Rights of Children in Islam:(Muslim Parenting, Muslim Parents)

Islam cares about childhood and Muslims regard children as gifts/trust
from Allah (SWT). Parents will be held responsible for this trust on
the Day of Judgement. Hence Islam pays particular attention to rights
of children and to the proper manner to raise them, so that they will
be equipped to face the difficulties of life. We must pay more
attention to the best interests of the children. All these principles
were mentioned in Noble Qur'an and Ahadith, which cares about the
rights of child even before he or she is born. Before getting married,
aman should choose the best possible woman to be his children's
mother.
Children have the right tobe fed, clothed and protected until they
reach adulthood. The child has the right to a good education and a
stable environment in which to grow up. Boys and girls, as well as
orphans, possess these rights in full. Nevertheless Allah (SWT) and
Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) gave parent certain obligations to assure
children's rights.
Respect for human rights begins with the way that a community treats
its children. Children's rightscannot be separated from human rights
because children are the future generation. Taking care of the coming
generation by protecting their dignity and providing them theirneeds
is the most important thing for bringing up citizens best equipped to
serve the community.
On the other hand child abuse weakens a child's ability to study and
makes them nervous as they lose their sense of security. Many abused
children go on to commitcrimes and end up in prison. The family is the
most important unit for forming the community by bringing up the next
generation. So if there are problems in the home, children will be
affected and the whole family and community will suffer.
O you who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a fire whose
fuel is men and stones. Noble Qur'an, (66:6)
Parents are obligated notonly to see to their religious training,
propereducation but also training in sports and selfdefense of their
children.In addition, they must not show preference of sons and
suppression or negligence of daughters.
Messenger of Allah (Peaceand blessings of Allah be upon him) says:
"Observe justice in dealing with your children in the samemanner in
which you expect them to observe justice in being kind and good to
you."
Messenger of Allah (Peaceand blessings of Allah be upon him)
says:"Whoever goes to the bazaar and purchases a present for the
members of his family and brings itto them is like one who spends on
the needy. However he should prefer daughters to sons because whoever
pleaseshis daughter is like one who frees a slave from among the
descendants of Prophet Ismail (as)."
Relationship between Parents and Children in Islam:
"Your parents and your children, you know not which of them is the
nearer to you in usefulness; this is an ordinance from Allah: Surely
Allah is Knowing, Wise." Noble Qur'an (4:11)
The above verse from Noble Qur'an shows the Islamic attitude towards
the relationship between parentsand children. From infancy to
adulthood, it is unparalleled tender love and care of the parents
which brings the child from the stage of absolute weakness and
helplessness to perfect strength and independence.
Conversely, in old age a man becomes like a smallchild; the mind and
body turn so weak that Allah (SWT) says in Noble Qur'an: If We grant
long life to any, We cause him to be reversed in nature: Will they not
then understand? Noble Qur'an (36:68)
Messenger of Allah (Peaceand blessings of Allah be upon him) says:
"The parents are responsible with regard to their children in the same
manner in which the children are responsible with regard to their
parents."
Yesterday, your parents looked after you when you were too feeble to
look after yourself; today you must look after them.Could we ever dare
to think about leaving our parents after all they have done so much
for us? No entry into Jannah without parents being pleased.

The Region that Manages the Emotional Responses: “AMYGDALA”

Our Almighty Lord created the human soul in various ways. Every
person has different tastes, different social relationships. Allah,
the sole owner of knowledge, created a special region 'amygdala'
in the brain, as a means to manage the emotions the human soul
feels.
The 'amygdala' region in our brains is responsible for the feelings
of fear, safety and building social relationships. It is an almond
shaped nuclei underneath the limbic circuit on the brain stem and
consists of interlinked structures. It has two lobes; right and
left. This region helps us catch the sensory signals around us and
help determine how to react to what and when.
The Amygdala in our Brain is the Source of Emotional Responses
Our Almighty Lord created us in such a way that 80% of the
information our brains get from the outside world comes through the
eyes. The lens focuses the image on the retina, and after it is
converted to electric impulses, it is sent to the brain through
optic nerves in a split second, which is one thousandth of a second
to be exact. The impulses coming from both eyes carry data as to
the features of the object one looks at. The brain then joins
together the two impulses from two eyes to make a single image. It
determines the shape, color and distance of the object. In other
words, it is not the eye that sees the objects but the brain itself.
The electric impulses sent by the eyes go to the primary visual
cortex at the back of the brain. This center is 2.5 mm thick and a
couple of centimeters wide. It has six layers of neurons which is
around one hundred million neurons (nerve cells). The impulses
first go to the fourth layer and after they are analyzed there,
they are sent to other layers. In this center, each neuron receives
impulses from thousands of neurons and sends back impulses to
thousands of other neurons.
The retina sends the electric impulses to the thalamus region of our
brain, while the brain determines the reaction to be given the
image. If the reaction is an emotional one, the amgydala, the
source of the emotion repertoire, will be consulted. If the data
coming from the retina has a high potential (shocking situations),
then some of the impulses sent to the thalamus will be channeled
directly to the amygdala and this triggers an emotional response.
The visual cortex no longer has any opportunity to figure out
what's going on and the only thing the cortex can do after that is
build the reactions dictated by the amygdala.
Man, with the soul he possesses, enjoys feelings like honor, love,
respect, friendship and honesty. Just like a cell on the tip of our
finger cannot have any feelings such as happiness or grief, the
neurons in the brain do not have such metaphysical talents either.
This is an obvious truth anyone could easily see even without any
scientific evidence. Our Almighty Lord said the following about the
soul in a Qur'anic verse:
"They will ask you about the Soul. Say: 'The Soul is my Lord's
concern. You have only been given a little knowledge.'." (Al-Isra',
85)
Can the source of individual behavior be the amgydala region in the
brain? Scientific research shows that the amygdala region in the
brain is responsible for individual behavior. When we are exposed to
a danger, the brain is bombarded with questions like, " Is this
something I hate? Will it hurt me? Is it something I'm scared of?'
and if the answer is yes, the amygdala reacts in the form of an
alarm which alerts the rest of the brain that there is a crisis.
The amgydala has a rich communication network with the rest of the
brain. In emergencies, it controls and guides a big part of the
brain. The elements in the limbic system are the experts of the
learning and remembering processes, while the amygdala is the
expert of emotional states.
It is a known fact that our emotional responses are managed by the
amygdala, but its functions are yet to be fully discovered.
Scientists are still trying to find answers to the following
questions:
- How does the brain differentiate between emotional situations and
know that it needs to send those impulses to the amgydala?
- Although the amygdala is mostly the same in all human beings, why
do people differ in the risks they take, in the things they fear or
in terms of their social preferences?
The scientists think that these differences have got to with a gene
called "Neurod2". Experiments with guinea pigs showed that when the
presence of this gene in the amygdala region is reduced, the
subjects experienced reduced feelings of fear and started taking
bigger risks. Humans also have this gene, but there are still some
questions that need to be answered.
Could the genes be the ones deciding if we will take risks or not,
or how many friends we will have or the hobbies we enjoy? In other
words, could it be that a small lump of flesh in our brains
determines our character and emotional choices? Surely, the answer
is no.
Then what really determines our emotions?
What would happen if we didn't have an Amygdala?
A young person who had his amygdala removed saw a big change in his
life because he is almost now emotionally blind.
Previously, he was an extroverted person, a very social type that
had many friends; now he is indifferent to his friends and
doesn't even recognize his own parents and chooses to live alone.
All his emotions were replaced by silence and indifference.
The source of our Individual Behavior is not the Amygdala, but the Soul
Our senses are built through electric impulses. Then is it the
brain and the amygdala that interprets all these impulses and turns
them into a friend, a beautiful flower, a breathtaking scenery, our
parents, or kids playing in the street?
Technically, it is true that the impulses are interpreted in the
brain. Materialists claim that we are nothing but the neurons in a
brain and that the world we live in is the result of the interaction
of the neurons. They claim that the entity that can think, laugh, be
happy, recognize others, is nothing more than a bundle of neurons,
in the words of the materialist, evolutionist physicist Francis
Crick, who discovered DNA. ( http://www.bbc.co.uk /radio4/reith2003
/lecture1.shtml) It's not important for a materialist how a person
thinks and how he makes something out of perceptions. Finding
answers to those questions is not important for the materialists,
because they have no explanation for them. For example, they want
to think of everything in terms of materialistic concepts. However,
that's a lie to keep people away from faith in Allah. It's not the
brain that creates the consciousness, it is the soul. The thing
that says ' I see the image inside the brain, or I hear the sounds
inside the brain' is the soul that Allah gives us. The materialist
state of mind, however, does not want this truth to come out. This
is the main reason behind the lie of the materialists: ' The mystery
of consciousness cannot be solved '. The existence of the soul, the
fact that Allah gives the soul to humans, destroys their
materialistic views and lies. No matter how much they try to avoid
the subject by using the word 'inexplicable', it is an open and
clear truth, that the reality of man - in other words, the thing
that can say 'I am me' - is the soul. Allah says in the Qur'an that
He first created the body of man and then ' breathed His Soul into
him' .
" When your Lord said to the angels, 'I am creating a human being
out of dried clay formed from fetid black mud. When I have formed
him and breathed My Spirit into him, fall down in prostration in
front of him!'" (Surat-Al-Hijr, 28 - 29)
One of the causes of autism is that there are less nerve cells in
the amygdala
The almond-shaped amygdala in the depths of the brain is an area
that helps us understand other people's feelings. The latest research
suggests that this region plays an important role in the feelings of
fear prevalent in autism. However, researchers also think that
this region is connected to various mental states.
For example, autistic people tend to shy away from social
relationships and fail to understand others' feelings. Research
has shown that people suffering from autism had less nerve cells
in their amygdala than normal people have. However, it is surely not
possible that a structure made up of fat, water and protein builds
the consciousness of a person, and makes him a thinking, loving,
reacting, fearing, rejoicing being. It is only the soul that can see
without an eye, that can hear without an ear, that can think without
a brain.

Strong plants that can withstand difficult conditions

Which plant can meet its water needs through its leaves in addition
to its roots?
How does the canary flower protect itself from the cold?
How do the plants survive draught?
Monteverde Cloud Forest
Our Lord created a perfect system to meet the water needs of the
plants. We all know that the plants absorb water from the soil
through its roots and sends this to its stem and leaves through its
xylem tubes. However, some plants are in higher altitudes,
practically living in the clouds, and therefore they have to use
their leaves to meet their water needs.
The rain forests in lower altitudes obtain their water needs from
daily rainfall. However, the trees living in the tropical climates,
the so-called clouds or the mist forests, use the moisture in the
air; in other words, the clouds, to meet their needs. This is
another perfect example of the sublime art of Creation by our Lord.
One of the most beautiful examples of such cloud forests are the
cloud forests of the Costa Rica mountains. In this forest, it is
usually foggy and humid, but despite that the soil itself is dry.
Therefore, the trees cannot get enough water from the soil.
However, the leaves in the clouds, which are always wet, easily get
the water they need. It is because our Lord created the leaves here
in such a special way so that they can easily absorb the moisture in
the air and take it to the branches and to the trunk. This special
system created by our Lord helps many other living things survive as
well. In this forest, at an altitude of 600 to 1800 meters, there
are more than 100 species of mammals, 400 bird species, 120
reptilian and amphibian species, and thousands of species of
insects. Almighty Allah, the Lord of the worlds, with all these
details, showcases the evidence of His existence and His sublime art
of creation. Allah creates whenever He wills, and in a unique way.
He has no partners in creation. This is explained as follows in the
Qur'an:
That is Allah, your Lord. There is no god but Him, the Creator of
everything. So worship Him. He is responsible for everything.
Eyesight cannot perceive Him but He perceives eyesight. He is the
All-Penetrating, the All-Aware. (Al-An'am 102-103)
Yareta
Yareta is a native plant of South America , occurring in the Puna
grasslands of the Andes in Peru , Bolivia , the north of Chile and
the west of Argentina at altitudes between 3,200 and 4,500 metres .
The most important thing about this flower, which is pollinated by
insects, is that they live for a very long time; there are some
specimens which are about 3,000 years old. They look like algea, but
when looked at more closely, one can see thousands of small flower
buds that stick together to look like one big pillow. It is also
known as the 'Andes pillow' and has flowers in different colors from
pink to lilac.
Pink Banana Plant
This banana species growing in North and East India, reaches a
height of 120 centimeters, and displays an amazing example of
Allah's beautiful color artistry. It has pink to orange flowers,
pinkish stalks and small, pink fruits. This plant can grow in
permeable, organically rich soils, in half shade. An interesting
thing about this plant is that it is highly resistant to cold. Even
if its body dries up due to excessive cold weather, its roots can
withstand up to -10 degrees celcius. Allah creates everything
flawlessly down to tiniest detail, and created this plant in such a
way that its every need is met. Allah has control over everything.
Allah knows about everything going on in the universe. Allah makes
that truth clear in the following verse:
"He directs the whole affair from heaven to earth...." (Surat As-Sajdah, 5)
There are some plants which manage to survive in very harsh
conditions, where human beings would never be able to do the same
in the absence of specialized tools. These plants not only
survive, they also have incredible measures to defend themselves
amazing the scientists and researchers alike. These miraculous
plants can survive despite the lack of warmth, water and minerals,
displaying yet another example of Almighty Allah's infinite wisdom
and creation art.
The drought-tolerant plants
Many plants in arid areas can store water. Each plant has different
techniques and places to store the water. These plants were created
in such a way that they can easily tolerate a lack of water. For
instance, The Pygmy cedar ( peucephyllum ) and the caper bush,
which can stay green even in the driest of conditions after
obtaining sufficient moisture during the night , are some of these
plants.
Many such trees and bushes have special leaves that can withstand
drought. For instance, some of them have needle or bouqet shaped
small leaves. This ensures that they have fewer surfaces that are
exposed to sunlight. Others have pores on only one part of their
leaves, mostly on the upper side. These pores ensure that water
loss is minimized due to evaporation when it is windy. Some leaves
have such pores on both sides; especially when it is foggy these
pores obtain moisture from the air.
The leaves of some plants such as Manzanita, are created so that they
stand upright. By the means of this special creation, the surface
is subjected to less sunlight and thus loses less water.
Paloverde , which has no leaves, photosynthesize with its body.
Having lots of leaves in a desert means more evaporation of water.
Therefore, Allah created all these plants with special features
that will make them resistant to harsh desert conditions. All
desert plants have special measures protecting them from high
temperatures. It is Allah, the Lord of all the worlds, that gave all
these plants the abilities they have to survive in their
enviornments.
Canary plant
Canary plants ( senecio vulgaris ) live on the heights of the Kenya
Mountains in Equador and are striking plants with flamboyant
flowers. In this region, where there is usually a thin layer of
frost on the soil at night, the slopes can often be seen covered
with this plant.
The leaves of this plant have a special substance that prevents the
tissues from being hurt from frost; thanks to this protective
substance, the thin layer of frost melts under sunlight and then the
body gets back its old shape.
With the sunlight the frost covering the plant starts to melt and
water starts evaporating through the pores. However, the canary
plant has to pump water back to the now empty pores to prevent its
leaves from drying out. There is another danger looming; with the
weather getting colder, the water channels begin to slowly freeze .
However, the lowest circle of leaves surrounding the stalk of the
canary flower begins to dry out during a certain period of the year.
However, unlike other plants, the dry leaves do not fall off;
instead, they hold on. Thus, these dry leaves act like a thick
shield for the plant guarding it from the cold weather. With this
wise method, the canary plant prevents the channels inside from
freezing and manages to send the water to the rest of the plant.
It is impossible for a soil-bound plant to build such a protective
measure on its own and insert the relevant data in its genes so that
its offspring can have the same trait, too. Allah created these
plants with His infinite beauty and art of creation.
All these examples show that it is Almighty Allah, the lord of the
worlds, Who gives the plants the information they need, Who shapes
them, and gives them the traits they need to survive despite the
difficult conditions. This truth is explained in a verse as
follows:
"Your god is Allah alone, there is no god but Him. He encompasses
all things in His knowledge.' (Surah Ta Ha 98)

The selective nature of the nerve cells

• What is the resting potential of the neurons and how is it preserved?
• What is action potential and how are the signals transmitted?
The nerve cells, which are called the neurons, unlike other cells,
have axons and dendrites. The dendrites consist of many short
extensions and look like the roots of the cell. These extensions
receive signals from other neurons and the recipient cells and
convey it to the body of the cell. Axons, on the other hand, are
thin structures that arise from the cell body. One axon arises from
the cell body and they help carry the messages to the brain. These
neurons make a huge network of communication, all together.
Every cell membrane has an electrical charge and every neuron is
like a tiny biologic battery ready to discharge itself. And each
neuron is like a mini, biological battery ready to discharge its
energy. The ions are electric-charged molecules inside and outside
the nerve cells. This creates a difference in the voltage
throughout the cell membrane. In order for the the neurons to send
signals, minus 50 milivolt (one millivolt is one in one thousandth of
a volt) is needed at an average. 1 The signal is transmitted
through the axon. After every signal, potassium ions are exchanged
through the cell membrane. The neuron has to be recharged after
every signal. To do that, the neuron gets back the ions to reach
its potential value.
One neuron takes onethousandth of a second to send a signal. This
makes it possible to send a maximum of 1000 signals a second,
however generally only 300-400 signals are sent in one second. The
nerve cells have varying lengths in people 2 and the speed of
transmission is around 100-300 meters a second. 3
Prof. Peter Suckling, a neuroscientist at the Downstate Medicine
Center, explains his awe at the cell membrane:
"This thin cell memberane preserves the electric voltage more
efficiently than any other insulating material. This is a very high
insulating power. It has to be strong and at the same time, it is
very thin." 4
The fact that the nerve cells can signal each other through the
electricity produced in the cell membrane, the fact that they can
send messages and ensure that the body functions continue, is
something to be pondered upon. Furthermore, these electrical
signals find the right address and make sense to the recipient cell.
Every cell knows what the signal means and acts accordingly. This
is a miraculous incident that has to be thought about very
comprehensively. If it wasn't for this flawless system between the
cells, no living thing could survive. Then how did this system that
displays an amazing intelligence and engineering come about?
Surely, it is impossible to say that unconscious piles of atoms and
molecules came together to build the cells and led to this
amazingly engineered system between the cells. The existence of
such a conscious system proves us the existence of creation in the
living things. This incredible micro structure that left scientists
amazed, belongs to our Lord, the Creator of Everything:
"Is He who creates like him who does not create? So will you not
pay heed?" (An-Nahl, 17)
Neurons at rest
A nerve cell is at rest, when it is not communicating a signal.
However, this doesn't mean that the neuron is completely immobile.
It has to be ready to transmit signals that could be received from
the neighbors at any moment. A neuron that is at rest has to
polarized. This means that the liquid inside has to be negatively
charged compared to one outside. One nerve cell has an electric
potential of around 70 milivolts across the cell membrane. This is
called the membrane potential or the resting potential. Although
this might seem like a small amount, it means that it produces a
voltage that is equal to 1/20 of the energy in the battery of a
small flashlight and creates a potential for the electricity
production throughout the axon membrane.
Outside the axon, there are sodium and (Na+) chloride (Cl-) ions,
while inside, there are charged proteins and potassium (K+) ions.
The electrical imbalance between outside and inside of the cell,
creates the resting potential throughout the membrane. This
imbalance created by the charged ions, is obtained through the cell
membrane being semipermeable for different ions. Even if the
sodium, potassium and chlorine ions pass through the cell membrane,
the entrance of big molecules creating an electric potential, is
restricted.
However, semipermeability is not the only solution, as the
potassium ions inside the cell (K+) are always higher in number than
the sodium ions (Na+), while the sodium ions outside the cell
membrane (Na+) are always more than the potassium ions (K+). In
order to ensure the necessary ion balance, the intensity levels in
the nerve cell, has to be reverted.
The cell does this using a kind of ion pump. The sodium-potassium
pump is a big protein molecule that builds a channel in the cell
membrane. This pump gets its energy from the ATP (Adenosine-
5'-triphosphate: the cellular energy molecule that living things
directly use) and after sending the sodium (Na+) ions out, accepts
the potassium (K+) ions inside. Thus, it preserves the right ion
ratio inside and outside the cell. In every square micrometer of the
cell membrane, there are some 100–200 sodium-potassium pumps and
each of them sends out 200 sodium ions while accepting 130 potassium
ions inside.
Action potential and transmission of the signal
When a neuron is prompted by another neuron or the conditions, the
signal starts and right after this, the signal moves along the axon
and makes the cell membrane potential to be reverted. As there are
thousands of protein channels or gates on the neuron membrane
allowing the passage of the ions. These gates are usually closed.
When there is a signal, the sodium channels are opened and the
positive-charged sodium ions flow inside. This way, the inside of the
cell membrane has more positive charge and the resting potential is
reverted, which increases the cell membrane potential up to +50
milivolt. The reverting of these charges is called the 'action
potential'. During the action potential, the potassium gates are
opened and the positive charged potassium ions flow outside. This
re-balances the resting potential and the inside of the neuron
becomes negative charged while outside becomes positive charged.
A single electric signal triggers all this process. Therefore, we
can say that the transmission of the signals triggers a domino
effect. As each domino falls, the next one falls. After the signal
is sent, the dominos stand back and get ready for the next action
potential.
The molecular traffic between the nerve cells continues on a
constant basis. It is the ions and some proteins that tell this
traffic to move or to stop. It is surely impossible for unconscious
moelecules to build this amazing nervous system in our bodies and
then organize it perfectly. They have come together to serve a
single purpose within a system. This fascinating system in our
bodies is one of the manifestations of Allah's beautiful creation
and infinite control over everything.