Waqi al-Tarwih al-Muasir lada al-Tifl al-Muslim min Wajhat Nazar al-Aba wa al-Ummahat
- Author died
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- Editions
- Islamic University of Madinah
Waqi al-Tarwih al-Muasir lada al-Tifl al-Muslim min Wajhat Nazar al-Aba wa al-Ummahat (The Reality of Contemporary Recreation among Muslim Children from the Perspective of Fathers and Mothers) is an educational and empirical study by Tariq bin Abd Allah Hajar . The work examines the recreation habits and tools of contemporary Muslim children within Saudi society, evaluating parental selection, content review, and behavioral supervision according to the principles of Islamic pedagogy .
Purpose and Theoretical Framework
The author initiated the research due to a scarcity of field studies dedicated to the recreation of Muslim children, contrasting with purely theoretical literature on leisure time . The study aims to identify contemporary recreation patterns, explore differences across demographic variables such as parental education, kinship, residence, income, and child age, and offer recommendations to align recreation with Islamic guidance .
Structurally, the book comprises an introduction followed by a theoretical foundation, a review of previous studies, practical field procedures, and final conclusions and recommendations . In the theoretical section, the author addresses:
- The distinction between permissible and impermissible recreation in Islamic pedagogy, emphasizing boundaries regarding type, quantity, quality, and timing .
- Prophetic hadiths and historical examples concerning the Prophet's ﷺ recreational interactions with children .
- Muslim scholars' views on recreation and play .
- Children's rights and parental responsibilities under Islamic educational theory .
The work defines general recreation as engaging a child's time in athletic, artistic, and cultural activities for pleasure, while guided recreation aligns this enjoyment with building faith, worship, morals, and conduct . Contemporary recreation is defined operationally as purposeful, voluntary, and intrinsically motivated activity conducted through religiously permissible means during leisure time .
Methodology and Findings
The study employs a descriptive methodology relying on a structured questionnaire distributed to a purposive sample of fathers and mothers from Medina and Rabigh .
The empirical analysis yielded several primary findings:
- Parents prioritize recreational tools that stimulate mental capabilities and thinking, followed by manual skills and low cost, with rural residents showing a marked emphasis on cognitive development .
- Drawing and coloring booklets ranked first among tools chosen directly by children, followed by gaming consoles and children's television programming .
- Children's television programs were the tool most frequently selected by parents for their children, whereas the internet was the least utilized medium for recreation .
- Parental levels of reviewing tool content and supervising children during recreational activity ranged predominantly between "sometimes" and "rarely" .
- Fathers showed higher awareness and perception of children's recreational practices than mothers .
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