Proper Upbringing of Children

I believe that beating children in a manner that the ill-behaved child-beater pretends to be Allah’s partner in guiding and training children is a type of polytheism.

Pray for Children Instead of Punishing Them

When a hot-tempered person is provoked and punishes a child, he takes on the role of an enemy in the stress of his anger and imposes punishment far in excess of the wrong which has been done. An individual with self-respect and control over himself, who is also forbearing and dignified, has the right to correct a child to a certain extent as the occasion demands or seek to guide the child. But a wrathful and hot-headed person who is easily provoked is not t to be a guardian of children. I wish that, instead of punishing children, parents would have recourse to prayer, and should make it a habit to supplicate earnestly for their children; for the supplications of parents on behalf of their children meet with special acceptance.¹

Endnotes

1. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as, The Essence of Islam, vol. 3 (Tilford, Surrey: Islam International Publications, 1993), 335.