Pathway to Paradise — Page 100
100 ABUSE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN It is a sad fact of life that you can pick up any newspaper today, and find accounts of wife abuse and crimes against children. It seems that the greatest and saddest loss in the march towards “progress” has been the safety and upbringing of children. The list of crimes perpetrated against children is horrendous, from neglect to kidnaping to sexual abuse. While the average person is not an abuser or molester of children, more and more children are suffering neglect, as careers and material gain have taken p riority over devotion to family. Children are left alone at home for hours, or treated as objects in custody battles between divorcing parents. Worse still, many newborn children are either abandoned or killed by desperate parents. A society in which such actions are common cannot claim to have made much progress from the pre - Islamic days when Arabs were burying their baby daughters alive. Islam not only champions human rights and the rights of women, but it fervently teaches protection and love for children. Allah says in the Holy Qur’an: “… and slay not your children for fear of poverty – it is We who provide for you and them. . . ” (6:152) This verse has been interpreted to mean the slaying of both born and unborn children for the fear of poverty. In this verse, Allah protects the child’s right to life, and enjoins the parents to place their trust in Allah. Islam teaches that children are a blessing, and their proper rearing is a means of gaining Allah’s