Cultivating a profound love, hope and fear (out of offending Allah) in Allah is the greatest gift you can give to your children. In fact, growing a solid relationship with Allah should be our goal in raising children.
When talking to them, make it simple. Talk in terms they can easily understand, not with big words that might overwhelm them. The concept of God is straightforward, not complex. For instance, point to an object e.g. a chair and say, “Who do you think invented that?” Then move on to explain that everything has a creator, which leads us to other things, seen and unseen.
Belief in Allah is about belief in the Unseen. We can’t see Him, but we can see and experience His creations. Just as the existence of the chair and other objects prove the existence of the creator, so does the existence of objects in this universe (often refered to as signs of Allah) prove the existence of Allah, The One True God.
How do we know Allah listens to us?
We know Allah by his names and attributes. Some of Allah’s names (which double up as His attributes):
Ar-Rahman – The Compassionate, The Beneficent
Ar-Raheem – The Merciful
Al-Malik – The King, The Sovereign Lord
Al-Quddoos – The Holy
As-Salaam – The Source of Peace
As-Samee’ – The All-Hearing – How do we know He hears? Allah The Almighty doesn’t hear like we do. He hears in a way that’s truly fitting to The One True God. If He were to hear in the form that we do, that means He would need ears, and this implies he’s no longer Powerful and Almighty, we all know having human ears means feeling pain, getting ear bugs, not able to hear certain frequencies and such. There are limitations to our sense of hearing! But Being All Powerful means Allah is above all that. Which also implies, it’s unlike anything we can see, feel, touch on Earth. This concept applies to Allah’s other attributes as well. We know this is true because this is what has been taught to us by the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W (more on him and why we trust him below).
On Salah (praying)
This is how we connect with Allah as taught by His messenger. The degree to which we are able to connect with Allah depends on our concentration (khushu). Think of the meaning of the words when we pray. Explain who Muhammad S.A.W is, the Honest and Trustworthy One, who never uttered a single lie his entire life. Muhammad S.A.W’s character is spotless which proves the authenticity of his message of Islam. Islam is about character (excellent akhlaq) and building an excellent character is the purpose of submitting ourselves to Allah, and all intentions, actions and words in our life, as His vicegerents (Khalifah), so that we are rewarded with Jannah as our Final Destination.
Allah speaks to us through the Quran, which is the word of Allah. To hear Him, read the Quran, which is packed with guidance on how to lead life as successful people, not only in this temporary world (Dunya) but also in the eternal Hereafter (Akhirah). Allah also responds to every single sincere duaa that we make.