Encyclopedia of Islam

Chechnya

  

135  J

---

approximately 250,000 

reFUgees

. Though Russia 

has claimed victory and has set up a pro-Russia 

political administration, they do not control all of 

Chechnya, and a war of attrition has continued to 

the present.

See also 

commUnism

;  c

entral

  a

sia

 

and

 

the

c

aUcasUs

; n

aqshabandi

 s

UFi

 o

rder

.

David Reeves

Further reading: Thomas de Waal and Carlota Gall, 

Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus (New York: New 

York University Press, 1998); Sebastian Smith, Allah’s 

Mountains: The Battle for Chechnya (New York: I.B. 

Taurus, 2001).

children

Children are a vital part of society. They embody a 

people’s heritage and its future, and although chil-

dren are often expected to contribute to house-

hold tasks and work to support their parents, 

families and societies usually invest significant 

resources and care in their upbringing, 

edUcation

,

and marriage.

Islamic views of children and childhood are 

expressed in religious literature and the 

sharia

,

and they are formed in the lived culture of the 

Muslim family and the local community. In gen-

eral, Islamic perspectives on childhood reflect 

norms commonly found in patrilineal societies, in 

which sons are often favored over daughters. The 

q

Uran

 teaches that sons and material wealth are 

evidence of the favor God has shown to humans, 

but it also teaches that such worldly blessings can 

divert people from seeking God and the rewards 

of the hereafter (Q 17:6; 8:28). On the other hand, 

the Quran also teaches that believers be kind to 

their parents, speak to them with respect, and 

call upon God to bless them for taking care of 

them during childhood (Q 17:23–24). The 

sharia

addresses legal issues concerning children that 

are inspired by the ethical message of the Quran. 

These include an explicit ban on killing infants, 

including girls, and rules concerning adoption 

and foster parentage. m

Uhammad

 (d. 632) was 

orphaned at an early age (Q 93:6), and this very 

likely helped make care for orphans and respect 

for their rights to property foundational Islamic 

values. The Quran instructs believers to do good 

to orphans as well as parents and others in need 

(Q 4:36), and it promises that those who do not 

treat orphans well will be punished in the 

aFter

-

liFe

 (Q 4:10). Another facet of the sharia protects 

the rights of breastfeeding infants and their moth-

ers in event of 

divorce

 (Q 2233; 65:6), and it per-

mits resort to the services of wet nurses, following 

the example set by Muhammad, who was nursed 

by a b

edoUin

 woman in his infancy.

Biographies of famous men and 

Women

 have 

little to say about their childhood years, but 

substantial evidence for medieval Muslim under-

standings of children and childhood can be found 

in legal, medical, and ethical literature. These 

sources indicate that childhood was recognized as 

a distinct stage in the formation of the individual 

and that children were fully incorporated into 

the moral, legal, intellectual, and emotional life 

of medieval Islamicate societies. They recognized 

that children had their own distinct personalities 

and abilities, which form in the period between 

birth and puberty. How a child has been cared 

Three generations of an American Muslim family 

(Juan 

E. Campo)

K  136  

children

---

for, raised, and educated was thought to have a 

direct bearing on his or her physical, mental, and 

spiritual growth. Parents were instructed to teach 

their children to do all things in moderation, 

including good eating habits, since excess was 

a source of bodily, psychological, and social ills. 

They were also charged with encouraging moral 

qualities such as honesty, generosity, and control 

of the passions.

Medieval Muslim authors urged parents to 

be gentle and compassionate with their children 

and to exercise restraint in punishing them for 

misbehavior. Of course, parents were expected 

to inculcate their children with knowledge about 

Islam and the performance of its religious duties, 

particularly after the age of seven. A widely held 

view was that children were by nature born to be 

Muslims but that they learned their religion by 

imitating their fathers and teachers. In regard to 

their emotional development, children were to be 

protected from traumatic experiences, and parents 

were advised to comfort them immediately after 

any painful or frightening event.

The 

death

 of a child, particularly during the 

first two years of life, was a reality that many fami-

lies had to face. Common causes of death were 

gastrointestinal diseases, malnutrition, famine, 

and plagues. Except for extraordinary situations, 

Muslim jurists ruled that children were to be 

accorded all the formalities of a proper Muslim 

burial. Theological texts dealt with the fate of 

children in the afterlife, and the deep emotions 

caused by the loss of a child inspired authors 

to write books and poems in order to comfort 

bereaved parents.

Modernization projects launched during the 

last 150 years by Western colonial governments 

and reform-minded rulers of Muslim lands have 

contributed significantly to improving the quality 

of life for children in many of those countries. Pri-

mary and secondary schools were opened in cities 

and towns, allowing more girls and working-class 

children to gain knowledge and skills necessary 

to improve their social and economic status. Even 

children living in rural areas have gained access to 

education, and many have migrated to cities when 

schools were lacking in the countryside. Such 

changes have enabled many to loosen the bonds of 

dependence that linked them to their natal fami-

lies. Better health and nutrition have helped lower 

infant mortality rates. Muslim majority countries 

in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa consequently 

experienced significant population growth in the 

latter half of the 20th century. For example, as 

infant mortality rates in countries such as e

gypt

, 

i

ran

, and b

angladesh

 declined from around 200 

per 1,000 in 1955 to around 35 per 1,000 in 2005, 

their populations increased dramatically. Egypt’s 

population during this period jumped from 23 

million to 77.5 million, Iran’s from 19 million to 

68 million, and Bangladesh’s from 45.8 million 

to 144.4 million. At the same time, the popula-

tions of Muslim-majority countries have grown 

increasingly younger, unlike those of Europe and 

North America. In Egypt and Bangladesh, 33 per-

cent are under the age of 14, while this number 

in Iran is 27 percent (compared to 20 percent in 

the United States and 18.4 percent in France). 

According to World Bank estimates, 36 percent of 

the population in the Middle Eastern and North 

African region as a whole is under the age of 15, 

compared to 16 percent among the countries of 

the European Union.

Although children have often benefited 

greatly from the changes modernization has 

brought to Muslim-majority countries, they have 

also suffered from them. They have become the 

innocent victims of the national, regional, and 

global conflicts that have shaken countries such 

as Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Afghanistan. It 

is estimated that 500,000 Iraqi children died as a 

result of the economic sanctions leveled against 

s

addam

  h

Usayn

’s government in the 1990s by 

the United Nations. On the other hand, radical 

Islamic organizations have recruited children 

and unemployed youths to serve as fighters or 

suicide bombers in some countries. Moreover, 

population growth, limited economic resources,