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Children Around the Prophet (SAW): How Muhammad (SAW) Raised the Young Companions

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his 8 CD set introduces a new dimension to the Seerah or life of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), which has rarely been looked at in past Seerah narratives: Focusing upon how the Prophet (SAW) taught, dealt, and interacted with children, many of whom grew up to become outstanding companions and model Muslims. In introducing parents and potential parents to the Prophetic example of dealing with children, Dr. Hesham Al-Awadi tackles the challenges and complexity of raising children, and the necessity to understand and cater for their needs. Throughout these lectures recorded at Birkbeck College, University of London, Dr. Al-Awadi, a renowned Seerah historian draws upon instances from the Prophet's (SAW) life in order to address the emotional, spiritual, moral, sexual, and social dimensions of raising children in today's society.

8 pages, Audio CD

First published July 1, 2005

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About the author

Hesham Al-Awadi

11 books51 followers
He was born in Kuwait and educated in the United Kingdom.

He completed his BA, MA, MPhil and PhD in the fields History, Politics, International Relations and Communication in various British universities including the University of Cambridge and Exeter.

He taught history for graduates and undergraduates at George Washington University in the States, and at Exeter University in the UK.

He is currently a professor of history at the American University of Kuwait.

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5 stars
101 (59%)
4 stars
50 (29%)
3 stars
10 (5%)
2 stars
4 (2%)
1 star
6 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
Profile Image for Sahar.
361 reviews201 followers
August 11, 2020
A very heartwarming and informative read containing a plethora of excellent stories and anecdotes as well as practical parenting advice. It served well in reaffirming my love for the Prophet ﷺ and begs a revisit of the seerah to learn more about those mentioned and put the book a little more into context.
Profile Image for sawaaiiq .
169 reviews26 followers
February 6, 2022
3.5 really.

Decent book taking examples from the life of Muhammad ﷺ and reasoning with them to take benefits. This was all about raising children and many parts were beneficial. Some of the narrations used, I could not find to check if they actually existed or not but otherwise, it was decent.
Profile Image for Masud Shorif.
Author 14 books57 followers
July 6, 2019
Another unique contribution to the life of prophet by Hesham

Typically we don't see prophet pbuh from this perspective. Hesham has done a tremendous job. This is really unique. At times he drifted from the main points, elongating, hence the 4 star. The last chapter could've been excluded. Nevertheless, recommended for parents and young alike.
Profile Image for Sadia.
30 reviews13 followers
May 28, 2020
Children around tge Prophet
(how Muhammad (saw) raised the young companions)
By Hesham Al-Awadi
Genre: Islamic nonfiction, parenting
Rate: 5/5 💚💚💚🖤💛


Another captivating reading in my Ramadan times. This book is a wholesome summary how to interact and raise youngsters following the path of sunnah. Initially it is a lecture series of the author which later he published as a book.

This book is another new dimension of acquiring knowledge on preneting from seerah of Prophet Muhammad (saw). I think, it will be a beneficial learning for muslim parents and teachers as well. Author describes and explains so many common and uncommon hadiths from the perspective of interacting with kids and teenagers. It helps the readers to develops their analytical skills of parenting and teaching.
I want to mention two points about this book specifically, One is, more often we hasitate to talk and tackle the sexual issues, desires of our teenage kids due to shyness, timidity and mostly because of traditional parenting ideas that those issues are not for parents/teachers to discuss with kids!! And those are the issues duscussed logically and rationally by Al-Awadi, from the instances of the Prophet's (SAW) life.

And second point is author includes practical tips on “How to make your children love the Quran, “How to build your child’s faith and creed” and “How to train your children to worship Allah”, which are helpful for not only parents but also a individual muslim to boost up their Imaan.

Author successfully illustrated the emotional, spiritual, moral, sexual, and social dimensions of raising children in current modern time.

My best takeway from the book is - to create a islamic environment in the home for kids, one must need to install those islamic good habits in ownself and work on establishing strong relationship with the Almighty Creator, Allah. Rest will fall upon in its place automatically, InshaAllah. 🥰
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Profile Image for Mohammad Ali Abedi.
433 reviews42 followers
August 3, 2013
This 8 CD lectures is not what I expected. It is called “Children around the Prophet” so I assumed it would be stuff about Prophet’s children and all that. Well, it is SORT of like that, but mainly using the children around the Prophet to use as a way to lecture parents on raising their kids using Prophet Mohammad’s ways as an example.

Useful for young religious parents, but less useful for a single, cynical person like me. The lecturer, Dr Hesham Al-Awadi, in his introduction mentions that he wants to give a new perspective on the life of Prophet Mohammad. Usually, he claims, the emphasis is on the major battles in his life, but he wants to talk about the little things that occurred between those bigger, more famous events. I suppose, for that purpose, Al-Awadi’s lectures are somewhat interesting for giving a different perspective on some of the events.

Problem is that Al-Awadi is an irritating lecturer, and I feel almost bad saying that, because he’s enthusiastic and passionate, and well, those are the reasons I find him annoying. He repeats phrases many, many times, such as asking us, “Have you ever imagined…” or “Have you ever thought about…” as a way to make us think of an established Islamic hadith in a different way, but the way he says it gets on my nerves.

Anyway, aside from the Introduction and Conclusion, the other six CDs are based on developing the blocks of a child, these being, Emotional, Belief, Worship, Morals, Sexual Desires, and Social, and there IS obviously something to learn from it. I just need a child to see if it works. I wonder where I can find one?
Profile Image for Aly.
11 reviews3 followers
May 5, 2021
The authenticity of certain hadiths/pieces of information may be questionable, as the author does not include sufficient chains of narration or references. (eg. the ages of the sahaba - I have not seen the age difference between Omar ibn Al-Khattab and Abdulla ibn Omar to be 11 years anywhere else in sources I've previously come across. A further brief search into this also failed to confirm it.)

In terms of parenting advice and child training from a sunnah perspective, this is an excellent reference/introductory guide. The information provided and the author's interpretation of it is useful food-for-thought, but is quite brief. For a more in-depth understanding, independent research is required.
Profile Image for Iroda Toirova.
57 reviews5 followers
June 14, 2025
Anbiyo Yildirimning “Farzand tarbiyasida buyuk murabbiy” asari tugatildi. Oddiy tilda, qisqa hikoyalar yozilgan. Juda kichkina kitobcha. Kaik qildi ))
Profile Image for Syed Fathi.
Author 17 books93 followers
April 22, 2022
This book is very interesting in a sense that it looks into the life of prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in a different perspective. Most historian and biographer look at the same subject stressing His leadership but Al-Awadi pick up details often overlooked by regular writer to build his narrative. Using the lens of children around the prophet, we get to see another perspective and used this insight to learn and understand how the prophet nurtured young companion. This perspective is crucial especially for parent and educator as they navigate the world of parenting and educating. From his analysis, Al-Awadi extracted the tools and techniques we can use to nurture our children using the prophet as a role model. Although I think Al-Awadi has contribute tremendously in this work, I do feel that sometimes the explanation and elaboration a bit shallow and need to be significantly improved. I also noticed he omit certain things to avoid difficult topics, but of course I might be too overly-critical in noticing! The book is not about giving you a full picture of what has happen during prophet life but to extract valuable and related lessons. People complaining about the chain of citation also I think, is missing the point. The book was never meant to be academic, its a simple book as an easy read to guide you, to change it into a real-life action need effort from your behalf. Parenting books are always about reminder to parent for me, they are not book that give you a military precision of what to do. This book absolutely will be a good reminder for you in your long journey of parenting.
1 review
June 8, 2020
Is the Author Shia? U mention that there is lack of resources for Aisha Radyia Allah Anha. That is totally not true as she is the source we need to treasure. You start giving the example about kids of his grand kids specifically Al Hasan and Al Hussain? As its more convenient to start with his own kids first. You just mention Fatima. So if you're shia. Then the Hadith u relay apon as a prof may not be true or changed by Shia. So if any one could confirm? If he is Sunah or Shia?
Profile Image for Heather.
178 reviews21 followers
April 19, 2021
I expected this to be a self-help book based on the title. And it's actually for parents who wants to educate their children in a similar way as the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did. Nevertheless, everyone can actually read it, not only parents, because there's a lot of lessons that can be applied in the daily life. Through this book, I felt more connected to the prophet than I was before because of the heartwarming stories of the prophet with the companions.
Profile Image for Az.
26 reviews
February 24, 2021
If you read a book or two about Islamic parenting, the content of this book isn't new. I probably having heard/read the story over and over again. But I like how author telling the stories and having his own interpretation. I will take a notes for the last 3 chapter of this book.

I think author really loves to imagine things. He used the words "imagine" multiple times haha
7 reviews
August 12, 2021
Inspirational. The perspective offered is so unique and you feel completely immersed in the time of the Prophet (pbuh), makes you want to be a child around the Beloved (pbuh). A wonderful guide to understanding children and the youth, raising your children, parenting with mercy and understanding the why and the how beautifully through Islam.
Profile Image for Ainun Najib Alfatih.
14 reviews
April 2, 2019
What an awesome book for muslim parents! This book lead us to know the building block of raising children, taking the perspective of young companions around the prophet and their interaction with the prophet. Love this book.
5 reviews
July 24, 2021
Islamic upbringing

Every individual needs to read this. The things and activities are what we are trying to do and practice regularly. These same activities practiced in Islam years ago.
Profile Image for sarah dough.
20 reviews
January 26, 2024
This book has some good practical advice.... it also has jokes about terrorism.

"This is very different from someone who has just converted to Islam and then goes out and bombs a train station."

Profile Image for Khatijah.
119 reviews3 followers
February 22, 2021
This is... undoubtedly a must read book for all muslims parents.
Profile Image for Faridahyunos.
144 reviews6 followers
June 5, 2021
I love this book so much. Helps to identify the building blocks in parenting Muslim kids. Love the stories that the author shared on the kids living during the years of the Prophet 😊
Profile Image for Shakirah.
239 reviews6 followers
October 20, 2025
Practical advice and good reminders of how we should be trying to raise our children to be healthy adults.
2 reviews
December 12, 2021
Loved this. So practical but historical too. Must for all parents or parents to be or those working with children.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews

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