The Mind-Set of a Muslim Child

The Missing Dimension in Educational Methods: The Sentimental Education
The sentimental education pertains to the person's feelings, which
form all sides of the integrated human personality.
Sentiment is a word given to any sense of pleasure or pain, as well as
to certain psychological states within the sphere of pleasure andpain,
vis-à-vis other states within the sphere of mental perception and
knowledge.
Based on this, all feelings in the human consciousness, and their
resulting sensations of pleasure and pain, along with the positive and
negative senses, constitute human sentiment.
The sentimental education, in myview, is that which helps develop such
feelings and senses in a positive way, which ultimately leads to a
constructive relationship with people, the universe and life.
The sentimental education, like other forms of education, is based on
a group of axes:
1- The Family:The family is the fundamental incubator in which the
individual and all his behavioris formed, and on the basis of which,
his attitudes are composed in general. The family is the most
important social institution which influences the personality of the
human being. It receives the human newborn and sustains him during the
most crucial period of his life: theperiod of childhood. It is the
"critical" period in the construction and formation of the human
personality, as stated by psychologists. That is because it is a
constructive and foundational period.
AHadeeth)narration( of the Messenger of Allaah,, refers to this
fact:"There is no child but that he/sheis born with a sound innate
inclination to the true religion )of Islam(, and it is his/her parents
who convert him/her to Judaism, Christianity or Magianism."]Muslim[
Within the familial environment, the parents mold the child, and
determine his fundamental attitudes, which are his creedal
orientations. Thus, the family plays a pivotal and important rolein
forming the individual's personality, conduct and beliefs, which give
rise to his various subsequent behavior.
In the family, the children learn how to control their desires and
suppress their inclinations that disagree with the society. In this
way, the foundations of social adjustment become inculcated, by virtue
of the educational function within the atmosphere of the family.
Hence, it is not strange to note the great importance given by those
who conduct research about juvenile delinquency to thefamily as one of
the main axes onwhich they centre their researches, in an attempt to
discover the causes and factors ofdelinquency. Undoubtedly, the
disintegrated family is the main factor responsible for juvenile
delinquency and abnormal conduct, and a suitable incubatorfor
producing delinquent adolescents.
2- The School:This ranks second in importance in terms of upbringing,
particularly after education has been made public and its elementary
years compulsory in most countries. The school undertakes the process
of teaching the children, in co-operation with the family, in order to
expand their means ofperception, and help them enjoy knowledge and
learning. Consequently, the school has emerged as an important social
institution, which has an effectiveimpact on all the child's
psychological, social, moral, and behavioral aspects. This goes back
to the fact that during his first years, the child is predisposed, by
nature, to imitate and acquire the salient values of the school and
the society in which he lives. Thus, the school is an important factor
that has a great impact on forming the individual's personality, in a
healthy scientific and educational way, and determining his future
attitudes and relations in society. The school, therefore, is not only
an incubator of giving information, but it is also a complicated
structure of relations, particularlyfor the young child.
In the school, the child's social circle extends to include new
children and groups, and he learns, in its atmosphere, "more social
standards in systematic forms, and new social functions. He learns his
rights and duties, the way to regulate his emotions and accommodate
his needs withthose of others, and co-operation, along with behavioral
discipline."
The child learns all this through the information he receives, and
acquires as a result of mixing with his school mates. In general,the
school has its effective influence on the children's future behavior
and orientations. Through the school, we are able to detect the early
symptoms of delinquency, which allows for their early remedy before
they become aggravated: I mean such symptoms as harming one's
schoolmates, stealing, attempting to flee from school, or damaging the
school property,all of which are indicators of deficiency in the
child's conduct.
3- The Environs:That is, the district or geographical area in which
the family lives in the neighborhood of many other families, where a
network of social relations is established between the different
families and their members in terms of reciprocal contact of effect
and influence.
For this reason, the neighborhood contributes in providing the
individual with some behavioral values, situations, attitudes, and
standards belonging to the general civilizational framework of the
social area.
4- Friends:The elements of the child's personality and behavior are
formed by means of several influences. Although the family and the
school are among the most prominent of these, his friends and peers
are no less important. Rather, the influence of friends may sometimes
be stronger than the other elements. The group of friends and peers
encourages the adolescent to challenge his parents, by virtue of the
force of that new group in which he becomes a member. This group
supports him to demonstrate that challenge, and gives him the
impression of a psychological provision which he does not receive from
his family, whether they are young or old. In this way, the peer group
is one of the most important sources favored by the adolescents to
imitate, and to acquire opinions and thoughts. Islam recognizes and
refers to the importance of one's company and friendship, and its
influence on the individual's life, in terms of acquiring values,
behavior and thoughts. In this connection, it is narrated on the
authority of Abu Hurayrahthat he said: The Messenger of Allaah,,
said:"A man )often( follows the religion of his friend: so each of you
should consider whom he takes as a friend."If thefriend's influence
extends to religion, then, no doubt, his influence on behavior and
attitudes is clearer and more evident. If this is the impact of only
one, then, what do you thinkof the influence of a group? Of a surety,
their influence on the child or the adolescent is stronger.
It is not strange that the group of friends has a strong influence.
Indeed, belonging is the basis forsurvival as a member in the team.It
lies in absolute acceptability and alliance. In a team, the child
learns how to live in a group atmosphere of a new kind and new social
relations, which he cannot disagree with, otherwise, he would be
rejected by the group.

--
- - - - - - - - -

- - ▓███▓ TRANSLATOR 1:->
http://translate.google.com.my/m?sl=auto&tl=en&hl=en ▓███▓ - -
- TRANSLATOR 2 -
http://andrew-lviv.net/en/services/translator/?url=site.ua/ -

- - - -Tamil Translator
[http://translate.google.com.my/m?sl=auto&tl=ta&hl=en ] -
''''''''''"''"' '''''''''''''''''''' ''''''''''"''"' +
'''''''''''''''''''' ''''''''''"''"' '''''''''''''''''''' -