“Call to the path of your Lord with wisdom and kindly exhortation and debate with them in the most befitting manner. Indeed, your Lord best knows those who stray from His path and those who are rightly guided.”

(16:125)

When we are instructed to use the most befitting manner when ‘arguing’ with ‘non-Muslims’, how is it possible that we are allowed to use the most un-befitting manner (beating up) when it comes to ‘educating’ our ‘children’?!

The validity of our methods of preaching and educating comes from their effects and outcomes. A method that leads to undesired results are not advised and allowed. The desired results in teaching religion to our kids is not to force them to practice the religious obligations while they are under our control. The desired results should be to establish the concept of Islam in their hearts in a way that they remain devoted Muslims for the rest of their lives. While the first may be achieved by beating up, the second (at least in our era) can easily be voided by using beating.

Further, it should be noted that a beating up of a child that results in leaving any sign on the child will be categorised as a wrong action that in principle demands Qisas (retaliation). Obviously the child cannot, does not and should not look to literally do Qisas on his/her father/mother, however the father (or mother) needs to make up for the physical damage that he/she has unjustly caused (by beating up the child), in an appropriate way.