Principles in the Moral Education of Children in the light of Qur’anic Stories
Mohammad Jaber ThalgiThe moral education of children is at the forefront of the challenges faced by Islamic societies and, more especially, after the increased number of negative social and technological influences on cultural elements of the generations. The verses of Qur’anic stories display diverse and comprehensive models related to family relationships. This article aims to show the principles in the moral education of children in the stories of Abraham, Joseph, Noah and Lukman Hakim -peace be upon them– by indicating their characteristics and by extracting and analyzing their educational implications. The most important principles, which this article discusses, are: the use of the wise method, based on kindness and logical evidence, in dealing with nonMuslims in the same family; the importance of developing the child’s personality through using the indirect orders method; using graininess language during family dialogue; the balance between encouragement and intimidation in disciplining children; protecting children from offending each other by making them aware of achieving a balance in their interest; getting children to be patient; showing respect for the father and mother; the importance of a harmonious relationship between the father and mother and family members in order to achieve a happy family; ensuring that the child’s religious, psychological, physical and social needs are considered and integrated; and using a gentle and judicious approach to children who seem stubborn and misguided.
Kur’an Kıssaları Işığında Çocukların Ahlâk Eğitiminde İlkeler
Mohammad Jaber Thalgiİslam toplumunda çocukların ahlak eğitimi; önemli sorunların başında gelmektedir. Özellikle toplum, teknoloji ve iletişim araçlarından kaynaklanan olumsuzlukların kültürel yapının oluşumundaki etkisiyle bu sorunlar daha da büyümüştür. Kur’an’da yer alan peygamber kıssaları, çocuklara yönelik çeşitli ve kapsamlı ahlak eğitim ilkeleri sunmaktadır. Bu çalışma, Hz. İbrahim, Hz. Yusuf, Hz. Nuh ve Hz. Lokman kıssalarında ahlak eğitimine dönük ilkeleri incelemeyi hedeflemektedir. Çalışmada çocukların ahlak eğitimi ile ilgili, pek çok prensip elde edilmiş olup başlıcaları şunlardır: Ailedeki gerek gayrı müslim gerekse olumsuz tutuma sahip fertlerin İslâm’a davet edilmesinde yumuşak bir üslup ve makul delillere dayanan hikemî yöntemlerin kullanılması; çocuğun karakterinin geliştirilmesi arzu ve isteklerin doğrudan değil dolaylı bir söylemle dile getirilmesi; aile ilişkilerinde sevgi ve hoşgörü dilinin hakim kılınması; çocuklara hitapta bulunurken ödül ve ceza dengesinin gözetilmesi; cocuğa öğüt verirken, onu yönlendirirken ve cocuğun ahlakî yönünü inşa ederken ikna edici ve açıklayıcı bir dil kullanılması.
Ayrıca, çocuğun inanç ve ibadet hayatında, özellikle namaza yönlendirilmesinde babanın belirleyici bir rolü bulunmaktadır. Bunun yanında, çocuklar arasında kıskançlığa meydan vermemek için sevgide adaleti gözetmesi ve çocuklarına zorluklarla baş etmeyi ve mücadelede sabırlı olmayı öğretmesi gerekir. Büyüklerine karşı saygılı olmayı öğretmenin yanında aile efradı arasında yardımlaşma ve uyumu sağlamalıdır. Kur’an kıssalarının öğrettiği gibi, ruhsal, bedensel, sosyal ve bilişsel ihtiyaçlar bir bütün olarak ele alınmalı ve çocuğun ailedeki olumsuz tutum ve davranışları uygun yöntemlerle düzeltilmelidir.
مبادئ في التربية الأخلاقية للأبناء في ضوء القصص القرآني
Mohammad Jaber Thalgiتقع التربية الأخلاقية للأبناء في مقدمة التحديات التي تواجه المجتمعات الإسلامية، لا سيما بعد دخول مجموعة من المؤثرات الاجتماعية والتكنولوجية والإعلامية السلبية في تكوين العناصر الثقافية للأجيال. وتعرض آيات القصص القرآني مجموعة متنوعة وشاملة لمبادئ التربية الأخلاقية للأبناء، ويهدف هذا البحث إلى عرض هذه المبادئ التي وردت في قصص إبراهيم ويوسف ونوح ولقمان الحكيم -عليهم السلام-، من خلال بيان سماتها وتحليلها واستخراج قواعد التربية الأخلاقية التي تحتويها، وقد توصل البحث إلى مجموعة من المبادئ التربوية المتعلقة بتربية الأبناء التي عرضتها هذه القصص. ومن أهم المبادئ التي توصل إليها البحث: استخدام الأسلوب الحكيم المستند على اللطف والأدلة المنطقية لدعوة غير المسلمين أو العاصين في الأسرة، وتنمية شخصية الابن من خلال استخدام أسلوب الأوامر غير المباشرة، واستخدام لغة التحبب والعاطفة أثناء الحوار الأسري، والتوازن بين الترغيب و الترهيب في خطاب الأبناء، واستخدام أسلوب الشرح التوضيحي للابن في عملية الوعظ والارشاد وفي عملية البناء الأخلاقي؛ وللأب دور أساسي في البناء الإيماني والتعبدي للأبناء، خصوصا في دعوة أبنائه لأداء الصلاة، وللأبوين دور في حماية أبنائهما من التحاسد من خلال إظهار التوازن في الاهتمام العاطفي بين الأبناء، وأهمية أن يتربى الأبناء على خلق الصبر، واحترام الابن للأب وللأم في صغره ليستمر في كبره، وأهمية العلاقة التوافقية بين الأب والأم وأفراد الأسرة من أجل أسرة متعاونة سعيدة. وإن حاجات الطفل الإيمانية والتعبدية والنفسية والمادية والاجتماعية هي حاجات متكاملة ومعتبرة، وأهمية دور الأب في ملاحظة السلوكيات المنحرفة للابن العاق ومحاولة هدايته بالأساليب الحكيمة.
Religion is an important factor in guiding families on how to raise their children according to most societies’ ethical standards. For Islamic societies, the Qur’an is a major cultural and educational source. The Qur’an contains general principles to refine the behavior of children; these include direct instructions and what is derived from the Quranic stories. At the time of the coming of Islam, the verses of the Qur’an criticized the negative treatment of children before Islam. These were such as: raising them to perform idolatry; their mistreatment; and segregating males and females and killing children due to poverty or killing females after birth as a Arab custom before Islam.
The reason for choosing the stories in the Qur’an as the subject of this article is that the subjects of these stories have taken on board a large number of the general topics of the Qur’an. Also, they are among the basic sources used to clarify ethical standards. These ethical principles are considered to be a human partnership of believers in heavenly religions and others. This is because they have a positive impact on the child’s behavior in the family and at the social level as a whole. The Qur’anic verses on the prophets’ family life offer a set of moral educational attitudes from which ethical principles can be derived. These can be applied in the contemporary Muslim family. Consequently, these stories are not merely theoretical historical events but educational positions with ethical principles.
As for the previous literature, there are many studies that deal with the topics of education in the Qur’an. However, this article is different in that it extracts the principles of ethical education from the verses of the stories and are different from those provided by these works.
This article uses the inductive methodology to identify the verses of the Qur’anic stories that deal with the moral education of children. Also, it uses the analytical descriptive methodology to devise the principles of moral education related to these verses. This article is limited to extracting the principles of moral education in the four main themes in the Holy Quran which are the following stories: the story of Abraham; the story of Joseph; the story of Noah; and the story of Luqman.
This article presents at first the principles of ethical education that can be derived from some positive models of family relationships between parents and children as well as models of family relationships in which the prophets dealt with their children’s moral problems.
A number of ethical principles have emerged regarding the existence of differences in religious beliefs within the same family. These principles are manifested clearly in the story of Abraham with his father. The most important of these principles is the wise use of inviting family members in order to clarify persuasion, the Abraham story deals with a number of family principles related to the raising of children. These include recognition of the innate need to have a child and the importance of the harmonious relationship between the father and mother to provide a normal family life for children and that they are far from behavioral problems. Also, there are: the development of the son’s personality through the use of indirect command methods; the use of positive language during the family’s dialogue; the importance of the father’s prayer for his children; the importance of the father being a moral role model to his son as regards the required behavior; and the emphasis of the father’s comprehensive role in realizing the family’s needs in respect of the religious, psychological and social aspects.
The stories of Noah and Luqman showed, also, a variety of ways in the child’s moral education. They focused on using the method of dreaming and tolerance with children in order to correct errors and to open the way for repentance. Also, there was the importance of using the method of explanation to the son in the process of preaching and guidance.
The story of Joseph showed a set of moral principles in child education where the model of the child was more concerned with the father than his other brothers. This made them envious of their brother and they planned to harm him. Hence, this story shows the role of parents in protecting their children from bullying by achieving emotional balance within the family.
An overview of the methods of moral education of children in Quranic stories shows that the method of dialogue, based on logic, truth-telling and transparency, is the best way to modify children’s behavior. Parents must take into account, also, the child’s psychological characteristics and maintain emotional balance and justice among family members in order to ensure that there are no family problems between the brothers.