Children • Family • Parents • Reflections

"Baba! I want a GPS!" Parental Growing Pains in the Trenches of Childhood

by Suhaib Webb
October 26, 2009
1 min read

Asalamu alaykum,

A few months ago, while speaking to my 6 year old, the following transpired:

Six Year Old: “Bob [Short for Baba]: can you bring me something from America?”

Suhaib: “Sure, insha’Allah. What is it?”

Six Year Old: “I [makes that cool six year old breathing sound between thoughts], I wanna GPS?”

Suhaib:  Thinking “Subhanallah! What have I gotten myself into?”

Six Year Old: “Bob!”

Suhaib: “Yes, yes, okay. Why do you want a GPS?”

Six Year Old: [More cool breathing sounds] “Because I can play with it. I want a GPS!”

Suddenly eight year old yells in the background:

“NOT A GPS! THAT’S THE MAP THING! WE WANT A PSP!”

Six Year Old: “Yeah! Bob! I want a PSP!”

After I arrived to Egypt and met up with the troops, six year old comes to me and says:

“Where’s the GPS?”

Imam Sayid ibn Musayib said, “A father will be raised [his stations with Allah] after his death when his children raise their hands for him [in supplication].”

May Allah protect yours and ours, and make them from the righteous

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About the author

Suhaib Webb

Suhaib Webb is a contemporary American-Muslim educator, activist, and lecturer. His work bridges classical and contemporary Islamic thought, addressing issues of cultural, social and political relevance to Muslims in the West. After converting to Islam in 1992, Webb left his career in the music industry to pursue his passion in education. He earned a Bachelor’s in Education from the University of Central Oklahoma and received intensive private training in the Islamic Sciences under a renowned Muslim Scholar of Senegalese descent. Webb was hired as the Imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, where he gave khutbas (sermons), taught religious classes, and provided counselling to families and young people; he also served as an Imam and resident scholar in communities across the U.S.

From 2004-2010, Suhaib Webb studied at the world’s preeminent Islamic institution of learning, Al-Azhar University, in the College of Shari`ah. During this time, after several years of studying the Arabic Language and the Islamic legal tradition, he also served as the head of the English Translation Department at Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah.

Outside of his studies at Al-Azhar, Suhaib Webb completed the memorization of the Quran in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He has been granted numerous traditional teaching licenses (ijazat), adhering to centuries-old Islamic scholarly practice of ensuring the highest standards of scholarship. Webb was named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in 2010.

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