Estimated reading time: 16 minute(s)
by Fudia Muhammad
@GiveBirthToAGod
According to demographers,the majority of the world’s population believes in God, a Supreme Being; or at least recognizes that there is a Power greater than themselves. Those believers choose to connect to that Source through some form of prayer, supplication or meditation. While rituals and practices vary, from religion to religion and culture to culture, there is a unique commonality – praying or connecting to that Source before going to sleep. Our head – thoughts and mental state – guide the body. So, praying before bed soothes the mind and spirit which calms the body making it easier to settle into rest. Those who pray before bed not only sleep better; but they suffer less from anxiety, depression, stress, anger,and even physical pain. Studies show that people who pray before bed are generally happier individuals. While there is no substitute for prayer, similar effects are found in children who have consistent nighttime routines that include bedtime stories.
Children need reliable structures and practices, which include a sound sleep pattern. As much as they may try to delay bedtime, if children do not get adequate sleep they will not function well. Establishing a bedtime routine that includes a bedtime story does not only give children a reason to look forward to getting ready for bed, but it provides an opportunity for parents to bond with their children while simultaneously cementing a love for reading and imparting jewels of wisdom. Children absolutely love it when their parents read to them aloud!It’s best to begin this bedtime tradition in early infancy and not to abandon it too soon. It has proven beneficial for parents to continue reading aloud to their children up to age 10 or 11. At this age, the benefit goes beyond preparing for sleep, but the parent is also modeling reading with prosody (rhythm/intonation) and fluency for their child.
Planning to read ten to fifteen minutes before bedtime goes a long way. It is a wonderful opportunity for our children to wind down while learning at the same time. A little study at bedtime is so important that Our Saviour, W. D. Fard Muhammad mentioned it in one of the 13 instructions given to the laborers. In His 8th instruction, it reads, “ENGLISH LESSON NO. C1: Spelling must be used by all Muslim girls and mothers to their children for Bedtime Study; also, in regular Courses. Muslim girls must get away from reading that Devil’s Bedtime Story to their children.”
Mother Tynnetta Muhammad said that English Lesson No. C1 should be read to our children as a bedtime story, helping them to separate truth from falsehood in everything they see and do. She wrote, “Our true bedtime story, as contained in English Lesson Number C1, reveals the identity of Christ as manifested in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad coming under a disguise in His Divine Mission of the Resurrection of His dead people. So, our bedtime story is to awaken our children and our families from a deep sleep that has lasted thousands of years on our planet under the dominion of the White man’s rule.”
English Lesson No. C1 consists of 36 lines – these sentences are written in the form of a conversation or dialogue. The lesson is a series of questions and answers which explain the plight of the Black man and woman in North America. It opens with an introduction by the Saviour and continues on to discuss how long we have been in North America and who brought us here. This lesson reveals our divine nature of righteousness and explains our insane attachment to our open enemy. It goes on to give our population count (at the time of the writing) and that of others. It also explains how the enemy managed to trick us by offering false promises and then kept us separated from our brothers and sisters in Africa. All of that and more is written in simple rhythmic language that our babies can easily absorb, read, memorize and understand.
English Lesson No. C1 is part of a larger body of knowledge that if understood provides a level of immunity against the madness our children encounter daily in the form of white supremacy. In Closing the Gap, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said, “We live in America. We have no other nation to go to. We live in the world leader. We pull whatever we can and filter it through the placenta, or the blood of The Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, that forms around us as a protection for us. What we draw from this satanic mother is filtered through this screening system called Actual Facts; Student Enrollment; Lesson No. 1; Lesson No. 2; the Problem Book and English Lesson #C1. The wisdom in these Lessons is the filter, so that through this filter we can take what we need from the larger system, as we develop our own system, hopefully somewhat free of that which is corrupting and destroying the larger system or body.”
We are instructed to get away from reading the Devil’s bedtime stories to our children. The Devil is God’s natural enemy; they are polar opposites. How can our children grow to become like God if they are nursing and feeding on the Devil’s diet? His bedtime stories and nursery rhymes are filled with lies, fantasy, fairy tales, fabrications, impossibilities,and falsehoods. Falsehood destroys the beauty of a brain that was created to think rightly. God’s bedtime story is 100% truth – supreme wisdom from the Supreme Being. Our children should fall asleep while having God and truth on the mind so that one day they will become masters of truth.
(Sister Fudia Muhammad is a member of Muhammad Mosque No. 64 in Austin, Texas. She is married to Student Minister Robert L. Muhammad and they have been blessed with four children. Sister Fudia holds a Master’s degree in Education – she is a writer, an educator and an advocate for God-centered child-rearing.)
