Paradise Under Your Feet — Page 102
102 Ramadan By this age, children can fully understand the spiritual significance of the holy month and should be expected to participate in attaining its blessings with increased worship and study of the Holy Qur ’ an. Teens also should be encouraged to work on self-improvement by working on shedding any bad habits during this month. Depending on their physical development and stamina, most teenagers should be able to fast for most of the month after age sixteen or seventeen. Around age eighteen, they should be able to complete the full month, as it becomes obligatory for them. Hazrat Khalifatul- Masih II (ra) has advised that at age sixteen, encourage 2 weeks of fasting, at seventeen, encourage 3 weeks and at eighteen, your teenager should be ready to fast each day for the whole month. However, parents can use their judgment on whether to encourage younger teenagers to fast if they have heavy sports-related commitments, or if the fasts are long and in hot weather. Maintaining Ties with Khilafat and Jama ’ at The teenage years are an especially critical time for children in seeking and establishing an identity and one of the best ways for parents to help them establish their Ahmadi Muslim identity is to maintain close ties with the Jama ’ at. During the high school years, children will become members of Lajna Ima ’ illah or Khuddamul-Ahmadiyya, so they have ample opportunity to be engaged in Jama ’ at activities. The local Khuddam Qa ’ id and Lajna Sadr can be requested to assign responsibilities to this group in meetings, community events, propagation and social service; Lajna and Khuddam also have good programs for this age group. Youth groups are quite dynamic in some chapters and teenagers really benefit from this activity; it will also cultivate lifelong friendships.