Interpretation of Al-Qur’an to Parenting Style Typology: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Family is the smallest unit of a society but it has a very important role for the development of children personality. This is reflected in how parents behave, interact and treat their children that all is summarized in parenting styles. The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of family and parenting style typologies in the non-Islamic and Islamic perspective and to compare between the Quranic perspective and the non-Islamic worldviews. The results show that the concept of family in western perspective on parenting styles is influenced by external conditions so that every family has diversities of parenting styles. While the concept of the family in Islamic perspective started from the roles of family outlined by Islam which is not influenced by external conditions but it is more affected by religious understandings. Meanwhile, the parenting style typology in non-Islamic perspective refers to two dimensions; warmth / affection and demands / parental controls, therefore there are four types of parenting styles; authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and neglect. Each style has a different effect on the output of the child. While typology of parenting style in Islamic perspective starts from the goal of fostering families; to save the family, including children from the hell and keep fitrah possessed child from birth. From this view, it leads two types of parenting style in Islamic version; caring style (toward goal of fostering family) and indifferent parenting style (ignoring the goal of fostering the family in educating children). The comparison between both worldviews is if parenting style in non-Islamic perspective is only oriented to the pursuit of happiness and family harmony in the world, while the parenting style in Islamic perspective is not only to achieve happiness and family harmony in the world but also in the hereafter, so that happiness sought is metaphysical and eternal.