A summary of the concepts held by the Ahl al-Sunnah.
The contradiction between the environments that influence upbringing.
If one of the influential environmental factors—
such as the home, for instance—is Islamic, while all other factors are jahili (pre-Islamic/ignorant)—
such as the street, the school, the media, or society at large—
then the educational process will become difficult.
The educator will need to exert double the effort to remove the traces of this jahiliyyah.
This is undoubtedly a dilemma.
For if you isolate the child from society,
you will cause psychological stuntedness in their character.
And if you let them go free,
they will return to you every day muddied by impurities.
So, what is the solution?
You may succeed in somewhat limiting interaction with this society,
but there is no choice but to live within it and interact with it.
There are no magical solutions.
Necessary interaction is unavoidable,
along with the daily, arduous, and exhausting cleansing process for both the educator and the child.
This cleansing may succeed completely, or it may not.
But in any case,
it will mitigate the filth of this jahiliyyah,
and erase some of its effects from the child’s soul.
The child may find themselves confused between your Islamic values and concepts upon which you are raising them,
and the deviant, prevalent jahili behavior in society.
At that point, the educator has no choice
but to exert double the effort
to remove these negative effects as much as possible.
“So keep your duty to Allah as best ye can, and listen, and obey, and spend; that is better for your souls. And whoso is saved from his own greed, such are the successful.” (64:16)
Then, one must offer intensive supplication that Allah protects the youth from misguidance and trials,
and guides them to the straight path.