Professor Dr. Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Minhaj-ul-Quran International, addressed an intellectual session held at the organization’s central secretariat. In his speech, he emphasized that in order to bring about societal change, one must first begin by changing oneself and one’s home. He said that Minhaj-ul-Quran aims to transform homes into centers of knowledge and worship. In the first phase, 25,000 households will be developed as centers of learning. When homes are established on the foundation of Prophetic (Mustafavi) teachings as places of knowledge, training, and worship, their positive influence will spread throughout society.
He urged parents to become role models for their children and to ensure their upbringing is based on Islamic principles. He explained that upbringing consists of two aspects: one that parents undertake individually at home, and the other provided by the state through educational institutions and the enforcement of laws.
Dr. Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri highlighted that today’s children possess minds, abilities, and processing capabilities far more advanced than previous generations. A child at the age of four now asks questions that might not have occurred to people even at twenty in the past. Therefore, if parents fail to shape their child’s language, behavior, environment, and commitment to truthfulness during the first five years, an ideal generation will never flourish.
He also noted that a child’s upbringing begins in the womb, and modern medical science has proven that a fetus starts responding to its external environment before birth. If the mother speaks the truth, remains in a state of ablution, and regularly recites the Holy Qur’an, these attributes will become part of the child’s moral development.
Dr. Qadri warned against the growing tendency of parents celebrating their children’s adoption of foreign lifestyles, forgetting that this disconnects them from Islamic history, culture, and heritage. He stressed the need for parents to invest effort into every aspect of their child’s development, from language to clothing. A generation cut off from its historical and cultural roots belongs neither here nor there.
Dr. Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri emphasized that every home must be transformed into a center of knowledge and training. Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has envisioned the establishment of 25,000 centers of knowledge across Pakistan. The first phase will focus on developing 25,000 model households, after which the movement will gradually expand. If we truly wish to transform society, the change must begin at home—with ourselves.
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