Girl-child upbringing in Islam: Where contemporary Ilorin Muslim women are getting it wrong

Abstract

Islam considers female child a treasure that must be well guarded due to her sensitive role to humanity. Hence, Islam gives special  attention to her upbringing in a way to safeguard her against waywardness and prepare her for the role of shaping society. The shari^cah  counts on the expertise of women (as mothers or female guardians) in the female-child upbringing. Consequently, they are to   conscientiously monitor her in all the stages of development and serve as good models to her. Reports indicated how some ancient Ilorin  Muslim women applied the Islamic template in nurturing their girls to ascertain their uprightness and efficiency as wives and  mothers. Quite on the contrary, many modern Ilorin Muslim women are reportedly breeding ill-mannered female children, a  development that negates the Islamic principle. This study is descriptive and analytical, probing into what modern Ilorin Muslim women  are doing wrongly in girl-child nurturing, which has led to societal incongruity. Interview was the major research instrument used. The  study revealed that most of modern Ilorin Muslim women downplayed the Islamic nurturing method in the bid for modernisation. This  trend was observed to have led to many female children to be dysfunctional. The study concluded that the situation is redeemable if  Muslim women adopt the Islamic guidelines to confront the contemporary challenges faced in female-child upbringing.