Small children and magic

[kayra]

With books, TV shows and movies about Harry Potter, Merlin, fairies etc. so popular nowadays, how do I teach my small child that magic is a major sin? She is far too young to understand Shirk. What is the most simplistic explanation, apart from "Allah ordered it"? All her little friends will be running around pretending to be magicians like Harry Potter when she starts pre-school!

[mscheepers]

Salaam alykum

It starts with the tv at home. I also have the same problem. My son used to watch wwe. wrestling. So he tried it at school. And he is six.

That is when i realized the tv and dvd has a hudge impact on our lives.
Just try to control what she watches. I know its hard.

I told my son Harry Potter is just a make believe story on real.

With time kids will forget. If u reduse tv.

Muhammad

[kayra]

Salaam alykum

It starts with the tv at home. I also have the same problem. My son used to watch wwe. wrestling. So he tried it at school. And he is six.

That is when i realized the tv and dvd has a hudge impact on our lives.
Just try to control what she watches. I know its hard.

I told my son Harry Potter is just a make believe story on real.

With time kids will forget. If u reduse tv.

Muhammad

Thank you very much and I entirely agree, but my husband, although he agrees with me on right and wrong, will not accept to a) ban TV from the house (my first preference, which I suggested before she was born), b) to move the TV to an "adult" room, or c) to keep the TV off while she is awake. I think when he was young the TV was a sign of status in his community, and he is very attached to it! I on the other hand have the opposite view - that TV is a mass brainwasher and only uneducated fools allow it into their lives, but no amount of gentle persuasion seems to work on this point. Our Murshid (guide) has recommended to remove the TV from the house, but I fear that because there is no open Quranic verse on the subject (obviously!!), my husband refuses to accept what a terrible influence this medium is.

It's not just magic that TV promotes... it is the wearing of make-up and mini-skirts for little girls, and having boyfriends, and all the crazy consumption and worldliness. No matter what is "officially" being watched - news, documentaries, even religious programs - the TV commercials jump in to present their own world view.

There is a new TV comedy series on our favorite TV channel, CNBC-E (I mean it's new to this channel). It's called "Aliens in America" and they present the shalwar-wearing, praying Pakistani Muslim "Raja" as a complete freak (alien!). ACtually it's quite a funny show, and they cleverly present the ignorance of the American people about Islam, etc. But for a small child, what kind of a message can it be giving? Even if she's far too young to understand, what will her subconscious be absorbing?

Most importantly - and please forgive me for digressing so much - are there any scientific studies on the subject of how TV and TV commercials affect very small children and babies? Particularly from a Muslim point of view.

Please, pray that we as a family will reach concordance on this subject and remove this insiduous enemy from our lives!!

[SoulS]

So your telling me that if she watches movies like Harry Potter growing up, shes going to want to do magic later in life? Sister, shows and movies like that are all fake, there is no seriousness in it. Im sure your child will realize that as she continues to grow up insha'allah. It may be a good idea to limit the TV from your child for better purposes like time management, but i really think that keeping the TV from her because she might indulge in unnecessary knowledge from cartoons and kid shows isn't very appropriate. Especially with a child in pre-school. Shes only in pre-school, now if she was watching MTV and she was 15 that may be something to worry about. Many muslims around the world grow up on such cartoons, including my entire family.

Of course, staying away from other stuff such as wearing mini skirts and having boyfriends is also necessary. But i also do think that TV would be un-watchable without the consumption of this. But insha'allah she will be a good muslimah and will draw a fine line between herself and girls on tv in her head. My opinion is, let her watch it while she is really young, and as she starts growing up, make sure she is educated in her religion well and insha'allah, she will automatically know what is wrong and right and what she can do and can't do.

Because, this is the way i look at it, you block her from the TV for 10 years. Okay now she is going to elementary school, and girls will be wearing mini skirts and starting to like guys. Soon, she will be in highschool and she will enter the real world and there will be no way to stop her from what she see's. You just can't block your child from the real world, eventually she is always going to have to face it. I always see this. Muslim parents that do everything to block their children from the US society, then when they go to places like college, of course, they're unfamiliar with social norms and they want to try everything. And they don't even know the dangers to everything. Every muslim parent's true goal should be too make their kid so educated in Islam, that they themselves block out unnecessary stuff such as haram shows on TV. Allah will help you, insha'allah.

That is just my two cents, im 17 years old and i live in the US.

[kayra]

No no no, not DO magic. But I was wondering how to explain that magic is a major sin when all her favorite cartoon characters do it. I spent half my childhood pretending to be a fairy/ magician, and trying to concoct magic potions in the kitchen etc. =) Other sins, like murder, adultery, etc., are not promoting as a fun and exciting thing to do at that age (that comes later!).

[SoulS]

Look at my edited post

[kayra]

Brother, of course she's going to be bombarded by non-Muslim media all her life. There's no escaping it. But I feel that minimizing it at home, especially during her most formative years (0-7), would be beneficial.

My actual question, however, was this: how do I explain that magic is a sin? What simplistic explanation would sound logical to a kid?

[twiemad]

Interesting thought, i completely agree with your perspective

[dr76]

With books, TV shows and movies about Harry Potter, Merlin, fairies etc. so popular nowadays, how do I teach my small child that magic is a major sin? She is far too young to understand Shirk. What is the most simplistic explanation, apart from "Allah ordered it"? All her little friends will be running around pretending to be magicians like Harry Potter when she starts pre-school!

Assalam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaat..

Dear sister ..to begin with.. I remember as an audience with a visiting dignitiary from UGC ( university grant comission) in India at a University whre i worked as an Asst. professor of internal medicne, The speaker was giving a talk on IVY league colleges and campus life. sharing his experience at harvard.. he said to have visited one of the libraries there and during the conversation with the chief librarian asked whether the personal life of teachers leaves any impact on the students. the Lady replied as having done a questionarre amongst students with the very subject and to thier astonishment found 80% students replying in affirmative.. now she said something which the speaker ( and I as audience took note) would remember forever.. she said.. " conscously u teach them what u know... but subconsiously u teach them what u are..!"

this is at the university level.. what to say of the tender age of a child at kindergarten. it begins rt from the pregnancy ..studies have shown that carrying mothers who maintain a peaceful and healthy mind produce intelligent babies.
so when u bombard tht innocent mind with disturbing visions and lewd songs..certainly that gets imprinted somwhre.

This study was done at John hopkins about behavioral changes associated with tv http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles.../10157507.html and this study by the Michigan state University covers the health hazards with watching Tv..http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles.../10337729.html

Another study carried out at sharjah university says that when a child reaches grade 6.. he/ she would have seen at least 8000 sex scenes and 24000 scenes of violence on Tv. so sister.. whre are we going.. poisoning our children rt from the time they even learn to speak ..later to complain about them being disobedient.
theres really a great deal to learn from our akabireen ( may Allah raise thier rank)..
like instead of fairytales and magic they were told stories of the sahabah (radhi allahu anhu).
when Hzt maulana Abul Hasan ali nadwi (rah) presented the material on sayyid ahmed shaheed (rah) to maulana Inamul hassan kandhelvi (rah) he said there was nothing new in it as he had been hearing about sayyid ahmed shaheeds (rah)life since his childhood. see these ppl were not born great but made by their mothers and ustaads later on..
Hzt maulana Qari Tayyib saheb rahmatullahi alaih had a radiant face..when at harem sharif someone asked him how get got such a face..he replied my shaikh hzt Thanvi (rah) made it..

so sister.. may Allah guide u and ur family and raise ur child amongst the saliheen..one of the effective ways seen today at changing the household environment is no doubt taleem.. do read few paragraphs from Hzt shaikh ul Hadith maulana zakariyya (rah) book - Fazail e Amaal. it has the true stories of our beloved prophet (pbuh) his wives..his children..our dearest sahabah ( radhiallahu anhum ajmaeen) and the freinds of Allah...insha Allah u shall see the change...

wa assalam..

[Al-Faruqi]

So your telling me that if she watches movies like Harry Potter growing up, shes going to want to do magic later in life? Sister, shows and movies like that are all fake, there is no seriousness in it. Im sure your child will realize that as she continues to grow up insha'allah. It may be a good idea to limit the TV from your child for better purposes like time management, but i really think that keeping the TV from her because she might indulge in unnecessary knowledge from cartoons and kid shows isn't very appropriate. Especially with a child in pre-school. Shes only in pre-school, now if she was watching MTV and she was 15 that may be something to worry about. Many muslims around the world grow up on such cartoons, including my entire family.

Of course, staying away from other stuff such as wearing mini skirts and having boyfriends is also necessary. But i also do think that TV would be un-watchable without the consumption of this. But insha'allah she will be a good muslimah and will draw a fine line between herself and girls on tv in her head. My opinion is, let her watch it while she is really young, and as she starts growing up, make sure she is educated in her religion well and insha'allah, she will automatically know what is wrong and right and what she can do and can't do.

Because, this is the way i look at it, you block her from the TV for 10 years. Okay now she is going to elementary school, and girls will be wearing mini skirts and starting to like guys. Soon, she will be in highschool and she will enter the real world and there will be no way to stop her from what she see's. You just can't block your child from the real world, eventually she is always going to have to face it. I always see this. Muslim parents that do everything to block their children from the US society, then when they go to places like college, of course, they're unfamiliar with social norms and they want to try everything. And they don't even know the dangers to everything. Every muslim parent's true goal should be too make their kid so educated in Islam, that they themselves block out unnecessary stuff such as haram shows on TV. Allah will help you, insha'allah.

That is just my two cents, im 17 years old and i live in the US.

There is a HUGE difference between allowing haram (like TV at home) when you can stop it and having to suffer haram (like nude women at school) when you cannot stop it.

TV is haram, look for fatwa at askimam.org or any other reliable fatwa site.
TV contains and glorifies music, nudity, violence, lies, magic, shirk and kufr.

How can you allow your children to consume such bad stuff? Why don't feed them poison right away, as you already allowed their mind and heart to be poisened by the non-Muslim media?