275. Imām ‘Ali (a.s.) said: “Your child is your bundle of flowers for seven years, your servant for seven years, and then he will be either your enemy or your friend.”1
276. Imām ‘Ali (a.s.) said, in his advice to his son Hasan: “I hastened with my will for you and wrote its salient points lest death overtakes me before I divulged unto you what I have in my heart, or lest my wit be affected as my body has been affected, or the forces of passions or the evils of the world overtake you in making you like a stubborn camel. Indeed, the heart of a young man is like an uncultivated land as it accepts whatever is strewn on it. So, I hastened to raise you properly before your heart hardens up and your mind becomes occupied…
Since I feel for your affairs as a compassionate father should feel, and I aim at teaching and disciplining you, I thought it should be at a time when you are advancing in age and new on the stage of this world, possessing upright intention and a clean heart. Therefore, I should begin with the teaching of the book of Allah the Exalted and its interpretation, along with the laws of Islam and its commands with its lawful and unlawful matters.”2
277. Imām al-Sādiq (a.s.) said: “Leave your son alone until he becomes six years old, then have him accompany you and discipline him with your own discipline. If he accepts it and improves, that is good, otherwise let him be.”3
278. Imām al-Sādiq (a.s.) said: “A boy must be left to play for seven years, taught the Qurān for seven years and must learn the lawful and the unlawful for seven years.”4
1.. Sharh Nahj al-Balāghah, vol. ۲۰, p. ۳۴۳, h. ۹۳۷.
2.. Nahj al-Balāghah, Letter ۳۱. Kashf al-Mahajjah, p. ۲۲۲, narrating from ‘Umar ibn Abu al-Miqdām from Imām al-Bāqir (a.s.) from Imām ‘Ali (a.s.). Tuhaf al-‘Uqul, p. ۷۰.
3.. al-Kāfi, vol. ۶, p. ۴۶, h. ۲. Tahdhib al-Ahkām, vol. ۸, p. ۱۱۱, h. ۳۷۹. Both narrating from Yunus ibn Ya‘qub.
4.. al-Kāfi, vol. ۶, p. ۴۷, h. ۳, Tahdhib al-Ahkām, vol. ۸, p. ۱۱۱, h. ۳۸۰. Both narrating Ya‘qub ibn Sālim.
