Best age for child to start learning Quran?

[GenN]

Assalmu alaykum,

What is the best age for a child to start learning quran? Why?

[ze leetle elper]

Not too sure about age, but children have brilliant minds -- its like an empty sponge waiting to soak up information. Babies in particular like repetative songs/ sentances/ stories (which is why they always choose the same story book every night ) which is why its important for the mother to recite a lot of Qur'an around her child (when feeding, playing etc) so they become familiar with it.

In terms of learning and memorising, I personally would say after the age of 7. Simply because a child can learn English, Math, Science, Qur'an very very easily once they begin -- a child needs to play when they are young, to explore their world, to learn morals and values like sharing and looking after their environment, to learn manners like going to the toilet and eating and not hitting-- since these are the things which will inevitably shape them and influence their decisions as they get older and move on in life.

Learning to read, write, draw, memorise is easy for the mind to do, in a short period of time. Implementing values and good character in your child takes a lifetime of good upbringing.

[GenN]

I see what your saying but 7 is way way way too late in my view. I would expect them to be full hafiz by the age of 7. Learning the quran at age of 3+ will not hinder them from learning to explore the world, in fact it will be better for them as the minds will become sharper and memory improved at an earlier age.

It obviously takes longer for the child to learn at such a young age but think about it, they will have completed the qaida by 4 and then be able to read the quran by 5 and do hifz in the next 2 years by 7.

And er....I can't help but ask (not being cheeky just genuine curiosity) your choice of 7 doesn't have anything to do with er...seven does it?

[ze leetle elper]

I see what your saying but 7 is way way way too late in my view. I would expect them to be full hafiz by the age of 7. Learning the quran at age of 3+ will not hinder them from learning to explore the world, in fact it will be better for them as the minds will become sharper and memory improved at an earlier age.

It obviously takes longer for the child to learn at such a young age but think about it, they will have completed the qaida by 4 and then be able to read the quran by 5 and do hifz in the next 2 years by 7.

And er....I can't help but ask (not being cheeky just genuine curiosity) your choice of 7 doesn't have anything to do with er...seven does it?

Haha no it does not

I too understand your point, but I cannot imagine that a child, whos brain is very immature and simple, can spend days on end reading, and memorising without losing out on a crucial part of their childhood. Of course, in an ideal world, it would be brilliant to have our children do hifz by 7, but we are looking at them through adult's eyes, which have long forgotten how crucial play and experimenting is to children.

A child before the age of 4 years does not even comprehend the word 'no.' You can tell your child 'no you cannot have that cookie' all you want, but he will always come back to ask you again, because their understanding is very limited.

Personally, as much as it would be ideal, I would prefer my child to learn good manners, develop good characteristics, learn right from wrong and revel in his childhood, those days of innocence will not come back again. A child will not be able to comprehend and implement the Qur'an, which is perhaps more important for the soul, than actually being able to recite it from mind. Too much information directed at the child can actually harm their brain in the long term.

I mean take the most simple of things like clothes or food. If you give a child too much choice and information, it is actually overwhelming for them; they may behave naugty, cry, etc. This is not just my view, but research into how children's minds actually work.

[GenN]

Haha no it does not

I too understand your point, but I cannot imagine that a child, whos brain is very immature and simple, can spend days on end reading, and memorising without losing out on a crucial part of their childhood. Of course, in an ideal world, it would be brilliant to have our children do hifz by 7, but we are looking at them through adult's eyes, which have long forgotten how crucial play and experimenting is to children.

A child before the age of 4 years does not even comprehend the word 'no.' You can tell your child 'no you cannot have that cookie' all you want, but he will always come back to ask you again, because their understanding is very limited.

Personally, as much as it would be ideal, I would prefer my child to learn good manners, develop good characteristics, learn right from wrong and revel in his childhood, those days of innocence will not come back again. A child will not be able to comprehend and implement the Qur'an, which is perhaps more important for the soul, than actually being able to recite it from mind. Too much information directed at the child can actually harm their brain in the long term.

I mean take the most simple of things like clothes or food. If you give a child too much choice and information, it is actually overwhelming for them; they may behave naugty, cry, etc. This is not just my view, but research into how children's minds actually work.

Actually when i say start learning at 3 i don't mean for the child to spend ages sitting down learning. I mean you can easily teach a child the alphabet in the form of a game even, or just a letter a day whilst he/she is playing arounf the house.

Then the way most qaida's are laid out you can spend 10-15 mins a day with the child and within a year by the age of 4 the child should easily have completed the qaida (i know this from experience). And I really don't think 15 mins a day (not even everyday) will cause the child to miss out on much else.

One other important thing that i should mention is that by the child learning in such a manner from the age of 3 they actually look forward to reading the quran and bug you to read and and strat loving to read the quran (again i know this from experience) and there is yet another benefit. If you do this with the eldest child, then the younger siblings see the eldest doing something she/he is enjoying they too want learn, and they love it when you teach them alif ba (and I'm talking about a one year old here).

All this is from experience.

Actually i raised this question thinking that most people would probably say 4 or 5 years of age whereas i think even 3 is too late, i thiink at 2 you can quite happily start teaching a child the alif baa in a fun way which they will enjoy(hence my shock when you said 7 and becasue i can't see why in the world anyone would want to start teaching as late as 7...the only reason i could think of for you to say 7 was becasue of seven lol).

But yeah from experience i would say 2 or latest 3. After 3 is very very late.

[Sparkles]

[QUOTE=GenN;143990]Actually when i say start learning at 3 i don't mean for the child to spend ages sitting down learning. I mean you can easily teach a child the alphabet in the form of a game even, or just a letter a day whilst he/she is playing arounf the house.

Then the way most qaida's are laid out you can spend 10-15 mins a day with the child and within a year by the age of 4 the child should easily have completed the qaida (i know this from experience). And I really don't think 15 mins a day (not even everyday) will cause the child to miss out on much else.
Thanks , for the advice that 3 is not early. I had started teaching my child alif baa taa from when he was about 2 1/2 . Of course that was in a fun way, but he picked it up very fast. Then I was told I shouldn't start teaching my child from so early and let him enjoy his childhood. He is now 3 1/2 , but when I read your post about 2 months ago, I started back. Just as you said , only 10-15 mins a day. And alhamdulillah he is picking up so fast. Anyway thanks again, for sharing your experience.

[amal]

Learning the quran at age of 3+ will not hinder them from learning to explore the world, in fact it will be better for them as the minds will become sharper and memory improved at an earlier age .

I don't think either a children can understand what he is learning at age 3+. Like the previous sisters mentioned is pointless because has no idea what he is saying. He will memorise words and will mix them up easily because can't comprend them. At age 3+ you could teach him arabic. The children has a great memory for foreign languages at this age.

[Daughter of Adam]

as-Salaamu `alaykum

There is nothing that specifies an age within the Shar`iah. We can agree on that. What we do have is ahadeeth speaking about when a child should pray, various ages of children and some information of what they were doing at that age (e.g. playing etc).

Obviously, we should probably move on to the time when the Qur'aan was already compiled. We see certain Sahaba who had the Qur'aan memorized. We see those after them, for example Imam al-Shaafi`i who memorized it at age 7. But we don't know when he started and plus he had awesome memory (rahimahullaah).

My personal opinion is that at age 3 a child should not have to be put on the floor to memorize the entire Qur'aan. I believe we should sit with our children and recite Qur'aan to them and try to see if they can recite it back. This time we should focus on making sure the Qur'aan is being recited in our homes by the grownups, that Baqarah is recited every day to keep Shaytaan away and so on. The kids will see this and slowly they will grow attached to it.

It is a time to teach them morals, no doubt. However, does that mean they can't be multi-tasking? Of course not. Sure, it may just be words to them but why should a session of memorizing (if you are going to sit your kid down to memorize) be purely memorizing? Add a little tafseer for a child. For example, Surah al-Ikhlaas. Teach them that Allaah is Ahad. They may not understand it in the way we see it, but every child knows Allaah is One. It is their fitrah. If you go over this or that and it speaks about jannah and rewards for those who do good, tell them that it says that but in a manner they will understand.

I personally find more benefit to pick a lesson a day, depending on the day. If the child is being rude to his parents, we tell them "you know Allaah has said in the Qur'aan..." and read the ayah where He ta`alaa calls to respecting our parents. Keep repeating it and yes make room for them to memorize it. It doesn't harm them and probably will bring a lot of benefit because now they have knowledge of (1) where Allaah says to respect your parents and (2) you can remind them of that knowledge they now have.

That is my personal opinion and that is how I conduct it with my 3 year old. It is a time for them to play but if you are going to allow them to sit on the shaytaan box, then give them more time to sit down and have small halaqat (but make them fun too!).

We should teach our children the importance of giving more time to deen but in a wise manner, without making them hate it because they feel we are forcing it down their throats every minute, for our own pleasure.

[GenN]

There is a differnece between memorising the quran and learning to READ the quran. When i first started this thread my intention in the question was about when a child should start learning to read the Quran, not memorise.

There is no harm, nor is it difficult for the 3 year old child in taking 5-10 minutes a day to slowly start teaching them alif, ba etc. They will enjoy it, belive me becasue the child loves to learn things at this age even if they don't fully understand anything. Then once they know the alif ba you will be amazed how quickley they can pick up learning to read the qaida in just 15 minutes a day about 4 times a week.

My daughter is nearly 5 and she can read the quran reasonbly well mashAllah, and between me and the rest of the family we only spent about 15 minutes a day about 4 times a week on average since she was about 3 and a half years old. And now she can't wait to read the quran and loves to read it. But i suppose a large reason why she loves to read it is also becasue we don't have TV, so she is always either wanting to read english books, read quran or just playing around in an active manner.

Also i teach about 15 kids to read the quran and 2 of them started at age 4 and believe me they can pick it up, and when you encourage them they love it, and want to progress and learn more.

As for why you would want to start teaching a child at a young age then yes, you can wait till they are 7 before they start learning to read as some of the kids i teach do, but then that is 5 years less of the parents getting reward for every letter the child recites, and that as far as I am concerned is a good enough reason for the child to start as early as possible,so the parrents get 5 years worth of extra reward. Time lost can never be regained.

[Sparkles]

Sorry, I was replying to brther GenN's post.