that for the sake of God, for the sake of your revolutionary duty, teach the children with devotion and dedication.

It is important that we advance our work through discussions, debates, studies, and through proper distribution of work among ourselves.

We must never forget that we are living in an Islamic State, and our aim should be simultaneously to create both an independent as well as an Islamic culture in character. Independence and richness of content are indeed among the characteristics of the Islamic culture. Our system is an ideological system.

We should make our child enthusiastic, dynamic, and this search should pervade every corner of our society. We should aspire them to be truthful and sincere.

Self-sacrifice and generosity, love of freedom, the resolve for resistance and headstrong perseverance, the courage to welcome martyrdom-all these are the new values of the new generation, which should be taught according to the teaching of Islam.

The doors of the school should always be kept open for the sake of Islam, for the sake of the Muslim Ummah.

Munir Moosa Sewani is one of the famous, prominent and creative names in the field of Education since 8 years. He is a Master Trainer In Special Education, Post Graduate, Teacher Educator and a Teacher. He is a Freelance Writer and Photographer too. He is an author of the famous self-published storybook for children named as "The MORAL STORIES FOR CHILDREN" and has also written Biology course book for Secondary Classes. He has written almost more than 40 articles on social, health, educational and cultural issues, which are internationally recognized and published on most of the famous world wide websites, magazines and newspapers. He is also a Social worker, private tutor, career counselor, musician, lyrics writer and have multi- dimensional talents. His future plan is to write dozens of informative books and articles and to work for education and media too.

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Raising Muslim Children

Children are gifts from Allah to every parent and can be considered as a pearl that is given to someone to be guarded and taken after. Hence, the person must take good care of it so that its originality conserved as when the pearl is given to him/ her. Children can also be considered as property that can be use as capital for a business, hence the property must be use wisely so that it can multiply and bring profits.

Children must be raise or taken care by the way of Allah. We must always seek guidance so that we don't make mistakes and we must also threat our children properly, with softness and not just according to our will. Most Muslim today take less effort in seeking guidance and knowledge as we think or assume that we know how to raise our babies, but actually the only knowledge we know about raising baby is just from the experience how we were raised by our parents. Most of us would just take the methods used by our parents that we agree and probably change some of it that we assume will become better. Most of us think that we know how to threat our children and don't want others to interfere. This kind of thinking is what makes Muslim children grows to someone that we are unsure of as the methods that we are using is not recognize and are only based on our assumption. There are many guides that we can follow which can be found in the Quran, books, and many other sources.

From the beginning, we should teach our child about Allah and that we are only slaves to Allah. Plan our child development by preparing what he or she would learn during their age. Get them used to good deeds from early age and always give them guidance in their activity.

Also take note that one of the best learning method is to teach by example. We as parents should first have good behaviors ourselves in order to shape our children's behavior as children can easily follow habits that are practice by parents. Make sure that we don't show bad examples such as smoking in front of them, driving wildly, throwing rubbish and etc.

For proper growth, enrich our children's spiritual, mental and physical aspects. These three factors must be balance and they should never be focused on only one of the factors because the imbalance can jeopardize another factor among the three. If education is only focused on mentality for example, the child will grow up not knowing Allah or weak in terms of physical.

Our children is our responsibility, we are the ones that should care most for them and not their teachers, nanny or grandparents. Caring isn't just being nice or pampering the baby but we must also know what to do, what is good for them and what isn't. Assuming is valid but it is seldom true, look for methods that have facts and don't just ask your feeling for 'what you want to do'.

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The Death of Aqsa Parvez - Islam and Honor Killings (Revised)

For that reason, we ordained for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul for other than murder or spreading corruption in the land, it is as if he has killed the whole of humanity... Qur'an 5:35

One of the gravest charges levied against Islam, in terms of its alleged antipathy towards women, is the claim that it encourages a phenomenon known as honor killings. This un-Islamic practice consists of the murder of female family members who are seen as dishonoring their families through real or perceived acts of indiscretion, such as premarital sexual relations or unapproved dating. This charge has been intensified recently due to the tragic murder of a Pakistani Canadian teenage girl, Aqsa Parvez.

The practice of honor killings has absolutely no sanction in the Qur'an, the Prophetic practice, or in the evolved systems of Islamic law. In the case of fornication or adultery, the only way a charge can be levied against an individual, male or female, is through confession, which is discouraged, or by four people actually witnessing the male organ penetrating the female. Even if four people witnessed a naked man engaged with a naked woman, but could not actually testify that they witnessed penetration, their testimony would be rejected.

In a somewhat related issue, it should be noted that in three of the four Sunni schools of law, as is the case with all of the major Shiite schools, pregnancy is not a proof of fornication, as the possibility of rape exists in such a case. Therefore, if a single woman were to become pregnant, according to the overwhelming majority of Islamic jurists, there is no basis for punishing her. In the few well-publicized instances where a pregnant woman has been threatened with death, the minority opinion of the Maliki School of law was unjustly evoked, as occurred in Nigeria, or criminal malfeasance occurred as is the case in Pakistan.

In the case of dating, there is no Islamically-mandated punishment for a male or a female seeing a member of the opposite sex against the wishes of their families. Such situations should be handled with counseling, compassion and a healthy dose of common sense. Muslim immigrants who have migrated to the West should realize that they have placed their children in an environment where there is a tremendous amount of anti-Islamic peer pressure. This is especially true if they have placed their children, as was the case of the young lady who was recently murdered in Canada, in public schools. Children who succumb to that pressure should not be seen as "bad" kids, for by the standards of the society that has shaped them, no matter how strong their home environment is, they are normal. To kill a female guilty of an offense such as dating or dressing like her peers under such circumstances is nothing short of cold-blooded murder, and no Islamic authority can argue otherwise.

The overwhelming majority of Muslim societies are free from the practice of honor killing, although it does endure in some parts of the Middle East and South Asia. According to statistics released by the United Nations in 2000 there are approximately 5,000 deaths annually from "honor" killings. Even if one killing occurred due to such barbarity, it would be one too many, as the Qur'an emphasizes.

However, to use the existence of such killings to smear Islam shows the desperation and misplaced priorities of many of those levying such attacks. Most of those deaths are the pathetic acts of sick individuals, who are far removed from the letter, as we have shown above, and the spirit of Islam. An example of such an individual is Muhammad Riaz, a British Muslim of South Asian descent who died as a result of a fire he set to burn to death his wife and four daughters, allegedly because his wife resisted his attempt to arrange marriages for his daughters. His wife and daughters did perish in that fire. To present Riaz, whose daughters had neither fornicated nor dated, as anything other than a sick individual is a sad attempt to defame Islam.

To attack Islam from this angle is a case of misplaced priorities because it can distract attention from far graver abuses of women that demand immediate redress. For example, the State Department estimates that approximately 800,000 women and girls are trafficked as sexual slaves annually. The overwhelming majority of these females are taken from and sent to nominally Christian countries.

Over the last five years well over one thousand women have been kidnapped and then gruesomely murdered in Guatemala. Their bodies usually turn up after a few days, mutilated and in some instances with messages such as "death to bitches" written on them. To date only three men have been incarcerated in connection with those attacks. Would it proper for us to infer from that situation the conclusion that the "Christians" of Guatemala, an overwhelmingly Christian nation, have no regard for the suffering of their women? Of course it would not.

At the end of the day, attacks such as the one that resulted in the death of Aqsa Parvez are acts of domestic violence resulting from rage that emanates from a total neglect of Islamic teachings. Ms. Parvez lost her life due to such violence and perhaps there are a few other instances where Muslims women in Canada or here in the United States, have been similarly victimized. However, these instances should be kept in perspective. In the United States there are approximately 1,200 women killed every year by their husbands or intimate partners. There are other "Christian" nations where murders of this type are even higher.

The United States, Guatemala, and other countries we could mention where similar abuses occur are Christian nations. However, it would be disingenuous to use such statistics as an indictment against Christianity. These issues are an affront to humanity and require our collective attention. Until we all view the problem this way, we are in jeopardizing the health and integrity of our society.

Saying this is not to minimize the gravity of so-called honor killings to the extent that they do occur in Muslim societies. As Muslims, we are commanded to be committed to justice. That commitment entails that as a community we oppose in the strongest terms "honor" killings and take immediate action to end such a practice in our communities.

Practical steps include the following:

1. Emphasize that such killings have no sanction in the Qur'an, the Prophetic practice, or in Islamic law.

2. Declare anyone guilty of involvement in honor killings to be a cold-blooded murderer.

3. Encourage judicial authorities to enact the harshest penalties possible for anyone accused of involvement in such killings.

4. Educate our Muslim communities, especially in the West, about the un-Islamic nature of honor killings, and the pressures, nuances, challenges and complications facing young Muslims, male and female in the West.

5. Work to eliminate the double standards, and to expose the hypocrisy that exist in our communities, generally, concerning attitudes and standards relating to the indiscretions of males as opposed to females.

In conclusion, Islam honors the female, and values femininity. It is up to every Muslim to translate teachings in that regard into a beautiful reality that helps to elevate the status of women in all societies. Honor killings, domestic violence in general, murders of the type terrorizing women in Guatemala, female sexual slavery and trafficking, pornography, especially its more violent manifestations, are all crimes against humanity that we should oppose in the strongest terms and work strenuously to eliminate. If our women are not safe, psychically, emotionally, spiritually, or psychologically we are all at risk, for without women men are incomplete, and without men women are incomplete. Our Prophet, peace and blessings of God upon him alluded to this complementariness when he said, peace upon him, "Women are the complimenting halves of men." Let us all work harder to make our societies whole.

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