THE RESPONSIBILITY
OF PARENTS

According to a hadith, the Prophet of Islam said, ‘Every child is born in a state of natural purity (fitrah), then his parents shape him according to the environment and values they provide’. (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 7181)

This does not only refer to changing a child’s religion in a formal sense—that is merely the final stage. What the hadith truly highlights is any form of distortion or moral corruption introduced into a child’s character by their parents. In other narrations, the wording is even more general. For example:

Jabir ibn Abdullah reported that the Prophet of Islam said:

“Every child is born upon fitrah, until he begins to speak. Once he starts speaking, he either becomes grateful or ungrateful.” (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 14805)

Children are not born speaking; they begin to speak only after some time. Until then, they remain connected to their original, natural state. Once they begin to speak, they become products of their immediate environment. Whether a child grows up with a sense of gratitude toward God—or believes that blessings come from elsewhere—this foundational belief is shaped first and foremost by the parents.

When a child sees someone weaker and learns to look down on them, or sees someone more successful and begins to envy them—these early attitudes are almost always learned from the parents. In this way, parents either nurture a child into a righteous person or contribute to their moral decline.

The home is a child’s first school, and the parents are the child’s first teachers.