Allah Almighty says: {Enjoin your household to perform prayer and adhere to it firmly} [Tāha: 132] Allah Almighty also says: {O you who believe, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire} [Surat al-Tahrīm: 6]
1) This chapter is related to the previous one from the point that, since the author (may Allah have mercy upon him) gave an account of what is due for the family for the nutrition of the body, he also mentioned what is due for them for the nutrition of the soul. Thus, the first thing they are commanded to do is to establish Tawhīd (oneness of Allah) and the prayer.
2) Commanding one’s family to obey Allah Almighty and His Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) is a means of protection from the torment of Allah Almighty in the worldly life and the Hereafter.
298/1- Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “Al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) took a date from the dates of charity and put it in his mouth. Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Kikh, kikh! Throw it! Do you not know that we do not eat from charity?’” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]
According to another narration: “Do you not know that charity is not lawful for us?” 'Kikh, kikh' is a word said to little children to hold them back from approaching filthy stuff, since Al-Hasan was a little boy back then.
1) Charity is not lawful for the household of the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) because they are the most honorable among people, while charity and obligatory alms are the filth of people. It is not befitting for the most honorable people to take the filth of other people.
2) A successful mentor has to raise his children and students on abandoning prohibitions, and to discipline them for failing to perform the religious obligations.
299/2- Abu Hafs, ‘Umar ibn Abi Salamah ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abd al-Asad, the step-son of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) reported: “I was a boy under the care of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) and my hand used to go here and there in the plate. So, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said to me: ‘O boy, mention the Name of Allah, eat with your right hand, and eat from what is near to you.’ I have been sticking to that manner of eating ever since.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]
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Step-son: the boy was the son of the Umm Salamah, the wife of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him).
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1) The guardian must teach his children the manners of eating and drinking, as well as other prophetic manners and Shariah morals.
2) The Hadīth reveals the excellent morals of the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) and his graceful manner of instruction, as he did not rebuke the boy when he acted inappropriately while eating, but instead, he taught him in a gentle manner.
3) Teaching the children such etiquettes is one of the best methods because children do not forget what they learn in their young age.
There are three etiquettes that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) taught to the boy in this Hadīth:
1) One should say, ‘In the Name of Allah’ at the beginning of the meal. If he fails to do so, the devil will share the food with him. If he forgets to say it at the beginning, he may say while eating: ‘In the Name of Allah at the beginning and at the end of it.’
2) His saying: ‘eat with your right hand’ is a command denoting obligation. Hence, one must eat and drink with his right hand since the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) forbade one from eating or drinking with his left hand, and he said: “Verily, the devil eats with his left hand and drinks with his left hand.”
3) His saying: ‘and eat from what is near to you’ means that one should not eat from the side of the dish that is closer to others as doing this is considered bad manners.
Is it permissible to eat with the left hand, or to take food from what is not near to the eater?
1) If there is a necessity for eating with the left hand, like an excuse of illness or the like, then there is nothing wrong with that.
2) If there is a diversity of dishes and variety of food, then there is nothing wrong for one to eat from plates that are not nearest to him.
300/3- Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) say: “Everyone of you is a guardian and everyone of you is responsible for those under his guardianship; A ruler is a guardian and is responsible for those under his guardianship, A man is a guardian of his family and is responsible for those under his guardianship, A woman is a guardian in her husband’s house and is responsible for those under her guardianship, and a servant is a guardian over the property of his master and is responsible for what is under his guardianship. So everyone of you is a guardian and is responsible for those under his guardianship.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]
1) Every individual in the Muslim community has a responsibility which he should discharge in a way that is pleasing to Allah Almighty.
2) With the proper distribution of responsibilities and guardianships, matters become perfect and rightly-set, for it is true that the believers complete each other.
The Hadīth includes a great commandment, which is to refer to the people of knowledge and follow their guidance. This is evidenced by the statement of the prominent scholar Al-Tāhir ibn ‘Āshūr (may Allah have mercy upon him) on the Fiqh of the Hadīth: “Scholars are not mentioned among the guardians of the Ummah, nor are they responsible for the Muslims, because they are a referential authority that the guardians and caretakers refer to.”
He added: “The calamities and afflictions that befell this Ummah did not appear until its lay people swerved away from the guidance of the scholars and refrained from resorting to them for solving whatever problematic matters they might encounter. When the lay Muslims dared to follow their own opinions in solving matters that were too hard to be handled, dispensed with the guidance of the scholars of Shariah, and became followers of the callers to error, Muslims were afflicted with failure, and their guide became the sword and sharp arrows.” [Summarized from Usool al-Nidhām al-Ijtimā‘i fi al-Islām]
301/4- ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb related from his father that his grandfather (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Command your children to offer the prayer when they are seven years old, and beat them for not offering it when they are ten, and separate between them in beds.” [Hasan (sound) Hadīth, narrated by Abu Dāwūd with a sound Isnād]
302/5- Abu Thurayyah, Sabrah ibn Ma‘bad al-Juhani (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Teach a young boy how to pray when he is seven years old and beat him for not praying when he turns ten.” [Narrated by Abu Dāwūd and Al-Tirmidhi who classified it as Hasan (sound)]
The wording of Abu Dāwūd is: “Command a little boy to pray when he reaches the age of seven.”
Beating here refers to that form of beating that fulfills the purpose of discipline without incurring harm.
1) Children have a right over their parents that they command them to perform the prayer when they are seven years old and beat them for not performing it when they are ten years old.
2) The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) ordered that the children be beaten for not offering the prayer for the purpose of disciplining and correcting them, not for tormenting them and causing them pain. Mercy entails that a child should learn how to obey Allah Almighty so that he would be brought up as a pious person.