Muslim Teens Today’s Worry, Tomorrow’s Hope by Ekram and Mohamed R. Beshir (Beltsville MD: Amana Publications, 2001. 253 pages.)

Abstract

This is the second book on parenting by the husband-and-wife team of Dr.
Ekram and Mohamed R. Beshir. Muslim Teens addresses an issue of deep
concern to all Muslim parents: how to keep one’s children on the “straight
path” when they reach the turbulent years of adolescence. The authors are
professionals who have raised four daughters in Canada. Their daughters,
now adults, have contributed to the book with insights from a teen’s point
of view, based upon their own experiences of growing up Muslim in North
America.
The first two chapters draw a picture of teens and their environment.
Drawing on Ekram’s background in medicine and child psychology, these
chapters describe the turbulent nature of puberty and the physical and emotional
growing pains experienced by teenagers. The second chapter also
gives an overview of North American teen culture, which should be
required reading for all immigrant parents raising children in a culture that
can be viewed as largely antithetical to Islam.
Chapters 3 to 6 provide a “road map” for raising teens and presents an
overview of the aims and stages of Islamic tarbiyah (education, upbringing).
They advise parents to start early and state that both parents should
share a common vision of childrearing and set clear goals, such as spiritual
conviction (not just knowledge of Islam) and enabling teens to develop
strong and confident personalities. These chapters contain extensive
quotations from the Qur’an and Sunnah to support what the authors say,
thus enabling readers to gain a solid overview of parenting from an Islamic
perspective. The authors also take some basic Islamic principles of social ...