Parents are always looking for a trick to get children to pray. While a “trick” doesn’t exist, here are five things we recommend you try.

1. Make du’a.

Success is from Allah alone. Talk to Allah about your concern for your child, how you want their heart to be opened towards prayer, and ask Him to bless your efforts.

2. Lead by example.

If you want your child to pray, they’re going to look to you first as the example. Are you praying all five prayers? Do you pray as soon as you can, or do you wait until the last possible minute? Are you excited to pray, or do you see it as a chore?

3. Ask them to pray with you.

If there are prayers throughout the day where you are with your child, ask them to pray with you. Even if it’s one prayer a week, they’ll feel special standing next to you, and will look forward to that time together.

4. Encourage them to reflect.

The beauty of Islam is that we are encouraged to learn, ask questions, and reflect. Spend some time with your child reflecting on why we pray and the different parts of prayer. An example is reflecting on why we bow and prostrate. Ask them to think about who we are bowing and prostrating towards, and what our body language in those moments communicates.

5. Teach them to love Allah by learning about Him.

Every Muslim will say that they love Allah, but you can’t love someone you don’t know. Spend some time with your child to learn about Allah through stories from the Qur’an. You can also reflect on His names, His attributes, and how amazing it is that we get to stand in front of Him in prayer.

May Allah bless your efforts, and may He make us all among those who love to pray!

Do you have other pieces of advice parents would find helpful? Leave them in the comments below.