Islam indeed gives great importance to bringing up and correctly educating children, and this begins BEFORE the creation of the child and its being brought into this world. So attention is paid to this when the first brick of the Muslim family is laid - indeed before that even, and attention is given to it even before the child’s parents marry, and likewise when their marital connection begins. So the father is directed to choose a good mother for his children to take care of the nest which they are to grow up in, and in whose shade they will begin their development - upon the foundation and according to the criterion of the Deen and its manners. The Messenger (SAW) said to that father and for others in this regard:
"So marry the religious woman (otherwise) may your hands be covered in dust." (Bukhari and Muslim)
Furthermore, the fathers and mothers are directed to another great matter and a noble supplication of the Prophet (SAW) having great importance and a far reaching effect upon the future of the new-born child and in protecting him from the whispers of every Shaitan, this direction is his (SAW) saying:
If one of you, when he has intercourse with his wife says: "In the name of Allah. O Allah protect us from Satan and protect whatever You bestow us with from Satan." Then if it is destined that they will have a child through that, then Satan will never be able to harm him." (Bukhari and Muslim)
So fathers should TAKE NOTE OF THIS NOBLE PROPHETIC ADVICE which contains a protection for our children, and a shield for them from the harm of every Shaitan.
We have seen the care and attention given by Islam to the child even before its creation in its mother’s womb and here we see how this care and attention continues with a unique chain of attention, and from this is the care and attention given to it during its mother’s pregnancy. So Islam has called upon the pregnant woman to give importance to preserving her own health, since in her health and bodily well-being lies the well-being of the child in her womb, so that the child emerges sound in body and mind - of benefit to its parents and the Ummah. For this end, the pregnant woman is freed from the obligation to fast in Ramadan - if it will cause harm to the fetus - and she is instructed to fast later or to give food to the poor instead. We find this in his (SAW) saying:
"Allah has remitted half the Prayer to the traveler, and Fasting to the traveler, the woman breast-feeding and the pregnant." (Abu Dawud, Al-Tirmidhi and An-Nasaee)
Along with this she has been urged and encouraged to use medicine and medical treatment when necessary and to take care of herself when pregnant, we can understand this from the previous Hadith and from the generality of hi (SAW) saying:
"Worshippers of Allah, use medical treatments." (Ahmad)
So these are instructions relating to the health and well-being of the fetus, and there are also instructions relating to its future and correct growth and upbringing. From these is that the mother supplicates for the well-being and righteousness of the child in her womb and to ask Allah (SWT) to bless and grant him/her guidance - just as she did on the day when the father planted his seed within her, by saying:
"O Allah protect us from Satan, and protect whatever You bestow us with from Satan." (Bukhari and Muslim)
The woman also says this du’a and it is not particular to the man alone. She does this because she is the child’s mother and the supplication of the mother for her child is answered as occurs in this Hadith:
"There are three supplications that are answered - there being no doubt about it: the supplication of the oppressed, the supplication of the traveler, and the supplication of the parent for his child." (Ibn Majah and others)
So, O Muslim mother, you should supplicate a great deal to Allah (SWT) - the One free from all imperfections - for the fetus in your womb, asking Him to make pregnancy and the birth easy, and to make him/her righteous, and to protect him/her from Shaitan, and to make him/her a blessing for this Ummah and one of Allah’s (SWT) righteous servants. Then, when the time of the birth arrives - with the distress and pain which it involves - she should turn to Allah (SWT) earnestly supplicating before Him that He should remove her distress and make the birth easy - since He is the One having full power and fully able to do that, as occurs in His saying:
"Then He makes the Path easy for him." (‘Abasa 80:20)
And she should call with the supplication of the one in distress:
"O Allah, I beseech Your Mercy, so do not leave me to my own self for even the blink of an eye, and correct for me all my affairs, none has the right to be worshipped but You." (Abu Dawud and Ibn Hibbaan)
And Allah (SWT) - the One free from all imperfections - has taken upon Himself that He will answer the supplication of all in distress as He says:
"Is not He (better than your gods) Who responds to the distressed one, when he calls Him, and Who removes the evil…" (An-Naml 27:62)
Then when the child is brought into the light of this world she should greet it as the mother of Maryam (RA) greeted her daughter when she was born:
"…I seek refuge with You (Allah) for her and for her offspring from Satan, the outcast." (Al-Imran 3:36)
And then if she finds that the child is complete and sound in its body she should praise Allah (SWT) much since this is the true blessing, not whether it is a male of a female as many people think. Therefore, our mother Aisha (RA) when a child was born in her family would not ask whether it was a boy or a girl, rather she would ask:
"Is it complete and sound?" So if she was told that it was, she would say: "All praise and thanks are for Allah, Lord of all Creation." (Al-Bukhari)
Information From Manners of Welcoming the New Born Child in Islam
By Yoosuf ibn ‘Abdullaah Al-‘Areefee
Translated by Aboo Talhah Daawood ibn Ronald Burbank