Parents should discuss the Islamic view on homosexuality when their children reach the age of 10 or 11?

 Mulaqat with Arab Ahmadis in Canada | December 11, 2021

Muhammad Khair Sahib asked how Ahmadi parents could protect their children from the negative effects of modern-day ills they learned at schools.

Hazrat Amirul Momineen (aa) said he had addressed this issue on many occasions.

For this, both the mother and father will have to make sacrifices. Are you ready for sacrifice? Having children alone is no great achievement – this is Allah’s the Almighty’s grace that He gave you children.

Huzoor (aa) said Allah had put certain responsibilities on parents towards their children which they were to fulfil. These duties and responsibilities, Huzoor (aa) said, were to “develop a friendship with your children. From childhood, the child should know that ‘my mother is my friend and I can share everything with her.’ They should know that ‘my father is not strict. He doesn’t look at me with anger. He does not tell me off and hit me; rather, he is my friend’. As a result, the child shares everything with their father. Especially when children reach 12, 13, 14 years of age, they begin to fear their fathers more and distance themselves. At that time, fathers should bring their children close and befriend them.

Huzoor (aa) said parents should have discussions with their children on modern-day matters they hear about. Giving an example, Huzoor (aa) said that it should not be the case that if someone’s child came home and told them about a lecture they heard at school about homosexuality, that the parent scolded them and told them off for talking about such matters.

Huzoor (aa) said if children asked about matters like homosexuality at very young ages; for example, six or eight years old, parents should tell them that when they reached 10 or 11, they would discuss the matter with them and give the Islamic view.

You will have to tell children about these issues and discuss them if they ask questions. However, if you scare them off, then those children will say, ‘Well, my father doesn’t have an answer, neither does my mother, therefore what we are doing outside is okay. My parents are ignorant and uneducated’.

For this reason, you will have to acquaint yourselves with this new environment. You will need to know everything yourselves too. You have to leave that [old] mentality. Now that this age has changed, to save our new generations, we will have to acquire new insights.

Huzoor (aa) said children should be taught the benefits of keeping away from modern-day ills and how Allah blessed and rewarded those who did so. In this way, they should be taught the negative aspects of an immoral deed and also the positive results of avoiding such a deed. This could happen by telling children accounts and stories of those who were blessed by Allah.

With regard to the use of the Internet and TV, Huzoor (aa) said children should be allowed, to a certain extent, to watch educational programmes. Huzoor (aa) said:

The Internet should not be banned for them completely; rather, children should be given permission to watch those programmes that were beneficial for them and permissible according to faith in terms of gaining knowledge and education.

Following these guidelines, “Most children can be saved”, Huzoor (aa) said.