Parents across the spectrum have been urged to equip their brilliant and promising children with virtues and religious education, in addition to modern knowledge, contrary to the usual practice of sending only less-brilliant children to religious schools while enrolling the brilliant ones in universities, Ustaz Habbeb Shittu has said.
Shittu, who is the proprietor of Mujaddiduun Islamic Institute for Qur’anic Memorisation, Arabic and Islamic Knowledge, Nigeria, made the call at the 4th Islamic Convention, Complete Qur’an Memorisation and I’daadiyah graduation Ceremony in Okuku, Osun State.
He noted that obedient and brilliant students also deserve to be morally equipped, memorise the Qur’an and be exposed to religious knowledge to achieve greatness in life.
‘We have, however, noticed that many parents erroneously believe only average students deserve to be pushed to religious institutions. On the contrary, every student needs the knowledge. No knowledge is a waste.
‘In fact, from experience, we get better results by putting just 30 per cent effort into willing and brilliant students than what we get when we put 100 per cent into an average student,’ he said.
Ustaz Shittu, who noted that education at a tender age has a lot of positive impacts on students, congratulated the parents and graduands for their patience and sacrifices.
He thus urged Nigerians to ensure a balance between the academic and moral development of their children to maximise the benefits of the education they acquire in modern and conventional institutions.
The guest speaker, Sheikh Ibraheem Raji, advised the graduating students to memorise and learn for the sake of Allah, the Deen and humanity, rather than for the sake of money or material gain.
He acknowledged that a Nigerian Qur’an memoriser, Maryam Ibrahim Dan’Azumi, was recently rewarded with about ?120 million for conquering the world, but said the amount was nothing compared with the spiritual and celestial benefits of memorising the Qur’an, which he described as the greatest literature in the universe.