teaching a child how to perform salah

Society Religion & Philosophy
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A white american convert asked me to teach her 9 yr old daughter how to pray. Now teaching her how to pray is not a problem for me and doesnt seem to be very difficult because this young girl has been blessed MashAllah with a wonderful memory.

However, how can I make sure that when the time comes for her to perform her first prayer that she is doing so correctly? I can make her recite it out loud but how do i correct her…do I stop her in the middle?

…or should i do “practice prayers” and make sure she perfects it before she officially starts praying?

anyone have any experience in teaching a child how to perform salah? please share your experiences and extend any advice/suggestions.

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

wen my parents were teaching me they wud read the namaz kinda out loud, just so i cud here it and that i was able to pick it up so from there i started learning on my own too...id follow thm

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

that's how most people end up teaching their kids. however this is a different situation...the mother is a new convert to Islam and is in the learning process herself.

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

Ok here its how its done .....cos the child is still in the learning process ......... you tell the kid to recide out loud and where ever she makes mistakes .. you correct her ........ and because she am sure is not baaligh yet ..there will be no problem for her cos shes still learning and its difficult especially if shes a revert. and secondly you dont have to tell her to perform the exact prayer at the exact time .. you can make her do practice runs .. like make her do intention for nafls etc ...but basically whereever she makes mistakes you can also use your hands to help her to adjust to right positions in namaz like how far down to go in ruku and you can push her down from her back to ensure she knows how far down to go ..... and whilst she is reciting you can stop her and tell her to read again or if she cant recall it then tell her ......

i hope this helped ......... this is the way we were taught .....by my father ... am sure this is the correct manner to teach a child cos my father is a scholar.. and hes taught us like this .....so i believe this is the method.

Do ask Questions if unsure about anything.

Also with mother .. you can help her in the same method ...as its the learning process. that you listen to the namaz and correct her with out performing it in actions and make her do the actions of namaz separately .. or both at same time like with the kid ...

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

What if someone ist rying to teach themselves??

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

you can always teach yourself and then teach your child. the mom however feels that it may take some time for her to learn (since she is a convert) and she doesnt want to hold her daughter back. the younger the age of the child the better the memory and the faster they pick up on things.

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

Peace AnGel EyEs

I have two young boys MashAllah one is coming to three years of age and the other is one year old.

This is my technique for them, I understand that the girl you mention is much older.

First I have been reciting Surah Fatihah and some of the smaller Surahs to them since a few months after conception, when they were still not born.

I have continued this until today.

I pray in front of my children as well as in the masjid and of course my wife prays in front of them too. They have already picked up a desire to copy. The elder one does a funny sajdah and the younger one lies down completely.

I'll inshaAllah be teaching them to read very soon, the elder one can recognise and say about 7 to 10 of the Arabic letters already, Alhumdulillah.

The intention is to teach them first how to read the Qur'an and memorise the prayer. Then understand the positions:

First: By name - that they can name the various positions
Second: By posture adoption Level 1 - without worrying too much about the exact positions.
Third: By definition - that they can tell when there is an incorrect position trying to be adopted.
Fourth: By importance - that they know which positions have most importance to be done properly, i.e. without invalidating the prayer.

I generally intend to test them in this knowledge, by adopting prayer positions both incorrectly and correctly myself and getting them to adopt positions too.

I will make them understand how to be good observers.

Then I will make them understand the etiquettes of prayer that no talking be allowed, no looking around, the thinking of the Presence of Allah (SWT).

And then how to pray behind an Imam. I will lead them in prayers inshaAllah when they get good.

Then InshaAllah I will get them to lead the prayers also. All this inshaAllah before they are 7 years old.

During prayer in jammat corrections in recitation can be made, but one must not be too adamant about correcting. The adab is to do so once may be twice and then afterwards at the end of the prayer, because it is possible that they may misunderstand the correction advice, so by continually correcting can detract them from their prayer.

It is always acceptable to teach children in a break-away fashion, but I want my children to develop their observation and intuitive skills alongside their understanding that prayer is important and should be respected.

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

ASA

I have 2 daughters and a boy. My oldest is 5 now and the middle is 3 1/2. We regularly pray in front of them ask them to pray with us. They know the actions now though they do not fully comprehend it though. My oldest one knows Alhamdulillah about 11 - 12 surahs by heart now and the middle one about 5-6 surahs. Our next step is to have her memorize the Tahiyyat and other recitations needs for Salah then we'll teach her how to put it all together.

You can absolutely correct them once they start praying but don't get pushy or they'll develop a disliking for it because everytime they pray someone will be correcting them. After they finish praying even if it is just performing the actions as it is in my case right now ALWAYS appreciate it i.e. hug and kiss.

As for making them memorize surahs, in my experience it works well when there is no fixed time for it. Do it whenever they want it. If you force a time on them they might get averse to it. My kids like it at bed time, they just want to compete with each other ... you know I say this this and you say that .... when we ask them to revise we usually do it as if its a competition or challenge. Like we could be playing something then all of a sudden Ok whose going to recite this surah and then the cycle starts. You'll have to do it in bits and pieces thoughout the day according to their tolerance for it.

And ofcourse they need an environment conducive to it. Number one is your house and then you should take them to the masjid so they realize its not only us who prays.

And don't forget to teach them Wudu, they actually enjoy it because of playing with the water.

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

Nice posts above..

i have two younger brothers age 5 and 8, i beat them up.

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

^^ you should be turned in to the department of children and families for abusing the kids.

AE, you can teach her seperatley, have her pray with you so she can follow you. Never stop a child or anyone during the prayer. When they are done, just take them on a side and correct the mistake or something like that.

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

lol...........:D .......thats the way....:)

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

great posts .....thanks. keep em coming. :)

btw keep in mind she isnt my child nor is she living with me therefore I am unable to pray with her everytime. I only see her 2x a week for about 2hrs...at sunday school and she comes over to my house once a week to learn Quran which is why i needed advice on how to teach her salah. Of course the best way to teach a child to pray is by doing it yourself.

cricketplaya.....i thought you can only start the spanking technique by age 10 :p ah well.....guess it's nvr too early :D

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

technique varies from person to person
Someone above mentioned DONT PUSH them around... TOTALLY TRUE
At this time use the carrot, but not the Stick

At this tender age, when they still don't have well developed concepts about right and wrong, If you start breathing down their neck all the time, they will start to dislike it. At a later stage you can slowly start putting your foot down firmly, but not in the initial stages. The real thing is to develop a routine and get the message across to them that it is something that is to be done 5 times a day - no matter what

With the passage of time they will get it right - Insha Allah

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

like i mentioned above…she is a 9 yr old convert and her mom is still learning herself…which makes it a bit tricky for me.

i agree…one should nvr push a child around at least not until it becomes fardz upon them.

which brings me to another question…how can one make salah fun for a child? whenever i see parents telling their kids to go pray… you always see them sighing and making faces. :bummer:

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

Like AE ji said k these ppl are reverts ... so the ^ above doesnt really apply to them because first of all ...AE am sure wont be teaching em practically in one of the Five prayers but as Nafals ..and secondly As AE ji said .. its necessary that AE stops are corrects ..The Mother and child ..because its the learning process ...

What you said above ..never stop child ........its for those who are fully aware what they are doing and have previously been reading namaz ... and they have been reading to the best of the ability ..but at one time they may make a mistake and you realise they made a mistake then .. you take em to the side afterwards and explain them the mistake ...

and thirdly, like AE ji said .. k she sees the mother and child only twice a week ..this itself makes it secluded ..cos they come to the house or sunday class. ..

Do correct me AE ji if am wrong .. but these are the masaa ils ..:)

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

The way my father does at the mosque is that .. as you said you take sunday school so am sure there must be other students / kids too .. so what you do is thaat on sunday .. you get all the kids to do practical and and they all perform namaz togeather ..and you correct em if they make mistakes .. then you have prizes like sweets and chocs etc .. that who ever performs best and learns their namaz best they will get this and that …

what happens this was is that those who are good at at praying and other practical example doing wudu .. too will keep on winning like every week and this will boost those who arnt good to win too so they will copy those who been winning in the past …

and similar with wudu what my father does is that he takes em to the wudu khana and makes em do wudu one by one and if anyone makes mistakes he corrects em .. well it works for us ..

i hope this heled … :slight_smile:

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

Instead of only telling a child to pray, parents should do some preparation for children like taking them to the wash room for wudhu and set mat prayer for them and pray with them.

May Allah reward you and make it easy for you and your 9 year old student.

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

yes this 100% tru well said...............

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

I do this at sunday school with the kids...i teach kindergarten. only thing is we pretend to use water instread of taking 30 kids to the bathroom...you can imagine how chaotic that would be. we havent started teaching how to pray as of yet though. the kids do seem to enjoy "pretending" to do wudu. :)

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Re: teaching a child how to perform salah

You may want to try writing down the words of the prayers (in roman script) for her to read during the week so that she can work on memorizing it. I knew another convert who read the prayers until she had memorized them well enough to recite them. You should also involved the other kids in your Sunday school class so that it appears that everyone is learning together. Insh'Allah she'll get it!

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