Sūrat al-Baqarah
Section 15 of 59 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Teaching Our Children
Tarbiyat al-abnāʾ, the raising of our children, has its place in Sūrat al-Baqarah — even upon the deathbed, in the case of Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him):
أَمْ كُنتُمْ شُهَدَآءَ إِذْ حَضَرَ يَعْقُوبَ ٱلْمَوْتُ إِذْ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنۢ بَعْدِى قَالُوا۟ نَعْبُدُ إِلَـٰهَكَ وَإِلَـٰهَ ءَابَآئِكَ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمَ وَإِسْمَـٰعِيلَ وَإِسْحَـٰقَ إِلَـٰهًا وَٰحِدًا وَنَحْنُ لَهُۥ مُسْلِمُونَ
“Is it that you were present when death approached Ya‘qūb, when he said to his sons: “What will you worship after me”? They said, “We will worship your God and the God of your fathers, Ibrāhīm, Ismā‘īl (Ishmael) and IsHāq (Isaac), the one God, and to Him we submit ourselves.”” (2:133)
He asks his sons what they will worship after he is gone. Our responsibility towards our children thus runs until our death, though it must be set in motion long before; and he seeks their confirmation of it.