Book Review: Children Around the Prophet: How Muhammad

Quick Look

Book: Children Around the Prophet: How Muhammad Raised the Young Companions
Author: Hesham Al-Awadi
Published: March 23, 2018
Pages: 177
Genre: Islamic Non-Fiction
Rating: ♥♥♥♥

Review

One of my personal reading goals for 2019 is to read more books, especially parenting books from an Islamic perspective. The type of books that understand it is both parents responsibility to raise the children and do not limit the role of the father to only that of the breadwinner. Also, books that are not written if girls should be seen and not heard or that they should spend their childhood learning how to be a wife. When an ustadha (female scholar) that I follow on twitter mentioned that she recently read and enjoyed “Children Around the Prophet: How Muhammad Raised the Young Companions” by Hesham Al-Awadi because it included helpful interactions that the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) had with children, I was immediately interested in it.

This book is not about the Prophet’s (PBUH) children but about the relationship he had with all children and how as parents we can/should replicate that relationship with our own children. This book also provides a brief biography of the Prophet (PBUH) through the eyes of children and young companions at that time. It is fairly short and quick read for Islamic books because it is only 177 pages but it includes a lot of enlightening gems and hadiths.

Children Around the Prophet included practical tips on “How to make your children love the Quran, “How to build your child’s faith and creed” and “How to train your children to worship Allah”, which are helpful for not only parents but also can be used for every Muslim to strengthen their relationship with Allah. As a mother of a daughter, I appreciate the section on daughters and the description of the relationship the Prophet (PBUH) had with his daughter, Fatima. The book describes how he treated her with love, devotion, and respect. “When Ali ibn Abi Talib later married Fatima, she had a high level of expectation for how she should be treated, based on how her father, the Prophet (PBUH), had treated her. Ali had to show at least as much compassion, love, and respect to win Fatima’s heart.”

The biggest take away from this book is as parents we need to establish a loving relationship with Allah, the Prophet and the Quran for ourselves and to create an Islamic culture in the home. “To develop your children’s faith, you need to first work on making them love the Prophet; and to make them love the Prophet, you need to nurture that love in your own heart first. If your children are to have faith, they must see a genuine love for the Prophet in your eyes. They should hear you praying for the Prophet whenever his name is mentioned and see you praying for him during Friday prayers.” Our children will learn Islam from our actions first and not from every Islamic lecture.

I have a hard time critiquing Islamic books because I do not want to discourage anyone from reading and obtaining Islamic knowledge. But even though I did enjoy this book and recommended it, there were two things I would have changed. The first being the author, Hesham Al-Awadi, did not include a biography of him in the book. For me, an author’s bio for an Islamic book is extremely important because it will illustrate whether they have the Islamic credibility and knowledge to write about an Islamic topic. Also, there are quite a few hadiths included in the book that did not include its source, for example, Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawud, Sunan al-Tirmidhi, etc. It makes me more comfortable to see the hadith source so the reader knows that the author did their research and not just included sayings as hadiths or included weak hadiths. I’m not saying that the author did this, only that there were hadiths that didn’t mention the source and how it makes me feel.

Even given those two issues, I have already recommended this book to family and friends especially those who are parents. This book is directed to parents, but it is relevant for every Muslim to read because it serves as a reminder that the Prophet (PBUH) was compassionate, merciful was non-violent and created a safe space for his community, including both male and female children. Overall, Children around the Prophet: How Muhammad rose the Young Companions is a great resource for all Muslims.

Gems

“His Sunnah, or way, was not just his words but also his unspoken actions. He wanted to make kissing children a Sunnah, a radical change in a society, that, until the introduction of Islam, had sometimes buried newborn girls alive, out of disappointment that they weren’t boys” – Page 31
“The Prophet, with his noble status, did not see himself as being above playing and joking with children. He did so because he believed we learn more when we are happy. We retain more and recall more when we are having fun” – Page 33
“To develop your children’s faith, you need first to work on making them love the Prophet; and to make them love the Prophet, you need to nurture that love in your own heart first. If your children are to have faith, they must see genuine love for the Prophet in your eyes. They should hear you praying for the Prophet whenever his name is mentioned and see you praying for him during Friday prayers” – Page 45
“The Prophet didn’t ‘teach’ aqeedah in lectures, he practiced it…Faith was built through love and consistently positive role modes, not through pedantic lectures” – Page 47