Bringing Up Bright Children

Bringing Up Bright Children
As Allah's slaves we must hear and obey. And that is exactly what we, my wife and I, did with our children's education.
The first guidance Allah gave to man was “Iqra'!”. Reading is the most important means of seeking knowledge and knowledge is paramount in getting man to fear Allah.
The question is when to start teaching children to read? Medical knowledge helps.
Experiments show that a fetus as early as 6 months in the mother's uterus can be taught reading. In Japan intra-uterine education is big business. In Islam, intra-uterine education begins much earlier, that is as soon as is known that the wife is pregnant, and this is known as “tarbiah ruhiyyah.”
All my ten children were efficient readers by the time they attended school. To help their brains developed further, my children were also exposed to jig-saw puzzles and chess early. All of them play chess at various levels. Alhamdullillah, they are now good successful Muslims.
Latest studies show how efficient reading among children can be achieved with intense reading program.
“Reading programes can boost kids brain.”
“Washington: Children who undergo intensive remedial reading programes not only become better readers but can also end up with rewired brains that are better at communicating, a study published on Wednesday said. (NST Friday Dec 11 2009). Below is a summary , published in the magazine NEURONE, of the study done:
“Clinical Study
Altering Cortical Connectivity: Remediation-Induced Changes in the White Matter of Poor Readers




References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article.
Timothy A. Keller1, , and Marcel Adam Just1
1 Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging, Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA

Accepted 13 October 2009. 
Published: December 9, 2009. 
Available online 9 December 2009.

Summary
Neuroimaging studies using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have revealed regions of cerebral white matter with decreased microstructural organization (lowerfractional anisotropy or FA) among poor readers. We examined whether 100 hr of intensive remedial instruction affected the white matter of 8- to 10-year-old poor readers. Prior to instruction, poor readers had significantly lower FA than good readers in a region of the left anterior centrum semiovale. The instruction resulted in a change in white matter (significantly increased FA), and in the very same region. The FA increase was correlated with a decrease in radial diffusivity (but not with a change in axial diffusivity), suggesting that myelination had increased. Furthermore, the FA increase was correlated with improvement in phonological decoding ability, clarifying the cognitive locus of the effect. The results demonstrate the capability of a behavioral intervention to bring about a positive change in cortico-cortical white matter tracts.”

This is the effect of reading programes on the brain of unhealthy children. Imagine what it can do with the brain of healthy children. My 10 children have benefited from this experiment without us knowing the benefit of “iqra'” on children's brain. We just “ hear and obey”.
My wife just took 5-10 minutes everyday to teach our children to read. The youngest age at which my children started reading was 2 1/2 years. Alhamdullillah.
Allah speaks the truth:
123. He said: "Get ye down, both of you,- all together, from the Garden, with enmity one to another: but if, as is sure, there comes to you Guidance from Me, whosoever follows My Guidance, will not lose his way, nor fall into misery.

124. "But whosoever turns away from My Message,(i.e neither believes in this Qur'an nor acts on its teachings ) verily for him is a life narrowed down (hardship), and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Judgment." (Ta Haa 20:123)