Muslim Teens: Today’s Worry,
Tomorrow’s Hope

Ekram and Mohamed R. Beshir
Beltsville MD: Amana Publications, 2001. 253 pages.

This is the second book on parenting by the husband-and-wife team of Dr.
Ekram and Mohamed R. Beshir. Muslim Teens addresses an issue of deep
concern to all Muslim parents: how to keep one’s children on the “straight
path” when they reach the turbulent years of adolescence. The authors are
professionals who have raised four daughters in Canada. Their daughters,
now adults, have contributed to the book with insights from a teen’s point
of view, based upon their own experiences of growing up Muslim in North
America.

The first two chapters draw a picture of teens and their environment.
Drawing on Ekram’s background in medicine and child psychology, these
chapters describe the turbulent nature of puberty and the physical and emo-
tional growing pains experienced by teenagers. The second chapter also
gives an overview of North American teen culture,  which should be
required reading for all immigrant parents raising children in a culture that
can be viewed as largely antithetical to Islam.

Chapters 3 to 6 provide a “road map” for raising teens and presents an
overview of the aims and stages of Islamic tarbiyah (education, upbring-
ing). They advise parents to start early and state that both parents should
share a common vision of childrearing and set clear goals, such as spiri-
tual conviction (not just knowledge of Islam) and enabling teens to devel-
op strong and confident personalities. These chapters contain extensive
quotations from the Qur’an and Sunnah to support what the authors say,
thus enabling readers to gain a solid overview of parenting from an Islamic
perspective. The authors also take some basic Islamic principles of social

156 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 20:1



interaction (e.g., controlling anger and not using offensive nicknames) and
apply them within the context of the family.

Chapters 7 and 8 contain case studies of possible situations between fam-
ilies and teens. Readers are encouraged to write out answers to the questions
asked, preferably with their spouses, and then compare their responses to
those given by the authors. The authors use this tool in their parenting work-
shops. Chapter 9 provides tools, ideas, and detailed suggestions on organiz-
ing school and nonschool events and sample letters that parents can use as
models for their own letters to teachers about various issues (e.g., non-partic-
ipation in certain school activities). The book ends on an upbeat note, with an
account in chapter 10 written by one of their daughters on some positive
experiences of growing up as a Muslim in Canada (e.g., dealing successfully
with hostile teacher attitudes or organizing an Eid party for school friends).

This is a very positive book, and one of its most attractive features is
that it is obviously a family effort, produced by a family that has success-
fully raised committed Muslim children in the North American environ-
ment. The input of their daughters, who “survived” public school, is of par-
ticular interest and is very encouraging for other Muslim parents. However,
since the authors themselves note that more Muslim boys than girls tend to
stray, it would have been extremely useful to provide accounts of young
men who grew up in North America and either stayed within or returned to
the fold. Authentic voices from young Muslim men would be of great inter-
est to parents seeking to raise teenage Muslim boys.

A few technical points also merit discussion. Throughout the book, the
authors refer to the “prophet” with a lower-case “p.” It is obvious from the
authors’ background and the context that no disrespect is intended, but to this
reviewer at least, it seems inappropriate, based on the rule that a capital “P”
should be used as a sign of respect. The authors use an idiosyncratic system
of transliteration: “at-Termithy” instead of “al-Tirmidhi” and “Abu Zarr”
instead of “Abu Dharr.” The transliteration reflects colloquial Arabic usage
rather than correct classical Arabic. This could be rectified by following one
of the standard transliteration systems, such as that adopted by IIIT. There
are also occasional misspellings and odd usages of English. These are all
matters that could have been avoided through better editing.

The book would have benefited from a more detailed list of contents
and an index so that readers could easily access specific information. On
the whole, however, this book is a valuable resource for Muslim parents,
especially immigrants who may be unfamiliar with the issues faced by their
teens, and for convert parents striving to give their children an Islamic

Book Reviews 157



upbringing. The fact that the book is based on experience, and is not just a
theory of how to raise children Islamically, is particularly valuable. It may
be recommended for parents, teachers, youth workers, and anyone else who
is concerned about the well-being of Muslim youth.

Huda Khattab
Author and Translator

Toronto, Canada

158 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 20:1