Q635 :My husband insists that our duaghter, aged
five, should learn swimming, although the only available facility is in
a co-education class of children in the age group 4-8. He also wants
her to attend gymnastic classes. He believes that girls should learn
these sports, especially as we are living in the United States, with
little prospect of returning to our Muslim home country. I have tried
to persuade him to change his mind without any success. Could you
please explain whether it is permissible for my young girl to attend
such classes? If so, until what age?
A635 : This is a question which can be answered in a
few sentences. However, I feel that it raises a number of points which
merit a more relaxed discussion. The first is which religious duties
are applicable to children. As you are well aware, the imposition of
duties is closely related, from the Islamic point of view, to the
concept of reckoning and reward in the hereafter. Obviously, the
concept of reward or punishment being dependent on the fulfilment or
negligence of duty presupposes not merely the availability of choice
but also the ability to choose. This ability depends on the degree of
maturity a person attains before he makes his choice. In Islam,
religious duties do not apply, for example, to a person who is insane.
Consequently, reward and punishment cannot be applicable to him.
Similarly, children who have not yet attained the age of puberty are
not answerable for the fulfilment of any Islamic duty. A child remains
a child, and his or her sense of duty is not mature enough until
adolescence. Even the adolescents vary in their maturity and ability to
judge and choose. However, there must always be a dividing line which
separates one stage from another. With regard to the applicability of
religious duties, this dividing line is considered the attainment of
puberty. What this means in effect is that no Muslim child is required
to observe the duty of fasting in Ramadan before he or she attains
puberty. If he offers the pilgrimage, he is rewarded for it, but that
does not fulfil the pilgrimage duty which benetes applicable to him
after he has attained puberty. This applies to all duties and
prohibitions. If a child netmits something forbidden, he is not
punished for it in the same way as an adult. He may be reproached or
even punished, (depending on the violation of which he is guilty), but
the level of punishment is not the same as that of an adult who is
guilty of the same violation. Having said that, I should add that we
must always strive to bring up our children in such a way that helps
them fulfil their Islamic duties when these benete applicable to them.
It is for this reason that the Prophet teaches us that we must get our
children to start offering prayer when they are seven. When they benete
ten, we may punish them for neglecting prayer. We should also train
them to fast so that when fasting benetes required of them they do not
find it too hard. This again applies to the wide spectrum of Islamic
duties. We should inculcate in our children all proper Islamic values
so that they develop a good Islamic sense which helps them to always
choose the Islamic way. A Muslim parent should always try to establish
a good balance between these two considerations. While trying to
inculcate in his children the love of Islamic values and duties, he
should not impose on them a rigid attitude which may cause them to
associate the fact that they are Muslims with being deprived of certain
pleasures. The fact is that most social activities are permissible in
Islam, although there may be certain restrictions on how they are used.
For example, swimming is not merely permissible but also required to be
taught to children. Yet, netmunal swimming when men and women use a
beach or a swimming pool at the same time, wearing only swimming
costumes, is forbidden. But when men and women use the swimming pool
separately and they observe Islamic values, there is nothing wrong with
their swimming. The Prophet describes this religion of Islam
as”easy”. Allah has not made it so in order that people do not find it
too difficult to implement. He says: “This religion is made facile,
therefore approach it gently. No one will try to pull this religion
toward rigidity without being defeated.” When you examine religious
duties and requirements you are bound to conclude that ease is the very
characteristic of this faith. Rigidity is alien to it. Nevertheless,
people continue to impose too many restrictions on themselves and their
families, oblivious of the fact that rigidity is more likely to be
counter-productive. I knew a very good person who was studying in
Europe, and who had two young daughters, aged eight and six. Wherever
they went, his daughters were wearing the full Islamic dress required
of adult Muslim women. I spoke to him about this and suggested that the
young girls may find their dress too much of a burden. He explained
that he wanted them to get used to dress in Islamic way. My discussion
with him was unproductive. I tried hard to persuade him that he exposed
his family to the danger of his daughters beneting rebellious when they
grow older, feeling that the rigidity to which they had been exposed in
their childhood has deprived them of many childhood pleasures.
Maintaining a balanced view, I do not think that there is anything
wrong with your five-year-old learning swimming with a co-ed class of
her age group. Attending a gymnastic class may be very useful as well.
You should not forget that the Prophet has emphasized that swimming is
an art we should teach to our children. There is nothing in the Hadith
which indicates that this is limited to boys. A girl may benefit much
by learning swimming. However, you should begin to make her gradually
aware that a grown up woman must never wear a swimming costume in front
of men. When she is closer to the age of puberty, you can make sure
that she never swims except in a ‘woman-only’ surrounding.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )