Allah 
informs us of the commandments of Luqman to his son, not just to be a mere piece of information or knowledge, but to be an unerring methodology which has great upbringing guidelines for many aspects in life. Such methodology highlights the great responsibility of bringing up children and a heavy obligation which requires advice, knowledge, understanding and insight.
Thus, it is worthy for every parent, teacher and educator to stop by such commandments and equip themselves with its wisdom and indications, so they can bring up children according to insightful wisdom and knowledge of the religion of Allah .
The commandments of Luqman to his son were gentle sermons and flowing words that came in the style of a preaching mentor. We shall summarize them in the following order:
- Warning against associating partners to Allah :
This was the first thing Luqman commanded his son with, as mentioned in the following Qur’anic verse,
“And when Luqman said to his son while he was instructing him, “O my son, do not associate [anything] with Allah. Indeed, association [with him] is great injustice.” (Luqman, 31:13)
Fathers are required to raise their children with firm knowledge of the Oneness of Allah as the Lord of worlds, and warn them from associating partners with Him.
- The command of honoring one’s parents:
“And We have enjoined upon man [care] for his parents. His mother carried him, [increasing her] in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years. Be grateful to Me and to your parents; to Me is the [final] destination. But if they endeavor to make you associate with Me that of which you have no knowledge, do not obey them but accompany them in [this] world with appropriate kindness and follow the way of those who turn back to Me [in repentance]. Then to Me will be your return, and I will inform you about what you used to do.” (Luqman, 31:14-15)
If children understood the importance of honoring their parents and obeying them, upbringing is bound to be successful in sha Allah.
- Being grateful to Allah:
This is derived from the previous verse, when Allah says the meaning of “Be grateful to Me”, as upbringing ones children on being grateful to Allah is of highest importance, because the one who is not grateful to Allah is never satisfied with anything, and their life is filled with worries and distress.
- Acknowledging that Allah is All seeing and All Hearing:
“[And Luqman said], “O my son, indeed if wrong should be the weight of a mustard seed and should be within a rock or [anywhere] in the heavens or in the earth, Allah will bring it forth. Indeed, Allah is Subtle and Acquainted.”(Luqman, 31:16)
- Establishing prayer:
“O my son, establish prayer, enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and be patient over what befalls you. Indeed, [all] that is of the matters [requiring] determination.”(Luqman, 31:17)
Ibn ‘Ashoor said, “Luqman moved from teaching his son the fundamentals of Creed to teaching the fundamentals of righteous deeds, beginning with establishing prayers, to submit to Allah with praise and prayer in specific times, due to his knowledge that prayer is the pillar of righteous deeds as it includes the admittance of obedience to Allah and asking His guidance to further righteous deeds.” 
- Ordering virtue and forbidding vice:
This is also mentioned in the previous verse. Abu Ashoor said, “Ordering virtue includes all righteous deeds in general, forbidding evil requires avoiding all evil deed. They also require for the one who orders them to initiate ordering good deeds and forbidding evil from themselves first, because the one who does so already knows what good such deeds bring and how evil deeds reflect from corruption.”
Ash-sha’rawi said, “Faith and the completeness of faith is to love for your brother what you love for yourself, thus be occupied after completing establishment of your prayer with ordering virtue and forbidding evil, because when you establish prayer, you have completed a righteous deed in yourself, and when ordering virtue and forbidding evil, you transfer completeness to others, and in such is the perfection of faith, because when you order virtue and forbid vice, you do it not out of favor to others, but you are doing a deed that brings goodness and blessings to yourself, thus finding relief, tranquility and self satisfaction. You have accomplished obligations where others failed and slacked, and it is without doubt that when others commit to Allah’s path is a relief in itself for you, otherwise the whole of community will suffer with such few who are away from the path of Allah .”
- Patience:
Luqman said to his son, “…and be patient over what befalls you” mentioned in the previous verse as well. To educate on patience is a great deal. Ibn Ashoor said, “Followed by ordering virtue and forbidding vice, Luqman orders his son with patience, knowing that ordering virtue and forbidding vice requires patience as well, due to the hostility it may bring from some people or even some harm, and so, if such people were not patient from what is inflicted upon them from harm due to calling to virtue and forbidding evil , then it is more likely that they would leave such righteous deeds and the benefit of patience with great reward is compromised.”
- Warning against arrogance and ego:
From the commandments of Luqman to his son is to avoid arrogance and self-delusion.
“And do not turn your cheek [in contempt] toward people and do not walk through the earth exultantly. Indeed, Allah does not like everyone self-deluded and boastful.” (Luqman, 31:18)
Here, Luqman teaches his son the ethics of dealing with people, forbidding him from despising and belittling people and priding himself above them, which requires from him to show his equality to people and consider himself as one of them.
- Being moderate in pace and talk:
“And be moderate in your pace and lower your voice; indeed, the most disagreeable of sounds is the voice of donkeys.” (Luqman, 31:19)
Ibn Ashoor said about this verse, “After clarifying the ethics of dealing with people, he followed it with the good ethics of dealing with one’s own self, and those ethics come within walking and talking, because they are the most clear of what comes out as a result from the individual’s inner ethics.”
Such commandments are great educational guidelines from a father to his son, and there are many other verses related to child upbringing and education, such as the story of Zachariah 
with Maryam, and the stories of Moses .
If every father were to implement such matters in upbringing their children, after praying to Allah to provide them with a righteous off-spring, it will have success in sha Allah. We know that as humans, we have no ability to guide whom we love because it is Allah who guides whom He Wills. An example of this could be seen in the case of Prophet Noah when he addressed his son.
“And Noah called to his son who was apart [from them], “O my son, come aboard with us and be not with the disbelievers.[But] he said, “I will take refuge on a mountain to protect me from the water.” [Noah] said, “There is no protector today from the decree of Allah, except for whom He gives mercy.” And the waves came between them, and he was among the drowned.”(Hud, 11:42-43)
Therefore, I pray and ask Allah to turn our affairs towards what pleases Him and what He loves, to make our children righteous so they abide the Qur’an and Sunnah, and to guide the fathers who neglect upbringing of their children or those who are bringing them up through the wrong means.
Please share what lessons you’ve learned from this article in the comments section below. 🙂
58 replies on “Guidelines from Luqman (‘Alaihi-salaam)”
Comment
Inspiring and educative but i need a clarification.Was Luqman a Prophet?
Assalamu alaikom sister,
Jazaaki Allahu khairan for your read. As for your inquiry, majority of scholars said that Luqman was a wise man, and only few scholars said that indeed he was a prophet. Jazaaki Allahu khairan for raising up the point, edit has been implemented.
Actually there is different views among scholars as whether he is prophet or just a righteous servant. And the later opinion seems to be more acceptable. Allah knows the best.
no luqman was not a prophet and was a black african ordinary man. Allah ( s.w) liked his advice to his son and included it in the quraan which shows the most honoured of us is who is most God fearing. وبالله التوفيق
assalam alaikum,from my understanding luqman was not a prophet and i stand to be corrected
Jazakallahu kheiran brother cz the article has a paragraph that called luqman prophet luqman.. Jazakallahu kheiran
Luqman not a prophet, but one of the righteous servant of Allah
Assalamu alaikom,
Jazaakom Allahu khairan for the note. And yes, majority of scholars ruled that he was not a prophet, although some scholars do say he was. Will do the needful to edit in sha Allah.
Wassalamu alaikom
Wa alaikom Assalam,
JAzaaka Allahu khairan for the note. Yes, majority of scholars ruled that he was not a prophet, but a wise man, although some scholars also said that he was indeed a prophet.
Will do the needful to edit in sha Allah.
Wassalamu alaikom
..alhamdullilah brother for your contribution. May Allah bless you.
Alhamdulellah wa jazaaka Allahu khairan for reading. I pray that Allah grant you and your loved ones Jannatul firdaws, and give you the ability to forgive those who have wronged you.
Wassalamu alaikom wa rahmato Allahi wa barakatoh
Jazak Allah Khaier. Luqmans life has always been one of my favorite ones mentioned in the Quran. InshaAllah when Allah blesses me with kids, I will name one of them Luqman. Ameen
Khairan jazaak, alhamdulellah, may Allah grant you righteous off-spring.
Indeed very true, today’s most of conflict between parents and their children due to bad/lack of good upbringing which ultimately results into discord so much that children after growing up abandon their parents! My ALLAH SWT protect n guide us all ameen
Ameen ameen, jazaaka Allahu khairan for your read and comment, may Allah grant you the best of both worlds.
Wassalamu alaikom wa rahmato Allahi wa barakatoh
Thank very much may Allah be with us all
Jazaaka Allahu khairan for reading and may Allah grant us all the best of this world and the hereafter.
Jazak Allahu Khayran
Very educative article
Wa khairan jazaaki sister for reading and commenting. May Allah increase our knowledge and facilitate for us to benefit others with what is good and makes them close to their Lord.
Jazakallahu Khairan
Assalamu alaikom,
Wa khairan jazaakom for having the time to read it.
I Like it
Assalamu alaikom,
Alhamdulellah, I am glad that you did, and I ask Allah that you benefit from it.
[…] source: http://blog.islamiconlineuniversity.com/guidelines-from-luqman-alaihi-salaam/ […]
We must be so much grateful to allah there is none worthy of worship except allah all powerful omnipotent
Jazakumullahu khairan. Educative and enlightening write-up indeed. I would like to prepare a sermon in our local masjid based on the issues raised in this article in sha Allah. Jazakumullahu khairan.
Wa khairan jazaak brother, may Allah assist you in this task and able you to bring benefit to your community.
Jazakallahu Khairan. Very beautiful in depth meanings of the verses. Thank you.I’ll try my best to implement this for my self and in future for my Offspring Insha Allah
Wa khairan jazaak brother Imran,
May Allah assist you in implementing them and grant you the righteous off-spring which brings comfort to your heart and eyes.
Salamu alaikum warahmatullah
Jazakumllahu Allahu khairan brother
I have read this before but Alhadullillah I understand it well now .
May Allah bless us and grand us jannah
Ameen
Wa alaikom Assalaam,
Alhamdulellah, and jazaaki Allahu khairan for taking the time to read it, may Allah give you its benefit in this life and its fruits in the Hereafter.
Thanks for this nice article may Allah bless you and us with mercy and grant us jannatul ferdous
Jazaaka Allahu khairan for your read and comment, I pray that Allah gather all of us and our off-spring in jannatul ferdous.
Jazaakumullahu khairan.
Wa khairan jazaak brother
Alhamdulilah for sharing this beneficial blog . As a mother of 6 years old boy and living in west , I really need to insert this teaching of Luqman to his son and your blog sumplified thing that easy for me to teach my son and he would accept it it..Insya Allaah…
Jazaakom Allahu khairan reading and commenting, I pray that Allah grant you the righteous off-spring which brings comfort to your heart and eyes. May Allah assist you in instilling great islamic values in them to benefit the ummah at large.
thanks for d article, may Allah give us offspring among the righteous one
Jazaaka Allahu khairan for taking the time to read it brother, may Allah grant you and your loved ones righteous off-spring that brings comfort to your heart and eyes.
Salamualekum, I Appreciate Allah Through You And Your Effort In Posting This Amazing Article. May Allah Continue To Strengthen You And Continue To Guide Us All To The Straight Path. Amin And Jazakallah Khair
Jazaak Allahu kheyran it is very interesting and educative article may Allah grant you his mercy
Wa khairan jazaaki sister for taking the time to read it. may Allah grant you righteous off-spring that brings comfort to your heart and eyes.
Assalam alaikum ,
jazakAllah for the reminders. Sime more tips we require on how to apply when we are single parenting or how to guide them in joint family system . The house is exposed to everything. How can we apply to children when they are exposed at home to shirk members not praying. Fahasha loud noise arrogance etc
Wa alaikom assalam sister, wa khairan jazaaki for your read and comment.
In sha Allah, will do another post about these issues in the near future as it is an important subject and is faced by many muslims in the world. Jazaaki Allahu khairan for shedding light on the matter, will do my best to have something ready soon.
May Allah reward you abundantly Amin. The article is inspirational.
Alhamdulellah and jazaaki Allahu khairan for taking the time to read it, may Allah enable us to benefit the ummah at large.
It is beneficial advice. jazaakumullahu Khaira
Khairan jazaak brither Aref, may Allah grant you the best of both worlds.
Jazakallah Sheikh… Luqman in fact is the wisest man ever lived as Allah said in Holy Quran, not Einstein as scientists say. In fact Quran is the guiding book for success in this world and hereafter,here in this blog some Aayets of Surah Luqmaan are nicely explained,need of hour is to follow and practice them so that we can reach the path of success ie SIRATUL MUSTAQEEM.
Alhamdulellah, jazaaka Allahu khairan for taking the time to read it brother Javed, may Allah grant us guidance and steadfastness on the straight path until we meet Him.
Marshaa Allah very touching and educative. May Allah make us amongst the followers to His instructions Ameen
Ameen Ameen, jazaakom Allahu khairan for taking thr time to read and comment.
Jazalallah khairan very informative article very much needed at this time, will try to implement inshallah may allah help all parents to bring up their children’s as lukman (as)
Khairan jazaakom, and may Allah assist you in implementing such steps and grant you righteous off-spring, may He grant you, your loved ones and all your off-spring jannatul ferdous.
Mashaa Allah , my kids are working on learning surat Luqman :).. May such ayats bring wisdom and knowledge to their hearts and to all Kids of the Ummah ..Jazak Allah Khairan
alhamdulillah! may we be the best to our parents and soon become a good parents to believing offspring, in sha Allah.
thank you for this significant piece 🙂
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