Assalamu 'alaikum wm wb to all.

I woke up before fajr this morning with a thought over Faridah's mail. In my previous two mails, I had explained to some details why I strongly believe not to get into a tango with people whose mission is to revise Islam for their own specific purposes, humiliate our 'ulama' and discredit mainstream Muslims. This, I believe, will be a dance till eternity or till you drop dead. Such people do not want the truth; they just want to tango, to engage you in endless squabbling, riding upon the publicity that you open up for them. They breed on negative publicity, and our well-intended reactions feed their missions on.

However, I do believe that the Ummah need to be educated and strengthened in sound knowledge on Islam. It is indeed a very serious short-coming which may even court tragic endings for Muslims if their attachment to Islam is more of sentimental loyalty rather than based on good understanding of Islam, which is generally the case with Malay Muslims, elite and regulars alike. Not only will such Muslims be in danger of getting themselves confused by such mischievous onslaughts, but if they are parents, their children too may become preys to such mischievous efforts.

In fact, it is often the children of elite Muslims who are more prone to such de-islamization onslaughts and conversions since these kids move in wider circles and have such sophisticated means and skills as the internet to challenge their iman, top up by their parents’ so-called "open-mindedness" towards all and sundry, often encouraging their children to be likewise too. Parents are normally in the dark regarding the development of their children’s minds and souls until almost at the point of no return, and then get all wrought up with anxiety, blaming all others except themselves for the situations of their children.

In Islam, the children are the parents' responsibilities. In general, elite parents know so much about so many things, read so much about anything, are skilled in so many ways, but in many cases, know so little about Islam, read even less about Islam and have no skill in iman development of their children. Thus, such parents often cannot engage meaningfully and effectively with their children when queried on matters related to iman and Islam, often giving superficial explanations which do not satisfy the rich minds of their children, leaving these kids in more confusion and disdain about their religion.

Children are Allah's trust or amanah upon the parents, and parents should pay as much attention to their children, in fact even more, than they do to their profession. After all, the matter of iman is a “this world” and “next world” matter whereas their profession is only of this world and even then, only up to their retirement age. It is therefore essential, even urgent in many cases, that such parents seriously start to learn systematically about Islam, not only to understand the religion for their own good but also to understand it well enough to be meaningful to their children. Indeed, if their children take to deviant beliefs or to other religions, it is they who will suffer the most, not other people.

May Allah Almighty guide us on our way.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kamar Oniah Kamaruzaman,

President of IMAN (Interactive Muslimah Association) and