Therefore, if you don't know an answer, don't guess! Just admit your
ignorance and help the child find the truth, but for God’s sake, please don't
tell him or her to shut up and stop asking questions! The child is seeking
knowledge for knowledge’s sake in a subconscious but inherently compulsive
effort to comfort their souls with truth; and we must remember that the child
bears no sense of morality or sin as yet, because during this age all things
remain pure for well adjusted non-dysfunctional offspring, even if objects of
enquiry are disordered or misunderstood.
But this state of innocence changes drastically at puberty, so that anger and
even rage will surface if the child’s sense of justice is affronted. We see
preterit examples in undisciplined toddlers who seek to manipulate their
parents with tantrums. However, in the adolescent, the rage is clearly
directed towards an individual or group that the child honestly deems unjust.
If forbidden outward expression the anger turns to rage and becomes an
internalized festering wound of passive-aggression (backbiting, etc.). The
child’s soul-pain then requires repeated applications of analgesic in order to
mimic as-Sakkinah, the sense of security and comfort. They will then seek
the companionship of the similarly afflicted for comfort and often in the form
of sexual touching. They form cliques and gangs as familial substitutes and
eventually taunt well adjusted children who fail to conform, even to the point
of abuse and murder.
Dangerous activities often substitute for the pleasure once afforded by
genuine as-Sakkinah , including thrill-seeking and drugs. These behaviors and
sexual touching have similar chemical effects on the pleasure centers of the
hypothalamus in the brain. Hence, the intelligent aspiring adult who
becomes addicted to an illusion of as-Sakkinah , quickly learns to cover
immoral deeds with mockery or ritual hypocrisy as a defense mechanism or in
order to avoid discovery and maintain need fulfillment. Among these types as
adults you will find those who are the most vocal defendants of ritual and
pageantry, which is 'a perfect screen for hypocrisy' (see Q, 63:2-3). In my
opinion, the greater the ritual and decorum so also is the greater the
hypocrisy and conformity to human denial, especially in light of the Sunnah
and Sirah which are filled with simplicity rather than ornate religious
protocols.
On the other hand, some of these children are honest enough to become