12.2.1 PARENTHOOD

Childhood, tufuulat, the period from birth to puberty, is a period of limited ability and responsibility (24:31, 24:59, 40:67). Infancy is not a useless period. Great things happened to infants. Yahya was given wisdom while a baby 19:21. Isa spoke as a baby (19:29). The fetus is a person addressed as an individual by the Qur’an (53:32). A child or an infant is not a miniature adult. It has a distinct personality, identity, needs, and has to be handled differently. The scope of parental responsibility is wide starting with pregnancy (39:6, 53:32) and continuing until puberty and in most cases even beyond puberty. Parents are responsibility for material support of their children and for educating and upbringing, tarbiyat al awlad (18:80-81 & 74:13). Children must be reared in a family (3:47 & 19:20). The Qur’an mentioned love for the child (20:38-40 & 28:10-13). Islam enjoins equal treatment of children, 'adl bayn al awlad (Bukhari K51 B12). Islam teaches good treatment of female children as a preventive measure against abuse (Ahmad 1:235). Breast-feeding by the mother, ridha’at, has been emphasized by the Qur’an (2:233 & 46:15). It establishes both a biological and psychological bond between the mother and the baby. In order to complete the infant’s biological and psychological growth and development, breast-feeding must continue for not less than 2 years (2:223, 31:14, 46:15).

12.2.2 CHILDREN IN QUR’AN and SUNNAT

The following children later became prophets: Ismail, Musa, Yusuf, Yahya, Isa, and Muhammad. Maryam and the children that Khdhr met were children of the righteous. The stories of the children of the prophet and his companions were also told. Also told were stories and the fate of children of evil doers.

12.2.3 GROWTH: PHYSICAL, SOCIAL, and PSYCHOLOGICAL

Babies can learn and retain information. The injunction to make adhan in the right ear for the newborn is perhaps an indication of this (Abudaud K40 B106). Under-estimation of infants is the cause of under-stimulation by many parents. Children are born in a state of natural purity, fitra (Bukhari K23 B80). It is the parents who can misguide them (Muslim H6428). Good parents and a virtuous social environment will guide them to the good. Inadequate parents and a poor social environment will guide them to evil. Islamic law recognizes the age of 7 as the age of discrimination, sinn al tamyiiz. Full intellectual maturity is not reached until the age of puberty. Children are therefore ordered to start praying at the age of 7 and are punished for missing prayers at the age of 10. Full legal responsibility is at puberty and by this time they have, according to Piaget, acquired abstract thinking to supplement the concrete thinking on which children rely. Social development starts with awareness of the self then the family and the neighborhood. As the child grows older, it becomes aware of membership in larger groupings: the tribe, qabiilat; the nation, the ummah, and the universe. At a later stage it learns about the history and the future. Gender identity is acquired quite early but its meaning and implications become deeper as the child grows. ‘Aqiqat is a social occasion when the newborn is introduced into the community (Bukhari K71 B2). Development of social responsibility and accountability differ among children. That is why orphans are tested before they are given control over their inheritance (MB1199). Personality is the nafs. The Islamic view of personality in based on the Qur'anic concept of nafs. Fitrat to refer to what some call nature; the term nature has atheistic connotations. Each individual has a distinctive fitrat. Nurture introduces even more differences among individuals as environmental factors interact with the basic fitrat. A lot of behavior is copied or is assimilated from parents and other social role models. That is why it is very important to provide children with positive role models. They should never be exposed to negative role models even for brief moments.

12.2.4 DISORDERS OF INFANCY

Common disorders of infancy are birth injuries, congenital malformations, perinatal infections, metabolic disorders, and neoplasms.

12.2.5 DISORDERS OF CHILDHOOD

Common disorders of childhood are developmental (especially sexual differentiation), nutritional, behavioural, and injuries.