Asalamu alaykum ladies

I’ve had a few discussions before over on my Instagram stories about the significance and priority of the Qur’an in our lives.  And when it comes to homeschooling many mamas, including myself, tend to start off by having lofty goals when it comes to teaching our deen and weaving it into the lives our children; in fact the yearning to merge both faith and daily life is often one of the main reasons many families choose to homeschool in the first place.

But a few weeks in and the struggle to balance academics sometimes leads us to compromise those goals.  And our Muslim homeschool can begin to feel like it started to lose its essence…

But that needn’t be the case.  And especially it shouldn’t be the case when it comes to the book of Allah.  And whether we homeschool or our children go to public school, it’s important to keep the cultivation of our children’s relationship with the Qur’an as a priority.

So how we do instil that love and connection?  I’ve asked sisters on Instagram to share their tips and I wanted to share some too.

Make du’a.
As with anything and everything in life, as a believer its vital to recognise, acknowledge and humble ourselves that ultimately guidance is with Allah alone.  Let us constantly ask Allah Azzawajal to make our families amongst those who recite, reflect and act implement His words.

And your Lord says, “Call upon Me; I will respond to you.”  [Surah Ghafir; 60]

Lead by example.
Behaviour is modelled and our children absolutely learn by imitation.  If our children see that we ourselves are attached to the Qur’an, taking solace in it, referring to its guidance in our conversations and actions, insha’Allah they will too.  The opposite of this is also true and is something we are parents should be aware of.  For if our children never see us picking up our Mushaf, choosing to pick up our phones instead and overall witnessing disconnection from us, we cannot blame them when they show that too.  Letting our children see our love for the Qur’an in words and actions will insha’Allah encourage them to foster the same attachment.

Make the Qur’an be the first book you read.
Whether you homeschool or not, let the Book of Allah be the first book we turn the pages of.  As a homeschooling Mom, I often remind myself and other Mamas that the Qur’an should be the first book in our morning basket and the only one that shouldn’t be rotated.  For Moms who don’t homeschool, waking up a little earlier and slotting that time in is also easily doable.

Utilise the morning time when kids and Mama are fresh.
It’s likely you’ve read or heard somewhere that one of the habits of highly successful people is getting the most important things done first.  And if we want our children to see the Qur’an as an integral part of their life, a manual that literally is a blueprint for success for this life and the akhira it only makes sense to give it our best so we maximise from its benefits.  Of course, that doesn’t mean we limit its reference to the morning time only but rather we take advantage of the barakah of the early hours and start our day on the best foot.

When ‘life happens’, still make time for the Qur’an.
It may not be the memorisation you had planned or the sit down tafseer discussion but that doesn’t have to mean that our time with the Qur’an has to be crossed off entirely either.  Rather making sure we do make time for it regardless of things cropping up show our children what prioritising actually looks like because every day isn’t smooth sailing; however what we choose to focus on what we have limited time is often a reflection of our core priorities.

Consistency is key.
Directly linked to the point above, relationships are cultivated with consistent effort and our relationship with the Qur’an should be no different; in fact it should be prioritised!

Encourage children in their efforts
Without a doubt, positive behaviour should be reinforced in our children!  Praising our children and encouraging them when they take initiative could be something as simple as ‘you recited that surah so beautifully Allahuma barik’ or treating them for reaching milestones in their hifdh, but it helps cultivate that positive association with the Qur’an in our kids.

Study the tafseer of the ayyah.
This is so incredibly important and often the absence of this is one of the reasons our children don’t build or lose a connection with the words of Allah.  Many of us, in fact, grew up memorising the Qur’an with little attachment because we couldn’t understand what we were memorising.  Hence it’s incumbent that we learn the Arabic language so that we may understand the Qur’an in the language it was sent down in, and also listen to explanations in our mother tongue too.

Copy out the ayaah including the translation.
It’s a well-known fact that writing things down helps our brain store information in our long term memory.  And I’ve always found that taking the take the time to copy out ayaat really does help in retaining meaning.  And as our knowledge and understanding of the Qur’an increases, it only increases our love and learning for the Book of Allah.

Build a positive association with the Qur’an.
The Qur’an is an enjoyment, cure, and solace for the believer.  But often we unintentionally as parents we create an association of ‘hardship’ when the Qur’an is played or recited in only challenging times.   It isn’t hard to see then why our children grow up with this negative association. We love a good read aloud in our home, and I’m sure many of you Mamas do too, but we want our children to look forward to the Book of Allah even more hence we must model that we find comfort in it at all times.

Create an atmosphere where the Qur’an can be studied in a more relaxed manner too.
As our kids embark on a journey to memorise Qur’an it’s important we build a routine for them to aid their journeys.  I am also a firm believer that not all learning needs to be made ‘fun’ but I’ll be writing more about that in another blog post.  Nevertheless, there’s no need to restrict the time spent with the Qur’an to structured times only.  Again, our kids tend to look forward to read alouds and poetry not only because of what is being read but also the cosy atmosphere we create.  So why not make the same effort when it comes to the Qur’an?  Making some sweet treats, cosying up on the sofa and reading the tafseer of a surah increases love as it will insha’Allah become a fond childhood memory for our kids. Another way to cultivate this more ‘informal’ time with the Qur’an is not restricting time spent with the Book of Allah to our homes only.  Rather encourage discussion in other appropriate places such as when going for a drive as a family.

Study the seerah!
What better way to connect to Qur’an than studying its implementation in the most perfect manner.  Studying the example of the Prophet, sallahu alayhi wasalam, is an integral part of building our love for the Qur’an because through his life we are shown how the words of Allah are implemented.  So let’s make seerah stories part of those morning baskets too!

Let children get involved.
Kids love to be actively involved and we should encourage their interest in the Quran in varied ways.  One example of this is allowing them to choose reciters whom they prefer; you can make games too such as ‘guess the Qaari!’.

Read together as a family.
Yes!  The Qur’an shouldn’t be a priority for our kids and not us, and also vice versa.  We want our children to build a life long attachment rather than think that the Quran has a time period where is prioritised which lessens as we get older.  And what better way to showcase that ‘life long’ attachment than reading together as a family.  Revise surahs together by taking an ayaah each, listen to each other’s recitations, correct mistakes and ENCOURAGE each other!

Remind and uplift each other with the reward for the person who reads and acts upon the words of Allah.
And what is one of the best ways to encourage each other? Reminding ourselves of the reward that Allah has in store for those who live by His words; Jannah.  But also knowing the Qur’an is a means of seeking nearness and closeness to Allah, and the more we connect to Allah, the more our yearning for him increases.  So we make du’a that we will be amongst those who are blessed with seeing Allah Azzawajal in Jannah and model this enthusiasm in the presence of our children too.

Elicit discussions
We all know the importance that communicating with our children is directly linked to thier well-being.  And when our kiddos are young we encourage that communication by responding and cultivating their natural curiosity by asking them questions, and the same can be done to encourage their connection with the Qur’an.  Simple questions such as
“which Surah is your favourite and why?”
 “Which Surah are you looking forward to learn more about?”
“What do you think Allah is talking about in this Surah?”
may sound simple but encourage that natural bond we want our children to have with the book of Allah.

Learn about how others have memorised the Qur’an.
Kids need positive role models and it’s important that we as parents expose our children to positive role models because otherwise, we fall into the danger of them seeking negative ones instead.  Role models help provide that inspiration that we as humans need, and of course first and foremost we seek that inspiration in the Prophet, sallahu alayhi wasalam, the companions and the salaf us saalih (may Allah have mercy on them all).  Reading about how they memorised, their attitudes towards the Qur’an and how it transformed their lives is such an uplifting way to build and enthusiasm and zeal for the Qur’an we want our children to feel.  And let us not stop there either.  Learn or speak to others who perhaps like ourselves are not native Arabic speakers but still managed to memorise the words of Allah, or even people of different ages (young and old) who fulfilled their dream of becoming haafidh is also beneficial.

I hope these tips were beneficial.  I would love to hear how you foster the love of Qur’an in your children too.  I often have sisters message me on social media, but it would be great if you could comment below so other sisters can benefit too insha’Allah.