Encyclopedia of Islam

approximately 250,000 reFUgees. Though Russia
has claimed victory and has set up a pro-Russia
political administration, they do not control all of
Chechnya, and a war of attrition has continued to
the present.
See also commUnism; central asia and the
caUcasUs; naqshabandi sUFi order.

David Reeves

Further reading: Thomas de Waal and Carlota Gall,
Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus (New York: New
York University Press, 1998); Sebastian Smith, Allah’s
Mountains: The Battle for Chechnya (New York: I.B.
Taurus, 2001).

children
Children are a vital part of society. They embody a
people’s heritage and its future, and although chil-
dren are often expected to contribute to house-
hold tasks and work to support their parents,
families and societies usually invest significant
resources and care in their upbringing, edUcation,
and marriage.
Islamic views of children and childhood are
expressed in religious literature and the sharia,
and they are formed in the lived culture of the
Muslim family and the local community. In gen-
eral, Islamic perspectives on childhood reflect
norms commonly found in patrilineal societies, in
which sons are often favored over daughters. The
qUran teaches that sons and material wealth are
evidence of the favor God has shown to humans,
but it also teaches that such worldly blessings can
divert people from seeking God and the rewards
of the hereafter (Q 17:6; 8:28). On the other hand,
the Quran also teaches that believers be kind to
their parents, speak to them with respect, and
call upon God to bless them for taking care of
them during childhood (Q 17:23–24). The sharia
addresses legal issues concerning children that
are inspired by the ethical message of the Quran.
These include an explicit ban on killing infants,
including girls, and rules concerning adoption

and foster parentage. mUhammad (d. 632) was

orphaned at an early age (Q 93:6), and this very

likely helped make care for orphans and respect

for their rights to property foundational Islamic

values. The Quran instructs believers to do good

to orphans as well as parents and others in need

(Q 4:36), and it promises that those who do not

treat orphans well will be punished in the aFter-

liFe (Q 4:10). Another facet of the sharia protects

the rights of breastfeeding infants and their moth-

ers in event of divorce (Q 2233; 65:6), and it per-

mits resort to the services of wet nurses, following

the example set by Muhammad, who was nursed

by a bedoUin woman in his infancy.

Biographies of famous men and Women have

little to say about their childhood years, but

substantial evidence for medieval Muslim under-

standings of children and childhood can be found

in legal, medical, and ethical literature. These

sources indicate that childhood was recognized as

a distinct stage in the formation of the individual

and that children were fully incorporated into

the moral, legal, intellectual, and emotional life

of medieval Islamicate societies. They recognized

that children had their own distinct personalities

and abilities, which form in the period between

birth and puberty. How a child has been cared

Three generations of an American Muslim family ( Juan

E. Campo)

K 136 children