By Amal Al-Sibai  

“The more you know Allah, the more you will love Him.” Imam Al-Ghazali 

As Muslim parents, our aim is to show the way for our children to worship Allah out of love and out of yearning for His boundless mercy and forgiveness. We will not be with our children at every moment of their lives to remind them to pray, to read Qur’an, to supplicate, and to stop them from falling into sin. However, the love of Allah, once it sparks in their hearts, will always be there and become their inner voice. No matter how far away they may stray from the path in their desire for independence from us, curiosity to experiment, and during the tumultuous developmental changes of adolescence, this faith in Allah and nearness to Him will bring them back, Insha Allah.

Anas bin Malik reported that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “There are three qualities whoever has them, will taste the sweetness of Iman: To love Allah and His Messenger more than anyone else; to love a slave (of Allah) only for (the sake of) Allah; and to hate returning to infidelity after Allah has saved him from it as he would hate to be thrown into the fire.” 

We need to give our children the opportunity to taste this sweetness of Iman. The first step towards loving Allah more is knowing more about Him, and one way to do that is by understanding Allah’s Beautiful Names and Attributes. 

In fact, Allah wants us to know Him and to know His Beautiful Names and Attributes. Allah’s Divine Names and Attributes appear again and again on virtually every page of the Holy Qur’an. In the opening chapter of the Qur’an, the surah we read 17 times a day in our five daily prayers, we are reminded that Allah is Ar-Rahman, Ar-Raheem. Have we really pondered the magnitude of Allah’s mercy upon us, both in this world and in the akhirah? 

Teaching children these Names and what they mean, may be the best we can do to ensure the health and vitality of our children’s spiritual hearts.  

And as any parent knows, teaching children in a fun and joyful environment is far more effective than having them rigidly sit down and listen to a long lecture. That is why we have developed matching cards, for a memory game of the Beautiful Names of Allah. The cards provide hours of family fun, while encouraging learning. Have a go at the memory game, but don’t be disappointed, your kids will undoubtedly win! They have an amazing ability to focus and memorize. Another alternative is to play trivia with all family members. Call out Allah’s Name in Arabic and ask players to identify the English meaning of Allah’s Name, and then vice versa. Some families have opted to use the cards to create a mural on the family room wall, so kids constantly see and soak in Allah’s Beautiful Names. There’s a whole lot of different ways to use these cards!  

Add your love, creativity, and a large bowl of popcorn, and you have just found the perfect activity for Friday family game night! Whether you homeschool your children or simply supplement Islamic education at home, your family will find our resources very useful inshaAllah. Be sure to take advantage of the free printables up on our website as well as online games and quizzes.  www.faithfulkids.net