The Tarbiyah Our Ummah Needs
There is a beautiful moment in Surah Maryam where Zakariya عليه السلام, now an old man, turns privately to Allah with a concern that has been weighing heavily on him. He is old. His bones have weakened. His hair has turned grey. His wife has never been able to have children.
But his concern is not simply that he wants to experience fatherhood before he dies. He is worried about what will come after him.
“My Lord! Surely my bones have become brittle, and grey hair has spread across my head, but I have never been disappointed in my prayer to You, my Lord! And I am concerned about ˹the faith of˺ my relatives after me, since my wife is barren. So grant me, by Your grace, an heir, who will inherit ˹prophethood˺ from me and the family of Jacob, and make him, O Lord, pleasing ˹to You˺!”
[Maryam, 4-6]
Zakariya عليه السلام did not ask Allah SWT for a child simply because he wanted someone to care for him, or because everyone around him had children – rather, he had a specific vision for his child: someone who would inherit his prophethood and carry on the work of guiding Bani Isra’eel.
We find ourselves in a very different time and place to Zakariya عليه السلام, but the key reflection is the same: our Ummah is far removed from the expectations set for us by our creator, and requires a multi-generational effort.
For more than a century, Muslims have witnessed political fragmentation, foreign occupation, colonialism, intellectual decline and the erosion of Islamic values across much of the Muslim world. Oppression has chased our Ummah – in Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and most glaringly in Gaza – and our response has, quite simply, not been strong enough.
That should force us to ask some uncomfortable questions. How did an Ummah of almost two billion people reach this position? How did the Ummah that once carried Islam across continents become so politically divided and incapable of defending its own people?
And perhaps most importantly: What kind of generation will it take to change this?
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ warned of a time when the nations would gather against the Muslims like people gathering around a dish of food. The Sahabah asked: “Will we be few in number on that day?” He replied:
“Rather, you will be many on that day, but you will be like the foam upon a torrent. Allah will remove fear of you from the hearts of your enemy and place wahn in your hearts.”
They asked: “What is wahn, O Messenger of Allah?” He ﷺ replied:
“Love of the dunya and hatred of death.”
When we hear that hadith today, it is difficult not to reflect on ourselves. We are certainly not few. But are we fulfilling the role Allah gave us?
Allah gave this Ummah a mission
For many of us, our greatest aspiration has become simply to preserve Islam within our own homes. We want our children to pray. To avoid haram. To marry Muslims. To pass on the religion to their children. And, of course, all of that matters.
But surely our vision is bigger than simply surviving as Muslims. This Ummah was not raised merely to preserve Islam privately. We were raised to carry its guidance to humanity through our worship.
We are so far removed from the lofty expectations Allah SWT set for us, when He describes this Ummah:
“You are the best nation produced for mankind: you enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in Allah.”
[Aali-Imran, 110]
This is one of those verses we love to quote. The best nation. But sometimes we stop there. Allah does not simply give us a title. He tells us what that title requires: You enjoin the good, you forbid the evil, and you believe in Allah.
And He describes us as “a middle nation (ummatan wasatan)” [Al-Baqarah, 143] – an Ummah of justice, balance and guidance, raised to stand as witnesses over mankind.
These are not merely honours for us to celebrate, but rather responsibilities handed to us by Allah SWT.
So it is our duty to call to what is good, and challenge what is evil. To stand for justice. To serve mankind. And to uphold the Shari’ah of Allah SWT and carry out the noble duties of Jihad and Da’wah – working towards a world in which the guidance and Shari’ah of Allah are not pushed to the margins of life, but are given the place that they deserve.
That mission requires a very different kind of tarbiyah.
If we hope to see our Ummah once again fulfil that responsibility, then we must have the same intention that Zakariya (AS) had: to be blessed with offspring who will carry on the mission of making the word of Allah (SWT) the most high. We must ask ourselves a difficult question: Are we raising our children with that vision? Do our children believe that they have been created to serve Allah and benefit mankind? Or are they simply being prepared to achieve personal success?
History reminds us that great leaders are not formed by accident.
When Sultan Mehmed II (Muhammad al-Fatih) was a child, he was raised upon the aspiration that he might fulfil the glad tidings of the Prophet ﷺ regarding the conquest of Constantinople. Legend has it that his mother would take him, from the age of 5, to the banks of the Bosphorus, pointing to the noble city across the river, and tell him that he would be the hero who finally conquered the Red Apple. At the age of 13, he would ask his sheikh about the famous hadith prophesying the conquest of Constantinople by a great ameer: “could I be the great ameer mentioned here?” His teachers and mentors cultivated in him a vision far greater than personal ambition. Whether or not he would ultimately fulfil that prophecy was in Allah’s Hands, but he grew up believing that serving Islam and changing history was a realistic aspiration for a believer.
This is the mindset that purposeful tarbiyah seeks to revive.
Allah (SWT) tells us that his noble slaves – ‘ibaad ul-rahman – are those who make dua to be leaders of the believers:
وَٱلَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَٰجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّـٰتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍۢ وَٱجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا ٧٤
Our Lord! Grant us that our spouses and our offspring be a joy to our eyes, and do make us the leaders of the God-fearing.
[Al-Furqan, 74]
Of course, the expectation is not that every child will become a ruler, scholar or military commander, but rather that they will carry the conviction that every Muslim has a role in carrying this Deen according to the gifts Allah has entrusted to them.
The revival of the Ummah starts with our intention – as with the example of Zakariya (AS) – setting the intention that we will dedicate a generation of children whose mission it is to revive and give victory to this Ummah
It continues with our tarbiyah – as with the example of Mehmed Fatih – inspiring our children from a young age with the vision of liberating Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa and supporting the oppressed.
And it is sealed with dua – sincere dua – for Allah (SWT) to make our children of those who achieve this goal.
It will come through generations of believers who know Allah, possess sound character, carry responsibility and dedicate their lives to serving His Deen.
The generation our Ummah needs will not appear by chance. It needs to be raised purposefully.
