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Parental Education in the Islamic World

 

Parental Education in the Islamic World

FOREWORD

arental education is a newly coined expression in the science of education. It is an educational activity governed by a psychological reference framework that builds on the parents' perception of child psychology. This perception stems, on the one hand, from the conceptions and ideas developed by parents on the child's growth, aptitudes, capacities, needs and aspirations, and on the other, from their educational practices vis-à-vis the child.

From this purely psychological perspective, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) has undertaken within the compass of this study an analytical investigation of the issue of parental education as it is practised in Muslim countries on the basis of three axes:

  1. Characteristics and components : Analytical diagnosis is conducted on the most important principles, determinants and methods of this type of education. Concerning the principles and bases, the diagnosis describes accurately the factors of trust, supervision, control, upbringing and instruction. As for the aims and objectives, the diagnosis addresses the aspects of self-realisation and social adaptation, while it defines the psychological, social, economic and cultural variables in the part concerning factors and determinants. As regards methods and mechanisms, the diagnosis portrays the patterns of weak, severe and flexible practices.

  2. Problems and hindrances : They are identified on the basis of two types of parameters :

  • The first type concerns the problems and challenges facing parental education practices in Muslim countries, in particular poverty, backwardness, illiteracy, ignorance and erosion of the family role;

  • The second type concerns the major handicaps and perceptions which adversely impact on the parental education practices in the Muslim world, in particular the lack of a pedagogy, the absence of a psychological reference framework, and the need for an educational strategy with rigorous objectives and procedures.

  1. Suggestions and solutions : Summarized by the Islamic Organisation in three main elements :

  • Promotion of equal potentials and opportunities, with emphasis on the importance of education through parents’ educational practice. This implies the adoption of programmes aimed to train parents to fulfil their educational roles.

  • Assignment of new educational responsibilities to parents in view of their crucial importance as to the child’s upbringing.

  • Provision of the necessary training through purposeful educational strategies aimed to raise the awareness of future parents on their educational roles and responsibilities.

These are the most important issues analysed by the study on the levels of content and aspect in an attempt to identify the nature of parental education practice in the Muslim world and shed light on the core of psychological theory governing this practice. ISESCO invites all researchers and workers in the field of parental education to focus their efforts on this theory because the study of its contents and the analysis of its components are likely to bring about efficient solutions to the problems and impediments precluding this type of education.

I beseech Almighty Allah to make this study beneficial to all those who strive to promote sound, constructive education, and to foster the development and prosperity of our Muslim world. Allah is the source of all success.

Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri
Director General of ISESCO

 

 

1.1 Principles and Bases

The principles of having confidence in the child, of educating him according to flexible and accurate methods, of controlling him so as to protect him from bad company, of helping act morally according to the standards of appropriate social life, which mainly consists in justice, truthfulness, uprightness, fairness and the distinction between what is harmful and beneficial, bad and good, forbidden and permissible, as well as teaching him the rites and conventions of social interaction - particularly the techniques of dealing with the other, the rules of dialogue, the skill and decorum of life, along with enabling him achieve his representation of his self and the constitution of his identity on firm grounds, all constitute the major fundamentals that any standard parental education should rest on, as it is stressed by the majority of modern psychological studies (Lautrey 1989, Kellerhals and Mantandon 1990-91, Allès-Jardel 1997). It is a fact, however, that these principles and bases are not new to our parental education that heavily draws on the Islamic teachings. For educating a child, training and guiding him so as to enable him fulfil his duties and play his role, taking full care of the moral, emotional and mental sides of his personality, and providing him with the adequate environment for the satisfaction of his needs, desires and hopes are all principles and teachings the Islamic educational heritage stresses. In addition to the educational trends and theories which this heritage abounds in and which put too much emphasis on the importance of bringing up a child, for there are a series of researches on education written by Muslim scholars among whom are Ibn Sahnoun, Ibn-Hazm, Abi Hamid Al-Ghazali, Ibn Sina, Nassir Ad-Dîne At-Tusi, Ibn Jamaâ and As-Samâni*†(Ahrchaou 1998), we should stress the fact that, since the days of the Prophet (PBUH), this heritage has kept the Islamic teachings related to educating a child, taking care of him and giving him enough attention. This is a fact corroborated by many Koranic Verses, among which we may mention the following ones as a way of example : "Wealth and sons are allurements of the life of this world : But the things that endure, good deeds are best in the sight of thy Lord, as rewards, and best as (the foundation for) hopes." (Al-Kahf 46). "Kill not your children for fear of want : We shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you. Verily the Killing of them is a great sin." (Al-Isra 31)

The Hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) contain wise counsels and indications which stress that a child has just claims on his parents who should be kind to him, educate him well and give him a good name, as is shown in the following Hadiths : "Be generous to your offspring and educate them well" (Ibn Mâjja, Kitabu al-Adab, n° 3661), and "One of the rights of the child the father should respect is to give him a good name and educate him well" and "The best present a father can give his child is to educate him well" (Al-Tarmizi, Al-Birr wa al-Silah, n° 1875 Ahmed, Musnad al-Makkiyyin, n° 14856).

* Here are some examples of the writings of these scholars :

  • Tauq Al-Hamâma Fi Al-Ulfa wa Al-Alâf and Risalat Al-Akhlaq by Ibn Hazm.

  • Ihyâ Ulûm Ad-Dîne wa Mizane Al-'Amal by Al-Ghazali.

  • Achifâ wa Al-Ichârat wa An-Najat by Ibn Sina.

  • Âdâb Al-Muta'allimine by At-Tusi.

  • Kitâb Tadkirat As-Samî wa Al-Mutakalim Fi Âdâb Al-Alam wa Al-Mutâlim by Ibn Jama'a.

  • Adâb Al-Imlâ wa Al-Istimlâ by As-Samâni.

 

1.2 Goals and Objectives

If there is a consensus on the importance of parental education in Muslim societies and its vital role in teaching the child life principles and basic rules, its essential aim lies in the two following aspects :

 

1.2.1 The Opening up of his Personality

The first thing that a child needs in the early period of his life is security which is the prerequisite of any emotional development. The fact that a child lives in an evolutionary process into which he plunges results in his being assaulted by various inner instincts and outside influences which prevent him from having confidence, neither in himself nor in his human and physical environments. Therefore, without the intervention of the parents to reassure and help him, he will fall prey to fear and anxiety, especially that he is fully aware of the fact that he cannot cope with life on his own. It is this sense of security which starts with the child from the moment his mother satisfies his primary desires and develops according to the rhythm of recurrent situations and circumstances that largely contributes to the constitution and arrangement of his primary impressions. According to some researchers, this feeling rests on four fundamental components (Hassan 1970, Wery 1974).

  1. The satisfaction of the primary desires which differ according to family environment and the financial situation of the parents, since these desires are of biological origins. What all this involves is the achievement of a well-balanced health, as one of the primary objectives for a child, because we cannot ignore the importance of healthy food, clean accommodation, necessary prevention and required medical care.

  2. Safeguarding the child from outside harms, for the parents play a disciplinary role in opposite directions in normal conditions :

On the one hand, the parents are responsible for cushioning the strong blows and acute shocks that their child receives from his external environment; on the other hand, they have to enable him to communicate with the world and know how to live according to a growing rhythm. If the parents' double role diminishes with the development of the child till it completely disappears around adolescence, there is a possibility that the parents commit errors of evaluation through either indifference or exaggeration with respect to defending the child (negligence versus over-protection).

  1. Insuring for the child's development a stable and coherent framework, by controlling his conduct and providing him with a clear frame of reference so that he can distinguish between what is right and wrong, positive and negative, permissible and forbidden, etc.

  2. Showing the child that he is desired by satisfying his emotional needs instead of staying at the level of the biological ones. On the one hand, the child is in need of these practices so as to feel that he is wanted by his parents; on the other hand, he badly needs to have some margin of freedom so as to achieve his independence later.

It is by the focus of parental education on these four components that the child acquires that sense of security which is considered as the prerequisite of his psychological equilibrium, the very guarantee that will save him from falling prey to any kind of disturbance in the future.

 

1.2.2 Social Adaptation

Undoubtedly, the family does not only constitute that emotional environment which insures the child's psychological openness and the emancipation of his personality, but it is also that social environment where a huge number of relationships and practices interact. It is with this second dimension of family environment that the child discovers the rules of communication with the other, becomes aware of his freedom and its limits, distinguishes between rights and duties, possible and forbidden acts, and grasps the spirit of competition and solidarity, along with the nature of values specific to his social group. So the capacity for social adjustment also develops from the proportional appreciation of two opposing forces. On the one hand, there is the exclusive life value drive of the ego which grows and expands toward breaking all barriers; on the other hand, there is the oppressive force of the super ego which pushes the parents to curtail this expansion-either consciously or unconsciously. The existing balance between these two forces, a balance which constitutes the base of all parental educations, shapes the final conduct of the child. It is with this conduct that a child becomes a social being as long as his parents provide him with "a healthy social environment where stability prevails and which allows teaching him the love of others and a lot of values, traditions and attitudes that indicate tolerance or fanaticism"(Hassan 1970, p.144).

However, a distinction can be made in this respect among four typical formulations pertaining to the intervention of the parents in trying to ensure a child's social integration :

To turn these four formulations into social goals the parents should take the following four steps of pedagogical stimulation and induction : control and incitement, moralising and emotional relationship, all of which can be observed in four sectors vital to the education of a child and his social integration.

The first sector involves teaching the child the skills of reading, writing, drawing, etc.

The second sector concerns teaching the child the moral values and required standards necessary for the management of life in society, such as the provisions governing the licit and the illicit, the concepts of justice, truthfulness, uprightness, fairness, good, evil, permissible and forbidden, etc.

The third sector consists in teaching the child the values and customs of interaction with all the skills of having relationships, with others, the rules of dialogue and ethics and finally the skill of life.

The fourth sector involves teaching the child the methods of representing the self and the building of social identity, especially on the level of the image of the body and clothes (Allès-Jardel 1997).

However, the child's social adaptation according to these formulations and patterns is still, in the Muslim world, a domain where human studies and researches in general and the psychological ones in particular have not intervened yet, in spite of their scientific importance and practical value.

 

1.3 Factors and Determinants

The educational practice of the parents results from their tendencies and conceptions in the domain of education. These tendencies and conceptions are themselves influenced by the parents' social and cultural background to the extent that their personalities and intelligence depend on their family history and its social changes (Pourtois 1989). The majority of the relation that have an impact on the child's development, his psychological equilibrium, social adaptation and school performance spring from his social environment and family realities, particularly with regard to "the characteristics of the parents, their social adaptation and educational tendencies" (Pourtois 1979, pp.29-30).

According to the findings of the major Islamic and Western studies on the educational practices of the parents, we may mention four main types of determinants :

 

1.3.1 Psychological Determinants

The majority of studies (Allès-Jardel 1997, Andrey 1954, Muhammad (undated), Fahmi 1963, Ismaïl 1974) asserts that the main variables influencing the parents' educational practices vis-à-vis their children are : the skills and experiences of the parents, the rhythm of the parent-child relationship, family cohesion, the physical organisation of the child's environment, the psychological tendencies of the parents, their expectations about their offspring's future, their notions and visions about the development of the child and finally the necessary means for the satisfaction of his desires and needs. On the level of the Muslim world, the major indicators, as to the shaping of these practices by these variables and the insuing impact on a child's development and adaptation, are :

  1. A father's harsh and rigorous treatment of his child mostly results in the Muslim world from the former's bad experiences in the sense that the father makes his child undergo the same treatment he himself experienced in his childhood (Hassan 1970, Ismaïl 1974).

  2. Some negative parental tendencies, such as rejection, overprotection, and the pressure on children to make them attain higher levels of education, "are found more with fathers than with mothers" (Al Korchi 1986, p.15).

  3. While older fathers are more prone to overprotection and stressing oppressive values than younger fathers, younger mothers are more prone to stressing oppressive values than older mothers as far as the education of children is concerned. In addition to this, the educational values held by mothers, particularly, are influenced by their age, for it is the younger ones who give too much consideration to more classical values, such as obedience, while the older mothers give more importance to the child's independence and freedom (Al Korchi 1986).

 

1.3.2 Social Determinants

Actually, the educational practice of the parents, as a conduct with and a treatment of a child, is shaped by their social environment, especially that this practice takes place within the family which is the most significant component of social environment. The role of the family is of paramount importance because it is the primary stage of the child's first experiences and relationships. It has been observed in the majority of studies undertaken in the Muslim world on these determinants that there is an obvious inherent relationship between the components of the family environment (the number of children, their sex, age, family objectives, values, relationships, and the distribution of tasks and duties) and the educational practices of the parents. This inherent relationship is illustrated by the following facts :

  1. Despite Western studies' emphasis on the existence of a relationship between the size of the family, its type and the nature of its roles, and the kind of educational practices resorted to by the parents, the majority of Muslim studies which dealt with this relation (Barakat 1977, Alaoui 1986, Guessous 1982) argue that the change of most Muslim families from an extended family to a nuclear one does not always determine the kind of educational practice found with them. "Some families shifted to the nuclear mode only in form and have not known any change in content on the level of rational and democratic thinking. Nevertheless, there are some families which have actually combined both form and content" (Radi 1977, p. 36). It is apparent then that, on the one hand, here is a changing family model of various modes, on the other hand, the size of this model does not necessarily reflect the quality of the treatment therein.

  2. The majority of studies (Pourtois 1979, Mahan 1981) asserts the existence of a meaningful and binding link between the number of children within the family and the mothers' belief in resorting to punishment and severe discipline, for the fact of giving birth to many children within a short period is a heavy burden on the young mother, in particular, and leads to her negative attitudes toward children.

  3. One of the determining factors of parental education in the Muslim World is the sex of the child which influences the parent-child relationship in an early age. In trying to bring up a child according to the values, customs and conventions of society, the family starts from the point of whether the child is male or female. It assigns, through the parents, the competencies and skills specific to each sex. Therefore, its treatment of children varies according to their sex no matter what social or cultural group they belong to. It is through the means of cultural and social values that the family determines the modes of conduct for the girl which differ from those reserved for the boy in various fields of activity, in accordance with what is prevalent in the social environment and society in general. (Mubarak 1993, p.198)

In most cases the girls are usually subjected to educational practices characterised by coercion, compulsion and prohibition more than the boys, for the parents expect the girls to be more emotional and the boys more practical (Abdelmajid 1984, Hatb, Makki 1988).

 

1.3.3 Economic Determinants

All the numerous studies on the relationship between the parents' educational practices and the socio-economic level stress the fact that when this level is high, the parents' treatment of their children tends to be flexible and democratic because of the abundance of material things and the existence of the various conditions necessary for the satisfaction of the desires of the latter (Lautrey 1989, Pourtois 1989, Plasio-Quintin 1990, Allès-Jardel 1997). The findings of the Islamic studies (Ismaël and others 1974, Najati 1963, Abdelmajid 1984, Al-Tayib 1990, Al Korchi 1986) which dealt with this relationship agree with this thesis and stress the followings facts :

  1. There is a meaningful and binding link between the rise in the living conditions of the parents and the degree of their flexibility and tolerance.

  2. The lower social classes are more severe, conservative and compliant with the prevailing social values. This is the reason why the educational practices of the parents belonging to these classes are usually characterised by rigor and severe punishment. The parents abuse their authority in trying to deter the child and severely punish him for the smallest mistakes, the disobedience of the most trivial orders, or a reaction that does not coincide with what is prevalent and customary. More often than not, these parents tend to resort to corporal punishment or threaten to use it.

  3. The methods used to control the behaviours of children vary according to the parents' values within each social group. While parents coming from the lower social strata tend to subject their child to the values imposed from the outside (such as hygiene, obedience and the respect of the old), to use corporal punishment and give much importance to the financial consequences of his behaviours; middle class parents tend to valorise a child's inner dynamism, the demands necessary for his development, such as his thirst for education, parental love, cooperation skills and good conduct. The latter parents resort to dialogue, persuasion, guidance and advice in educating their children.

 

1.3.4 Cultural Determinants

The cultural level in general and the educational one in particular are considered as the most important indicator which determines the parents' knowledge, competencies and behavioural skills, both of which play a major role in shaping their tendencies as far as child-education is concerned. The findings of the majority of foreign and Islamic studies (Pourtois 1979, Mohan 1981, Najati 1974, Al Korchi 1986, At-Tayib 1990) show that the parents educational level is the factor that mostly fashions the parents' educational practices in comparison to the other remaining variables, particularly the profession, revenue, sex and age of the parents, as well as the number of children. This level is considered as the most important factor that influences the parents' attitudes toward their offspring. For when it is high, the parents tend in most cases to be tolerant and flexible in dealing with their children, and when it is low rigor and punishment prevail.

 

 

1.4 Methods and Mechanisms

If educational practice points to the existence of an educational relation mainly between a child and his parents, as educators, the form it takes is considered as a way of treatment. It should be stressed here that educational practices do not rest only on one dimension of the method of dealing with a child; on the contrary, the majority of Western and Islamic studies agree on the existence of a number of dimensions that govern these methods, specifically represented by the following : control, easy communication and the necessity of the parents' maturity and affection. They emphasise the fact that there are a lot of different types and forms of pedagogical methods that cannot be enumerated because of the following considerations :

The diversity of these practices and methods which depend on the cultural and socio-economic environments of the parents and also on the child's sex, his age and the personality of his father or mother. All these factors have an impact on the parents' conceptions that are behind their educational practices. Their expectations may vary according to their social status, for whenever it is high their educational practices tend to be liberal and when it is low they tend to be authoritarian or anarchic.

Therefore, in spite of the large number and diversity of the parents' educational practices and the disparity of their methods, we can still concentrate on three fundamental models in which are found the specimen suitable for expressing the various types and methods of parental, educational practices in the Muslim World :

 

1.4.1 The Model of Weak Practice

This is the model of educational practices that are not governed by any consistent conduct or fixed general rules guide the behaviours and deeds of a child. He does not, for instance, know when to go to bed. Nothing prevents him from watching television or performing an act when he likes it. He has complete freedom to do whatever he wants whenever he likes it. Actually, this model, which is considered as the less appropriate and the most harmful in terms of educating a child because it creates a disequilibrium in the development, education and adaptation of the latter, is the one which often includes the educational practices of parents coming from the lower social strata, as far as the cultural and socio-economic levels are concerned. Because of their poor material conditions and their limited or non-existent cultural competencies, these parents treat their children either with some kind of vacillation which sometimes reaches a degree of contradictory attitudes toward similar situations, or with some sort of changing moods in which the parents' psychological state plays a decisive role, or with some kind of complete neglect of the child's reality and his body, emotional and knowledge needs. A child who grows under the conditions of an educational practice which neglects him and does not pay the least attention to him on the level of emotional warmth, satisfaction of his biological needs, and educational supervision is bound to have no components of a balanced personality, capable of good adaptation, the confrontation of life's problems in all their aspects and meetings its various challenges.

 

1.4.2 The Model of Vigorous Practice

This model refers to a permanent conduct which is governed by fixed rules that do not change no matter what happens. Therefore, the child has to go to bed at a fixed time; he can neither watch television except when allowed by his parents, nor can he have any activities except those approved by them. This model includes the educational practices of parents belonging to social groups of a low or non-existent, economic and cultural levels. In other words, these educational practices are adopted by parents whose financial and cultural status is usually unfit for the satisfaction of the child's needs, his adaptation and development. These practices are, according to some researchers (Hassan 1970, At-Tayib 1990), usually characterised either by the authoritarianism of the parents and their domination and all that goes with them, such as deprivation, rigor, harshness, punishment; or by exaggeration in terms of care and protection and all that goes with them such as taking excessive care of the child' health and education, being alarmed of his mates' influence on him; or by arbitrariness, lack of coherence, clarity and any established frame of reference and all that goes with them, such as restricting a child's movements and freedom. Actually, the child who experiences such a model will definitely have a weak personality, mainly characterised by a feeling of inferiority, lack of confidence, fear and helplessness; hence his failure to adapt to and integrate his social environment, to acquire knowledge and confront life's problems. This leads him to anti-social behaviours that take the form of deviant reactions, such as theft, vandalism, aggression and vagrancy.

 

1.4.3 The Model of Flexible Practice

This model refers to those fixed conducts or general rules adopted by certain parents, but which can change according to circumstances. Thus, for instance, a child has to go to bed at a fixed hour; but if the following day is a holiday, he can stay late. He watches television whenever he wants, but he has to respect certain conditions, such as the type of programs, the time of their broadcasting and length. He can also perform any activities he likes provided that he respects certain conditions. What all this amounts to is that the rules are not rigid; on the contrary, they are modelled according to circumstances and events. If this practice combines the characteristics of both the rigorous and weak models, it is the most suitable for appropriate education and is found with parents coming from wealthy and privileged social groups. This model includes the educational practices of parents belonging to high socio-economic and cultural strata or the middle ones at most, because "these social groups can satisfy all the needs of their children, who have in most cases ample chance to have a better upbringing and education" (At-Tayib 1990, p.21).

Indeed, this model of flexible practice has the necessary conditions for appropriate parental, educational practices which provide a regulated satisfaction of a child's needs and consist according to the majority of researchers (Bandura 1973, Lautrey 1989, Kafani 1989, Abdelfettah 1992, At-Tayib 1990), in the following : flexibility, freedom, acceptance, tolerance, justice, dialogue, commitment, rationalism, supervision and parental warmth. A child who grows up within the context of this flexible educational practice is usually distinguished by the characteristics of a balanced personality mainly displayed in self-confidence, a high self-esteem, assuming responsibility, a sense of security, competence in knowledge acquisition and communication, capacity to solve problems and the confrontation of various situations in life.

It is on the basis of these definitions which are intended to point out the main models of educational practices that shape a child's education in Muslim societies that we should stress the three following conclusions (At-Tayib 1990, pp. 24-30) :

  1. The findings of the majority of Western and Islamic psychological studies agree on the fact that the model of flexible, educational practices has a more positive effect than the two models of weak and rigorous practices.

  2. Since the kind of model of practice the parents choose, plays a positive or negative role according to their economic and cultural levels, this implies that parents, living in an authoritarian society, will certainly resort to some kind of harshness and rigor in the treatment of their children, while parents, living in a democratic and open society, will certainly resort to some sort of leniency and tolerance.

  3. If authoritarianism and harshness are characteristics of a rigid educational model while democracy and tolerance the characteristics of a flexible one, harshness and rigor are not so much inherent characteristics of lower social groups as two means used to preserve some kind of equilibrium among family members, when life conditions are very hard. Similarly, flexibility and tolerance are among types of educational practices used within a family, when the parents have many possibilities for choice in attempting to attain a specific objective or realise the satisfaction of some desire.

 

 

2. Problems and Hindrances

In the previous part of this study, I have tried to emphasise the fact that parental education in the Muslim World and other countries consists in daily practices and conducts that can take different forms and appear under various colours, which oscillate between right and wrong, positive and negative, practical and non-practical, according to the nature of principles and objectives and the sort of determinants and methods involved. Whenever the objectives are guided by appropriate principles and the methods are shaped by adequate determinants, these practices certainly have good effects on the level of a child's education. Whenever the principles and objectives are contradictory and the determinants and methods are disparate, the results of these practices are disastrous as far as the development and adaptation of child are concerned. I say this because I am completely aware of the fact that in the Muslim World the problem of parental education usually lies in this obvious disparity between its theoretical components which are mostly used as bombastic slogans that are deployed on certain occasions, brandished during certain discussions and evoked whenever there are problems or serious crises. Though its scientific qualities may appear to be of paramount importance for some culturally and economically privileged social groups, parental education still remains for the majority of social strata a domain of limited effectiveness and results and a futile enterprise. Certainly, Muslim society, not unlike other societies, has been aspiring after an educational practice that is flexible, open and has objectives which lie in helping the child have a personality that is undisturbed, well-balanced, competent, able to adjust, communicate, assume responsibility, and keep the child safe from all possible dangers and challenges. Despite successive rushes to fulfil this aspiration and eagerness to overcome all possible problems and difficulties, the majority of Muslim society's classes appear to be stumbling in its movements and steps and has limited objectives and desires. This reality has negative effects on the parental education practised in the Muslim World, because this education is most of the time confronted by problems and hindrances which "check its progress paralyse its movement, and draw it backward so that the efforts of some parents who know the elements of an appropriate education yield unfruitful results or deceptive illusions" (Ahrchaou, 1998, pp.17-18)

Therefore, what are the main weaknesses of parental education in Muslim countries ? And what are the various conditions which check the effectiveness of this education, thus creating hindrances and obstacles which prevent it from playing its required role, especially on the level of preparing a competent human being capable of confronting life's problems and contemporary challenges ? Does today's reality of Muslim societies help to motivate the family and through it the parents to play their educational role in the domain of building the emotional and psychic capacities of a child and developing his knowledge competencies ?

To answer these questions we have to rely on two types of aspects and specificities that incarnate, on the one hand, the depth of the big problems and challenges which confront parental education in Muslim countries and, on the other hand, the tenor of a series of weaknesses and drawbacks which the state of these practices cannot change except from bad to worse.

In spite of the interlocking of these problems and weaknesses and their organic interaction, I have chosen to deal with them separately so as firstly to specify the nature of their determinants and the degree of their effect on the educational practices of the parents, and secondly to preserve the psychological perspective which shapes the contents of this study. By resorting to this last consideration, I will mostly concentrate on the aspects of the second type (namely the weaknesses and drawbacks) because it represents the specific dimension that suits my psychological perspective. As to the first type, consisting in the big problems and challenges, I am not going to deal with it except to a degree that would be advantageous to the aims of this study, thus leaving room for researchers in sociology and economy, because it is a subject that interests them more than us.

 

2.1 Major Problems and Challenges

Following our analysis which focused on the determinants and models of parental education in Muslim countries, we can retain three fundamental problems in which we find more the specificities of big challenges and stand in the way of this education, and thus ask for enough attention :

 

2.1.1 The Problem of Poverty and Under- development

Actually, the scarcity of financial means or their inexistence and the fall in the living standards of the majority of social strata in Muslim societies are all factors that hinder parental education and render it weak, with unsteady goals and objectives and limited results and outcomes. As I have emphasised earlier, there is a strong link between the economic level of the parents and their educational practice. Whenever this level is high, there is a large degree of the parents' flexibility, tolerance and democracy in their educational practices. However, whenever this level is or tends to be low, the methods that resort to strictness and harshness and are shaped either by severe punishment or by big neglect are prevalent in these practices. On the strength of this, I may say that the different aspects of poverty and underdevelopment which the majority of social strata in the Muslim countries suffer from will certainly have negative effects on the educational practices of the parents coming from these strata. These negative effects may, on the one hand, take the form of educational patterns and methods that vary in the hands of some parents from authoritarianism to anarchy or oscillate between the two extremes; and may on the other hand, be reflected in results that vary from inferiority complex to revolt or vacillate between the two as far as children are concerned. It is this fact which makes of them one of the big challenges that the Muslim countries cannot meet except by eradicating one of their major causes, namely poverty and the very bad living conditions of the majority of the social strata of which Muslim societies are composed.

 

2.1.2 The Problem of Illiteracy and Ignorance

Undoubtedly, parental educational practices are influenced by the intellectual and cultural level that prevail in their social environments. Of course, ignorance checks the effectiveness of these practices and reduces the number of the interventions of the parents; it, indeed, prevents the latter from following the development and progress of society. As has been mentioned earlier, the cultural level in general and the educational one in particular are considered as the factor that mostly influences parental, educational practices; for whenever these levels are high or average at least, the practices tend to lead to more democratic, flexible and tolerant attitudes toward children. But whenever they are low the practices lead either to authoritarianism, strictness and harshness or to anarchy, neglect and carelessness. If everybody is aware of the fact that a large number of social groups and layers within the Muslim countries are still oppressed by rampant illiteracy and defaming ignorance to the extent that it is not necessary to give any specific percentage here, this implies that the parental education practised in these environments will certainly "be negatively influenced by this evil which, in spite of all the efforts that have been made on the level of uprooting it either through compulsory education or through parallel programs for the eradication of illiteracy in Muslim countries and not in all of them, its size will, according to some forecasts, double at the turn of the year 2000" (The UNESCO Office 1988, p.24).

Therefore, the spread of this evil will result in the increase in the number and the widening of the basis of the wrong practices which vary from models of weak practices characterised by neglect, anarchy and permissiveness to models of rigorous practices which resort to harshness, strictness and punishment. These models have a negative impact on the development and adaptation of a child, which is reflected, on the one hand, in his lack of the components of an undisturbed personality capable of appropriate adaptation and the confrontation of life's problems and, on the other hand, in having a weak personality - lacking in self-confidence and unable to adapt, acquire knowledge and confront life's problems.

Actually, the eradication of illiteracy and the ignorance associated with it - which are the main cause of these practices and their negative effects - constitute, in my opinion, the second major challenge that confronts the Muslim countries. It is in putting an end to this problem through various means and projects that lies the best way to guide the aforementioned groups and sections toward flexible educational practices, characterised by acceptance instead of rejection, attention instead of neglect, flexibility instead of rigidity, namely practices that are governed by methods of control, communication and supervision.

 

2.1.3 The Problem of the Shrinkage of the Role of the Family

It is obvious that parental education in the Muslim countries, like its counterparts all over the world, is influenced by its social environment in which the family constitutes the most significant context. The latter plays a vital role because it is, along with the school, the most productive domain for spreading educational mentality and its essential values. But what kind of family are we speaking about and what mentality do we mean ? We, of course, find in the Muslim countries families with different characteristics of structures, varying from traditional, extended families to modern, nuclear ones. However, do these families actually constitute human groups that are governed by an educational logic, with regulated measures and accurate methods and steps ? In reality, the family which should help the propagation of parental education and the practice of its effective methods is essentially "a cultural and social institution characterised by a specific educational logic which enables it to perform its educational function in a better way. It is a group of people which does not only consume ideas and products and obeys orders, but also contributes to a good preparation of a competent human being who is the source of all creativity and production. The family is a human cell which is far above being a mere façade for the economy, a parental authority or a religious influence. But the question to be asked here is : does the present-day family in the Muslim countries belong to that category of families which entitles its members to have the quality of a social institution that assumes a momentous cultural responsibility ? If we want to be realistic and objective, we can say that the family in most parts of the Muslim countries does not enter under this standard category, a fact which true to reality. Despite all the efforts that have been made up to now, it is obvious that the educational methods practised within these family milieux are still lacking in the most simple measures and requirements. For, in most families, these practices do not go beyond intimidation and terrorisation on certain occasions, distraction and amusement at times, and boastfulness and ostentation at others" (Ahrchaou 1998, p.18).

In addition to this, these families witnessed palpable changes in their functions and roles due to the transformations which their structural modes and component systems underwent as a result of the economic, social and cultural developments of Muslim societies. These changes and developments transformed the function of these families from a major one with many roles to a minor one with limited roles. The families, thus, left to the school a major part of their function which lies in their educational and knowledge imparting role, as will be shown later.

Therefore, families in the Muslim countries will, undoubtedly, extend and increase (extended families) shrink and decrease (nuclear ones) with no prevalence in most of them of educational practices that have conspicuous foundations and objectives, and accurate functions and roles as long as they are not aware of the fact that educational function is a strategic and decisive one, either because of their complete ignorance of this, or because of their material and cultural poverty. The families' ignorance of their essential educational function constitutes the third challenge that the Muslim countries have to meet, because how can it be accepted that the task of bringing up generations after generations be allotted to a social institution of the calibre of the family, while this institution completely ignores the requirements and conditions necessary for carrying out this task satisfactorily ? It is strange, however, for this is the case. This matter needs to receive all the attention it deserves.

 

 

2.2 Weaknesses and Drawbacks

If my aim in dealing in the previous part with the big problems and challenges which stand in the way of parental, educational practices in the Muslim countries was to draw attention to a series of hindering factors, particularly poverty, ignorance and the shrinkage of the role of the family, all of which are not necessarily the responsibility of the individual and his choices because they depend on society's structures and orientations; my attention in this part will be given to mainly focusing on a series of weaknesses and drawbacks which are also factors that hinder the effectiveness of these practices and are the responsibility of the parents to a larger extent.

 

2.2.1 Lack of a Pedagogical Education

As every educational practice, true parental education is the one which is guided by a practical pedagogical education. Without this pedagogical supervision, it is impossible for any parental education to achieve its objectives and goals on the level of practice. More accurately, it will not go, as it is the case with the majority of parental, educational practices in Muslim countries, beyond mere oscillating, temperamental attitudes; swinging, haphazard behaviours and contradictory extreme treatments. The following indications may serve as a way of illustration here :

a) Vacillation between Authoritarianism and Indulgence

The parents' acceptance of the child is the first standard measurement of the success of their educational method. This attitude alone creates an atmosphere of security which is necessary for the development of the child's personality and the completion of his social integration. However, this primary educational dimension is usually emptied of its real sense in the Muslim World, when we consider it in the context of the determinants of authoritarianism or indulgence within the process of parents-child relationship. On the one hand, we notice that a child who lives, in our society, in an atmosphere of domination rarely feels secure or learns what the parents expect of him, because education as a practice is still reduced here to the level of orders and coercion instead of guidance and advice, and to pressure, rigor and domination instead of understanding, tolerance and freedom at times. Therefore, this kind of practice is in contradiction with the spirit of every parental education that is built on reasonable degrees of sound authority and genuine freedom. On the other hand, any child who lives in an atmosphere of indulgence, where excessive freedom predominates, rarely finds the adequate climate for his psychological opening and the development of his competencies, because indulgence as an educational practice still means for us neglect and carelessness instead of reasonable guidance and appropriate supervision. Since a child's true potentialities are not taken into consideration in this indulgent treatment, the parents do not discover its negative consequences on the future of the child, the family and society till it is too late.

Within the context of this attempt to define the parents' attitude toward accepting the child, I should mention that the authority and indulgence dualism, which imposes itself on the level of the unsteady equilibrium between the contradictory principles of authority and submission, apparently constitute one of the major problems of our parental education. If "maternal tenderness, affection and love are among the primary elements which help the development of a child's personality, affection, social relations and knowledge acquisition; the authority of the father is the basis which completes a balanced education of the child, for it makes him aware of his individuality and conscious of the existence of the other and the necessity of being open to society" (Wery 1974, p.51). It should be mentioned here that the role of the father appears to be more momentous because many things are required of him, the first of which is to avoid the duality of excessiveness in educational practices that are guided by the inclination either to excessive authority or to negative indulgence, so that he could stick to a balanced educational activity which is the firm basis of every flexible and strong personality capable of adaptation and assuming responsibility. He should be aware, as will be seen in due course, of how to perform his educational duty so as to be able to prepare the integration of his children in a world characterised by continuous development and change. It is a big and decisive role, indeed, but it is difficult and arduous.

b) Vacillation between Exclusion and Overprotection

As already mentioned, the parents' acceptance of the child is the primary condition for his psychological opening and the achievement of his adaptation. But there are a lot of cases where the parents do not play their role in protecting and helping the child. For they neglect him and do not give him the least consideration for his practical potentialities and real means. This negative educational practice is mostly reflected in our Muslim societies in two main attitudes :

On the one hand, there is the attitude of rejection or exclusion which appears in its authoritarian or arbitrary form as a desire to subject the child, to debase, disable and disqualify him so as to get rid of his troublemaking and problems. As to its appearance in the form of indulgence or tolerance, this attitude varies from simple indulgence to carelessness, ending in complete neglect.

On the other hand, there is the attitude of excessive protection illustrated by an educational practice that is governed by the parents' excessive care of the health of the child, his protection and education, thus making him live in a false and artificially embellished world. Actually, the same aforementioned duality linked with the attitude of rejection is also found here with all its components, mainly reflected in domination or subjection. If this attitude under its form of excessive domination in protection aims primarily at making the child fit a defined model, either arbitrary or forcibly; it is, under its form of excessive indulgence in neglect, always more reformative than is necessary, thus opening on some kind of exhibition, acute spoiling and anxiety.

Be it as it may, the negative attitude of the parents toward the child has dire consequences on his education and future, for he becomes a victim of appearances; namely negativism, carelessness, lies and aggressiveness, which we suffer from and live with daily in most contexts and families in Muslim countries. These are all aspects resulting from the child's lack of self-confidence and self-improvement, that is why (according to a large number of people) he becomes a failure at school, a vagrant in society and a criminal in his behaviour.

c) Vacillation between Contradictory Attitudes

One of the major aspects of the parental education, which is practised in many social milieux in the Muslim World and proves these practices' lack of any pedagogy, is the vacillating attitude that some parents adopt as an educational method which is inconsistent, hesitant and does not stick to a firm conduct or fixed rules in educating the child. These parents do not treat their child in the same way in similar situations; on the contrary, there is an oscillation that may reach a degree of contradiction in their attitudes. For we find them continuously vacillating between authority and weakness, acceptance and rejection, complete neglect and excessive protection. This ambiguity in their attitudes, which is governed by the personal temperament of the parents, usually throws the child into a climate of terror and fear, completely lacking in any educational value.

 

2.2.2 The Lack of a Psychological Frame of Reference

Starting from the aspects and characteristics of parental, educational practices in Muslim countries, particularly the ones we described as negative, we can assert that the majority of these practices lacks in any psychological frame of reference, and essentially child-psychology which is one of the strong pillars of every parental education. Since it is the theory that every father or mother has about the psychology of his / her children which provides the main frame of reference for the kind of educational treatments and practices he/she reserves for his / her children, these methods and practices may vary from right to wrong, effective to ineffective, positive to negative, according to the nature of this theory. As long as it is scientific or semi-scientific so as to be based on accurate pedagogical and psychological, data and knowledge, it leads its adherent to rely in his treatment of his children on methods whose results are sure and beneficial because of its flexibility, commitment, rationality, warmth and good supervision. As long as it is superstitious and naïve, as it is unfortunately the case with that of a large number of fathers and mothers in Muslim societies, so that it is built on ideas and events that are either imaginary or inaccurate, it leads its adherent to useless educational practices whose results are limited because of its vacillation, haphazardness and contradictory nature.

 

2.2.3 The Lack of an Educational Strategy

The lack of an educational strategy with defined objectives and firm measures is one of the main weaknesses of the parental education practised in Muslim countries. This is a fact that cannot be denied or neglected because the reality of this education testifies to this in more than one of its aspects, among which are the following most important ones :

a) The Paucity of Supervision and Orientation

The absence of the mother's affection and the father's authority is a complete disaster as far as the education of a child and the achievement of his psychic and social integration are concerned. If the lack of motherly affection, in our Muslim societies, is the result of a lot of factors, the first of which are the absence of some mothers from home because of their professional occupations and the carelessness of others because of their selfishness, immaturity or terrible psychological and living conditions; the lack of the authority of the father usually springs from the actual absence of the latter either because of his continuous work or his deviant conduct, or because of his abandonment at home to the satisfaction of his desires or enjoyment of his preferred hobbies to such an extent that his presence is not different from his absence, or finally because of the death or illness of one of the parents, etc. In this context it should be mentioned that the degree of a child's knowledge of his parents and his affection for them does not depend, as the majority of people imagine, on the number of hours they spend with him, but mainly depends on the type of this parenthood and all the ways of treatment and educational methods that it resorts to. Wise fatherhood and motherhood, as will be seen later, are not gauged by the number of hours spent in the house but depend, on the one hand, on the amount of love, friendship and attention given to a child and, on the other hand, on what the parents provide him with in terms of the types of pedagogical stimulation and motivation, consisting particularly in controlling his behaviours, ethicizing his conduct and developing his relationships by teaching him moral values and the conventions of interaction and communication and by helping him acquire the knowledge and representations related to identity. This means that it is wrong to see the absence of the father or the mother from home in terms of a situation that would deprive the family only of an important source of revenue which satisfies all demands and needs; on the contrary, there is a stronger argument than this, namely this absence or deprivation makes both the family and the child lose the elements of psychological contact, educational supervision and pedagogical orientation, all of which are the essential components of the parental education we aspire after in the Muslim countries. In other words, an education which will achieve the development of the child and his social integration through a series of strategies consisting mainly in self-discipline, adjustment and cooperation.

b) The Limitedness of the Parents’ Competence

If we take into consideration the parents' educational conceptions and their representations of their roles and parental competencies in Muslim countries, we may come to a conclusion of paramount importance, namely that these conceptions and representations do not in the case of the majority of social strata generally inspire confidence and satisfaction, because the concept of parental competence, which is defined by the majority of Western studies (Terrisse and Dansereau 1990, Allès-Jardel 1997, Massé 1991, Gibaud-Watson 1977) as a multi-dimensional concept, is usually reduced by a large number of parents in Muslim countries to personal qualities and mainly the emotional dimension. As a result of this, such a type of parents rarely pay enough attention to themselves as educators, and thus do not really value the concept of parental competence and the very effective educational role that it asks for in terms of yield and satisfaction. It is a concept whose meaning can be embodied by three groups of characteristics necessary for every effective practice of parental competence :

c) Giving Priority to Emotional Education over Cognitive Education :

Just as there is almost a complete consensus on the importance of parental education and its role in the constitution of a child's personality, the achievement of his psychological equilibrium and the shaping of his moral conscience through various educational methods, there is another no less significant consensus on the importance of a child's early experiences and the effectiveness of his spontaneous and natural acquisition of knowledge in providing the real foundations for the development of his mental capacities and knowledge competencies. The difference between the two consensus is that the first is shared by everybody - both common people and scientists, while the second one is a fact whose importance is understood only by specialists in the fields of psychology, education and sociology.

Those who partake of the first consensus see that parental education in Muslim countries has undergone palpable changes, for its function has shifted from an extended one with diverse roles to a small one with limited roles. Consequently, it has given up an important part of its function - namely its knowledge imparting role to the school. The majority of Arab-Islamic discussions, which resort to simplistic theses on child-education prevalent in the 1950's, played a role in validating the opinion of those who advocate the reduction of the function of the parents to the level of emotional, moral and behavioral education; the child, thus becomes a weak, incapable and intelligence-lacking being, who requires nothing more than answering his material needs and satisfying his emotional desires, hence the neglect and discarding of all that is related to the cognitive aspects till he reaches school-age. This resulted in turning the role of the parents in the education of their child in general and the improvement of his knowledge competencies in particular into a minor one, which is limited in time and place. Their interventions, which take place only inside the house, do not go beyond the first three or four years of the child's life, thus leaving room after that and once for all to the school. But the question to be asked is : is it really right to reduce the parents' educational function to this psychological and social role which qualifies it as a function that specializes only in emotions and moralities ? To what extent is the parental education practised in Muslim countries right in adopting a method which concentrates only on values and morals, while neglecting the knowledge imparting aspect, especially that what society needs nowadays are individuals who have first-class competencies, knowledge and skills ? More than this, to what extent can we say that parental education is teaching not only morals and behaviours but also knowledge and productive capacities ?

On the basis of the reality of parental education, as it is reflected at present in the findings of the majority of psychological studies, and the role it plays in the development of a child and his adaptation through its treatment methods; we clearly see that the previous attitude, in spite of its importance, remains limited because the aim of every parental education -though part of it is embodied in what is psychological and social- consists in its other part in what is educational and intellectual. Here lies the importance of the second attitude. Though there has been a consensus on the latter attitude since the beginning of the century, particularly on the level of considering a human being as a phenomenon of progress and development and as a system of learning and acquisition, its scientific justifications and practical dimensions have not yet crossed the boundaries of the systems of parental education, as it is practised in Muslim countries, and have hardly touched its treatment methods. After all, this is only natural, for these justifications and dimensions had not been ripe enough and available till the 1980's, especially when it became practically obvious that the process of acquiring knowledge, developing competencies and learning skills should not be restricted only to the school. Even though the latter is the only institution which competes with the parents on the level of the comprehensive nature of their roles, the parents, in their turn, are now asked to contribute to this process of acquisition for scientific reasons, the most important of which are :

Having taken these considerations into account, we point out that the parental education which we should call for and promote in Muslim countries is the one which has to combine two complementary roles : one is psycho-social, the other is educational-cognitive. In other words, it is that education which is required to fulfil its vital role, an important part of which it has given up for a long time to the school - either under the pretence that knowledge acquisition and the development of competencies is the domain of the school, or by claiming that its role has shrank due to the cultural and social changes which had an impact on the social milieux of its active members.

 

 

3. Suggestions and Solutions

 

3.1 Equality in Terms of Means and Opportunities

All parents aspire to the success of their children in every domain of school and family life. This is a socio-cultural value which I have tried to highlight in this study through putting emphasis on the importance of the intellectual and educational training resulting from the educational practices of the parents. Imparting knowledge and upbringing are two interlocked elements, for education is some kind of engineering composed of "methods adopted to help the maturation of a child his psychological opening and his acquisition of knowledge, of the different types of behaviours and of the values characteristic to his social environment" (Holyat et Delphine 1973, p.110).

I have dwelt in an earlier section of this study on the nature of the relationship between parental education and school education, because I want to stress the effective impact of the educational intervention of the parents, even on school results themselves. That intervention which is still timid, so as not to say inexistent, as far as the majority of parents in Muslim societies are concerned. This is the reason why I think that the adoption of a training program for these parents in the domain of their educational duties constitutes at present one of the most urgent matters which should be dealt with through the taking of exceptional measures, for the problem is of paramount importance as the future of the whole Arab-Islamic culture depends on it.

 

3.2 Educational Responsibilities

There is a noticeable difference between a person-parent and the person who behaves as a parent. Parental competence mainly means a series of educational obligations and requirements necessary for the development and education of a child. Therefore, its sense should not be restricted, as it is the case in our societies, to the role assigned to the natural or biological parents. Parenthood, or the responsibility of the parents to educate their children, is not a minor or simple operation; on the contrary, it is the most decisive operation and responsibility, one can think of, for any society. Accordingly, any neglect in giving it the attention it deserves will result in huge problems. This is a question that necessitates putting emphasis on two essential ideas : the first is that parental competence should be considered in Muslim countries as the responsibility of society as a whole; the second idea lies in the urgency of the reformation of the state of this parental competence and its conditions through studies and surveys whose objective is to collect the necessary information and data for the implementation of any potential strategy in this domain.

 

3.3 Educational Trainings

To say that today's child-education is different from the one adopted a generation or two ago has become commonplace; for everyone knows how quick is the pace of the development of ideas and the shakiness of practices. To illustrate this, it may suffice to mention how it is common in Muslim countries to lay the blame on the family for all the bad effects and negative consequences of education. It is considered as the source of all kinds of problems and crises and all sorts of deviations and disturbances. However, what is shameful about saying that the family is not the cause; for there are various causes among which are : poor conditions and material neediness, ignorance and cultural paucity, and psychological and pedagogical shortages, all of which the majority of families and through them the majority of parents in Muslim societies suffer from. It is true that many facts, as has been mentioned earlier, assert that the educational practices of the parents play a central role in the development and education of a child, which means that the parents' living and professional conditions determine the type of these practices. It is also true that any compensatory, educational interventions, without a real change in the living conditions of the huge number of poor families in Muslim countries, will be doomed to failure. Therefore, the urgent intervention that should be made for the benefit of such families does not lie in rendering them aware of the need for the flexibility of their educational practices and submitting their children to compensatory educational measures; on the contrary, what is needed first of all is providing them with the financial means necessary for a decent life where social inequalities and all aspects of poverty, ignorance, misery and vagrancy are non-existent. After such an intervention, the governments can guide the parents and render them aware of their roles as follows :

 

3.3.1 The Profession of Parenthood

Actually, the "profession" of parenthood is not taught anywhere in Muslim societies. It is just a responsibility assumed by every father and every mother; worse than this, the lessons and programs related to family life and the child's development and education are most of the time ridiculous in Muslim countries, either because they are non-existent, or because of their low level and meagre financial rewards - if they ever exist. This is so in spite of the fact that, in our opinion, good parental competence is the primary mission that these societies will have to deal with. While American secondary schools provide lessons on child's psychology attended by small children who learn how to become parents in the future, Muslim countries don't have such experiments which are part of a purposeful, educational strategy whose aim is to render future parents aware of their educational roles and pedagogical responsibilities.

 

3.3.2 The Strategy of Making Parents Aware of their Roles

I am sure that at present the percentage of parents who are aware of the importance of their educational role in Muslim countries is very small, indeed. This is what lays emphasis on the fact that educating them through rendering them fully aware of the situation has become urgent to such an extent that it is necessary to shun the discourse of exhortations and advices and stick to the discourse founded on how to come up with new strategies, consisting in providing an appropriate environment which will motivate the child, as far as material, cultural and behavioral aspects are concerned, to fashion the development of his personality and achieve his social integration. The best that can be done in this respect is to provide various instructive materials and means for the parents so as to make them aware of the importance and gravity of their educational role.

 

Conclusion

Having reached the end of this study whose limits I am fully aware of and which does not cover all the aspects of a difficult and intricate subject of the calibre of parental education in Muslim countries, I still think that it has yielded fruitful results. Even if I did not want to hurl myself into the labyrinth of evoking all the superficial ideas, simplistic opinions and trivial details related to this problematic, I tried to shed light on its major principles, predominant objectives, powerful determinants, effective methods and huge problems and hindrances; I also showed that the nature of this education is above all determined by the theory that every father and every mother has about the psychology of his/her children. This is the theory I suggest that the researchers and actors in the domain of parental education in Muslim countries concentrate their efforts on, because it is in studying its meanings and considering its elements, component parts and aspects that lie the practical solutions for overcoming the problems and hindrances of this education.


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[Paper: Effective Islamic Parenting]