Wife Wants to Help Son and Husband to Be Good Muslims
31-7-2002 | IslamWeb
Question:
I have a baby boy 6 months old. My biggest wish is that he will be a good Muslim. Can I start now to do something that will help him in the future to be a good Muslim? For example, read Qur'an for him? And I am also afraid for my husband, because he is not following the rules of Islam. I want to help both of them. Is this possible?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
We are in need of four elements to bring up our children according to perfect Islamic teachings.
1) Taking care of physical health: It means the children should be raised healthily, to become physically strong and full of vitality.
2) Moral education: It means teaching the good morals and character. The guardian of a child is responsible to guide his child and teach him from his early age of discretion the good morals such as truthfulness, faithfulness, sacrifice, magnanimity, manhood, and respecting the elders, etc. Also, he should warn him against all bad deeds, protect him from telling lies, abusing, indulging in evils and all that spoils one's character.
3) Fiducial education: It means teaching a child from the early stage of his life the matters of faith, habituating him from the beginning to follow the rulings of Sharee'ah and providing him the knowledge of of Sharee'ah when he reaches the age of discernment.
4) Mental and intellectual education: It means the mind of a child should be enlightened by all that is useful for him. Therefore, he should be taught the different subjects of Islamic Sharee'ah, as well as useful modern education.
If a father, mother or a guardian takes into consideration the above four points in raising a child and applies them gradually according to the child's age and needs of every stage of age; i.e., childhood and adolescence, and Allah willing, he/she will be able with the Blessing of Allah to make his child a good pious and useful young man who helps this Ummah and highly supports this religion.
It is also advisable to benefit from other people's experience and to read books that discuss this subject, such as the book of ‘Abdullah Nasir Alwan with the title “Tarbiat al-Awlaad Fi al-Islam” (How to educate children in Islam). We referred to this book to answer this question.
There is no harm to recite for your child the verses of the Quran and the authentic supplication, since it is proven in the Sharee'ah.
As for the second part of your question, we advise you to try your best to listen to your husband, to advise him kindly and wisely using a winning style. It is better to present him some booklets, beneficial cassettes that discuss the matters of his shortcomings. Also, it is better to ask someone who can influence him and can call him to the right path.
Finally, do not forget to resort to Allah, to supplicate Him to make your husband and child a source of happiness and delight for you.
We ask Allah to grant you the goodness of your husband and your child.
Allah knows best.