Parents urged to discourage kids from beaches

Speaking at the Annual Qur’anic Recitation Day of the Imam Malick Islamic Institute held at the Girl’s Guide Association’s grounds in Kanifing, an Islamic cleric, Oustass Muhammed Trawally, head of the Imam Malick Islamic Institute has said that parents must be aware of the dangers that children are exposed to each time they go to the beach.

According to him, many children who go to the beaches are taken away from other gainful activities like using the summer holidays to study or getting involved in their own religious and physical development. He noted that such children eventually tend to fall behind in the critical areas of development.

According to Oustass Trawally, children, rather than be left roaming the beaches could be engaged in knowledge-seeking activities. He said that if children have knowledge instilled in them, then they could be relied upon to make profitable choices in the future. “We have seen many a time the outlandish incidences that happen during this summer holidays, mostly during Sunday beach visits by children and all these happen because they are not often advised on their roles as children by parents,” he said.

While he called for a regulation to stop Sunday beach activities as if it were a kind of pilgrimage, Trawally also urged all parents against allowing their children to step on the beach shores. According to him, parents and guardians should take it as their primary responsibility to make sure that knowledge is well instilled in their children. “Every living individual in this world should seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave,” he said

He also tasked all parents and guardians to actively engage their children in religious activities during this summer rather than allow them to be totally absorbed by Sunday Beach and other things that would only retard their religious development, hiking inconsiderable distances from the teachings of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and the Qur’an.

Explaining the significance of the programme, the Islamic scholar said it was part of his institution’s strategy for their students to have the environment in showcasing the knowledge they have gained to their parents or guardians. He said the occasion also create the platform for them to discuss issues affecting children and see pathways on how to solve such things.

For his part, Oustass Ousman Touray, the assistant headmaster of the Institute reaffirmed their resolve in complementing the effort of their students’ parents or guardians in the quest to accelerate religious upbringing.