Children Are the Future of Islām

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

Our ṭarīqah, Naqshbandi ṭarīqah – those who come to this masjid are happy to follow ṭarīqah. They are happy with ṭarīqah and people of ṭarīqah. Masājid are the houses of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. They are for everybody. And they are calling everybody to this place, place of obedience, to obey Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. This applies to all of them. So, alhamduliLlah wherever we find a mosque or masjid, it will be for us. We can all pray.

Of course, especially in the mosque, it will be of more reward. The mosque or Zāwiyah, Dergah is power for the īmān of believers and for the life of Islām. Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says, to go and pray Jamā’ah in the masjid, to be with Jamā’ah is 27 times better and of more reward than praying alone in the house. For this, wherever you find a mosque or a good place with good people, you must go there. Don’t be lazy.

Mawlānā Shaykh Nāẓim used to say, in old times they built in every place, in every area a small mosque that’s enough for [the people of] this street. So, when people hear the Adhan, they can easily reach the Jamā’ah. This must be in every street or every place for the believer. For it to be easy for them, without being lazy, to go to this place. Nowadays they’re building a huge mosque but in a place that’s far from people. So, who wants to go must have a car to be able to go and pray there. And who doesn’t have a car will stay in his house.

The shayṭān has many tricks. One of them is this: to make people think, “We have a big mosque we can go and pray,” but when the time of prayer comes, it will be difficult for him or he’s not happy to go. Laziness comes upon him and he stays in his house “Now it’s too far to go by car. It maybe needs ten minutes or 15 minutes to get prepared and go there.” But if there is a small mosque in a nearby street, he can quickly just put his jacket on and quickly reach the Jamā’ah prayer.

When our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam first made hijrah, immigrated from Makkah to Madīnah, he built the first mosque before entering Madīnah. He ﷺ built one mosque, and it is the first mosque in Islām. And after that, of course, they built the Masjid An-Nabawi. He ﷺ was helping by himself ﷺ, carrying stones, carrying wood to build a masjid in Madīnah. He ﷺ was building and all the ṣaḥābah were helping. How honorable it is for all the ṣaḥābah to be mentioned in that.

Most of the ṣaḥābah were carrying mud, carrying stones, carrying wood to build the first mosque of Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. Maybe they were old and not anyone of them there could remember. But all of it stayed in their memory; they remembered the Divine Presence of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla; not forgetting. And it wasn’t forgotten among Muslims. There are many ḥadīths of Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam saying, whoever puts one stone to build a mosque, Allāh ﷻ will reward him with a house in Jannah.

It is also a reward and favor from Allāh ﷻ to make somebody build such a building. Whoever does this is lucky because there are hundreds, thousands and millions of people that can build, but they’re not giving one penny for building or helping in that. They are unlucky. Allāh ﷻ looks upon the Masjid and Jamā’ah with mercy. Those Jamā’ah who are obeying Him ﷻ, respecting Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, respecting believers. Allāh ﷻ is happy with them. He ﷻ showers His ﷻ reward and mercy upon them.

It’s a center for training and teaching Muslims, believers from childhood to love this place. This is very important. Not only to build it and put a door in the garden: to prevent people you don’t like from coming in, and let those you like to come in. This must also be known. It is a training center for believers from childhood. You must encourage children to come to the mosque, to not be afraid but be happy in the mosque. Because I meet many people, some are maybe 30 years old, some 50 years old, they say, “Once when I was young, I was in the mosque and some old people slapped me. After that, I never went to the mosque.”

Leave them to come here to play, to shout, to laugh, to jump. Don’t make anything to them in order not to be afraid of this place. If you’re not happy, don’t come here. You can stay in your house in one room, and be very careful that nobody makes you angry. Just staying by yourself. It’s better for these people to be in their houses. Because for one person to run away or leave the mosque is better than a hundred children who will then become youngsters, then men or women, then Jamā’ah, to run away. It’s better for one to go out, not all this future Jamā’ah to run away from mosques and to hate Islām, ṭarīqah and Allāh ﷻ.

And this is all the teaching of Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. Once, while he ﷺ was making Khutbah (sermon), his ﷺ blessed grandson Sayyidina Hussein came to him ﷺ. He ﷺ came down the Minbar (pulpit), kissed him, carried him and took him up the Minbar with him ﷺ. Especially now, here or in other places, everywhere in the world has become nearly the same.

When somebody leaves a good place, or runs away from a good place, there are a hundred thousand of shayṭāns waiting for him to catch him and take him with them. So, when something happens to somebody, it’s difficult to bring them again to this blessed place. Especially the mosques of Ahlu s-Sunnah wal-Jamā’ah, they must be more tolerant towards these people. Because of course, there are other Jamā’ahs who take them and make them an enemy for ṭarīqah, for madhhab, for the ṣaḥābah, for Ahlu l-Bayt, even for Prophets. They teach them bad manners.

When you hold onto the youngsters, they become a big support for Islām. They become a good support not only for Islām but for human beings also. They become a good guide for human beings, to show them the right way, way of mercy, way of love, way of barakah. They will become a guide for mankind in every good thing. So, this is an example for us: Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam and all the ṣaḥābah. Maybe when somebody hears about the ṣaḥābah, he imagines each of them being like forty years old or thirty years old or maybe fifty years old.

But most of the ṣaḥābah were even leaders for their nation at a young age: maybe fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years. But when you hear about their stories, about how they were guiding their nations to Islām, how they were supporting Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, how they were fighting with him ﷺ against the enemy, you feel that they are at least 30 years old. But most of them were 15, 16, 17 or 18. They were all students. And the best teacher in the universe is Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam.

They love him ﷺ, and he ﷺ taught them good manners. Their people were people of the desert. They didn’t know anything about respect. They were only respecting people who are rich and powerful. They were respecting them but not real respect; they were treating them better than others, but they don’t have good Adab, good behavior; these people have nothing at all. Like timber, like stone: they have nothing of good manners.

Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam gave them good manners and they became people with the (most) highest good behavior. These people went from the lowest level to the highest level among human beings. Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says, “أصحابي كالنّجومِ بأيّهم اِقتديتُم اِهتديتُم”, “Aṣhābī kā n-nujūm bi ayyihim qtadaytum htadaytum”, “My companions are as the stars. Whichever you follow, you will be in Hidayah (guided).” My companions are like stars, whichever you follow, you find the right way.

And when some mushriks came, they described how the companions were when Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam was coming to the mosque and speaking. They said, the companions were very silent, not even moving. Even if a pigeon was coming at them, they were not afraid and weren’t moving at all. They had such a respect for Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. This was not normal for this area at all.

Once, the ṣaḥābah were praying and they heard something. They saw one man coming and urinating in the mosque. This was a normal thing for them. But Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam taught them adab. So, when the ṣaḥābah were angry at this man, he ﷺ told them, “Tell him not to do this next time and cover this.” This is how we are teaching.

AlhamduliLlah the first thing ṭarīqah people must learn is Adab, good behavior from Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam and his ﷺ companions. There are millions of examples from Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam that we learn, in shā’a Llāh. And this must be the way of all Muslims, all believers to make Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla and Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam happy with them.

We are happy with Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. We are happy with Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. We are thankful for them for all our life and our death. We are thanking them for all of this ni’mah and for being with them. We must be thankful every time. And we must ask Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla to keep us on this way. The best thing for us is to be thankful. Because with thankfulness, ni’mah (favors) perpetuate and are not cut.

For this, we are happy to be here again. And in shā’a Llāh, next time we come here, we would like to see many more children. Because seven years ago, the last time we were here, there were many children like this boy. But now they’ve become 15 years or 16 years old, but I didn’t see a lot of them. Whomever Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla makes him do this is a beloved one for Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla.

In Cyprus, people were not sending their children to learn Qur’ān for several years. A brother was assigned as the manager of ‘Awqāf. Mawlānā encouraged him to be there. For ten years or more than ten years, he was encouraging children, giving gifts, giving good things to children in Ramaḍān or in the summer holiday every year. They were very happy. There were thousands of children coming to learn. Unfortunately, we don’t know what happened but shayṭān managed to throw him out. Now, there aren’t any children going to the mosque, no one learning Qur’ān. For this, when you have this opportunity, you must take it. […]

People now are even too lazy to tell their children, “Come with me to the mosque,” or to come pray in the house or learn one Ayah or one Surah from Qur’ān. Even in this, many of us are very lazy to say so to children. This is very important for all of us. Because here, when something happens to our Muslim people, we are also sad and not happy; we are unhappy. All Muslims are like one body. If anything harms any part, all the body will be affected.

Millions of Muslims come to this country, to this land in Europe or other non-Muslim countries with the intention being only for a short time, to earn and save money then go back to their countries to live there a better life. What happens is that one year passes, ten years pass. After that, they bring family, and other family members. As a result, many Muslim families have been born in these countries. So here is your country. It’s difficult for all these millions to go back to their countries.

So, you must think. You must establish strong belief here. You must find good people in order to be with good people, to raise your children around good people, good teachings and have a good base. And build a mosque. If you go to a mosque that’s not Ahlu s-Sunnah wal-Jamā’ah, you can pray and quickly go out. Don’t wait and listen to the poison of these people. Because you think many of them are saying something good but they put doubt in your belief.

And what’s most important for us is to have real belief, to have the true aqīdah of Islām, of Ahlu s-Sunnah wal-Jamā’ah, of Hanafi, Shafi’i, Hanbali, Maliki, of Ashʿarī and Maturidi. Those who are saying anything outside of this: of course, don’t listen to them and don’t make anybody listen to them or argue with them. With this, in shā’a Llāh, you won’t be destroyed because Ahlu t-Tasawwuf are Ahlu l-īmān. Without tasawwuf, there’s no īmān. In shā’a Llāh, they are happy with our brothers. ‘Ulama are coming here teaching this way. And this makes our belief stronger and stronger. We are happy with them.

May Allāh ﷻ bless them. Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq.

Al-Fatiha.

•⁠ ⁠Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbaniق

22 April 2026/ 5 Dhul Qa’dah 1447

Masjid Ghausia – Rotterdam, Netherlands

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