Crucial Requirements for Children's Empowerment

Abstract

This paper sheds light on the important and mostly neglected role that parents play in raising their children, namely empowerment through character development, impartment of knowledge and skills. The key objective of this paper is to enhance the understanding of the concept of empowerment of children from the Islamic perspective and the importance of character and values education in today’s society. The paper is structured around six core sections describing the role of parents in children’s (1) virtues and character formation and development, (2) physical development, (3) emotional development, (4) mental development, (5) intellectual development, and lastly their role in preparing children for the realities of life and death. The focus of this paper is character formation and development. Character development and impartment of knowledge and skills are the three crucial and mandatory requirements for children’s empowerment. The paper outlines the ideas underlying character refinement or character education focusing on its meaning, aims, importance, and the role of parents, teachers, and community as character educators. It outlines some of the moral qualities of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as the universal model of all virtues and goodness. This is qualitative research employing descriptive methods with literature review analysis. The primary sources of this paper comprise selected verses from the Qur’an and their exegesis (tafsir) and Hadith, both of which constitute the major source of guidance for Muslims. Its secondary sources consist of books, journals, and other materials. The English translation of the selected verses is based on Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an and The Qur’an: Arabic Text with Corresponding English Meanings by Saheeh International because of their simplistic and comprehensive language. Due to the multidimensional use of words in the Arabic language, it is difficult to translate them into one specific word, therefore, we have retained the Arabic concepts but given some of their meanings in the brackets. Our main contention in this paper is that: first, knowledge, skills, and values or personality traits need to be combined for a thriving life; second, moral values are of paramount significance to peaceful coexistence and harmony in society. They are critical for sustainable living. Without them, there is no cohesion and solidarity among people. Hence, there is no civilization; third, learning is of little value and with no soul unless core ethical values are added to it. Hence, one of the aims of education is to graduate ethical individuals; fourth, the development of character in children is not just the responsibility of parents and schools, it is also the responsibility of those who come into contact with them; last but not least, character education should be included as a core component of schools’ curriculum.