It is time for Muslim parents to have a conversation with their kids in relation to interfaith marriage. It should be done in a way that it does not amount to coercion as it may backfire. We need to calmly explain who we are and who they are and what they have planned for us.
It canโt be a one off conversation. We need to get involved in their lives. We must communicate more often. Donโt just ask them about their friends because that sounds like an inquiry, get on with listening to every little thing they say, create a map of their friend circle.
And please let us not for a moment think that this applies only to the girl child. We have seen right here what damage it can do to the males if they get involved in such relationships. It is time to open up and tell our stories to our kids. Everyone should know Hashimpura for eg
Donโt listen to a Kharab Farooqui if he tells you that you must not protect your children in the name of constitution. If the majority believed in constitution then we would have had some justice for Asifa, some justice for Bilkis some justice for Akhlaq.
This conversation doesnโt necessarily have to be in the context of choosing a life partner, in fact such conversations should not be linked to marriages where possible. We need to educate them in a way that they themselves come to the right conclusion when it comes to marriage.
If you living abroad, let your kids eat beef sausages for breakfast and then casually tell them how privileged they are to be able to eat beef without getting lynched by a bloodthirsty mob of terrorists. Then when their shock subsides tell them more. But never make up a lie.!
Lying or exaggerating facts can have a detrimental effect because our kids are smart, they will fact check. And there is absolutely no reason to lie when in fact we will have to excessively moderate the truth itself so they donโt lose faith in humanity itself. For eg Bilkis case
Also we must not focus on the extremists in other societies, every society has a minority of people who are evil, we must however focus on how the silent majority of that society has responded to evil and that should be the scale to judge that society.
Important to remember that it is not about making our kids hate anyone, it is about arming them with enough factual information so they make the right decisions for themselves. At occasions itโs not entirely wrong to highlight a rare positive aspect about our oppressors.
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