for, raised, and educated was thought to have a
direct bearing on his or her physical, mental, and
spiritual growth. Parents were instructed to teach
their children to do all things in moderation,
including good eating habits, since excess was
a source of bodily, psychological, and social ills.
They were also charged with encouraging moral
qualities such as honesty, generosity, and control
of the passions.
Medieval Muslim authors urged parents to
be gentle and compassionate with their children
and to exercise restraint in punishing them for
misbehavior. Of course, parents were expected
to inculcate their children with knowledge about
Islam and the performance of its religious duties,
particularly after the age of seven. A widely held
view was that children were by nature born to be
Muslims but that they learned their religion by
imitating their fathers and teachers. In regard to
their emotional development, children were to be
protected from traumatic experiences, and parents
were advised to comfort them immediately after
any painful or frightening event.
The death of a child, particularly during the
first two years of life, was a reality that many fami-
lies had to face. Common causes of death were
gastrointestinal diseases, malnutrition, famine,
and plagues. Except for extraordinary situations,
Muslim jurists ruled that children were to be
accorded all the formalities of a proper Muslim
burial. Theological texts dealt with the fate of
children in the afterlife, and the deep emotions
caused by the loss of a child inspired authors
to write books and poems in order to comfort
bereaved parents.
Modernization projects launched during the
last 150 years by Western colonial governments
and reform-minded rulers of Muslim lands have
contributed significantly to improving the quality
of life for children in many of those countries. Pri-
mary and secondary schools were opened in cities
and towns, allowing more girls and working-class
children to gain knowledge and skills necessary
to improve their social and economic status. Even
children living in rural areas have gained access to
education, and many have migrated to cities when
schools were lacking in the countryside. Such
changes have enabled many to loosen the bonds of
dependence that linked them to their natal fami-
lies. Better health and nutrition have helped lower
infant mortality rates. Muslim majority countries
in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa consequently
experienced significant population growth in the
latter half of the 20th century. For example, as
infant mortality rates in countries such as egypt,
iran, and bangladesh declined from around 200
per 1,000 in 1955 to around 35 per 1,000 in 2005,
their populations increased dramatically. Egypt’s
population during this period jumped from 23
million to 77.5 million, Iran’s from 19 million to
68 million, and Bangladesh’s from 45.8 million
to 144.4 million. At the same time, the popula-
tions of Muslim-majority countries have grown
increasingly younger, unlike those of Europe and
North America. In Egypt and Bangladesh, 33 per-
cent are under the age of 14, while this number
in Iran is 27 percent (compared to 20 percent in
the United States and 18.4 percent in France).
According to World Bank estimates, 36 percent of
the population in the Middle Eastern and North
African region as a whole is under the age of 15,
compared to 16 percent among the countries of
the European Union.
Although children have often benefited
greatly from the changes modernization has
brought to Muslim-majority countries, they have
also suffered from them. They have become the
innocent victims of the national, regional, and
global conflicts that have shaken countries such
as Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Afghanistan. It
is estimated that 500,000 Iraqi children died as a
result of the economic sanctions leveled against
saddam hUsayn’s government in the 1990s by
the United Nations. On the other hand, radical
Islamic organizations have recruited children
and unemployed youths to serve as fighters or
suicide bombers in some countries. Moreover,
population growth, limited economic resources,children 137 J