GIRLS ARE GOLDEN (PART ONE)

Through the lenses of a power couple, Alhaji and Alhaja Alabi, we learn in this story what it means to successfully raise girls. Raising daughters is undoubtedly tough, tougher than raising boys. If women are referred to as “fragile vessels”, what would the girls be? Much more fragile, right? Hence, the need to handle girls with care. As always, and particularly with increasing moral decadence in society today, raising girls requires extra love, care, support, and sacrifice, all of which Alhaji and Alhaja Alabi exemplified in this book.

The couple were blessed with 6 girls – Nabeelah, Zara, Hameedah, Aneesah, Khayrah, and Abidah. In a society where some men feel ashamed for having only girls, Alhaji Alabi was proud of his daughters, doted on them, and tended to their needs. He did not listen to people’s opinions about how “investing heavily in a girl child's education is unnecessary since she would marry into another family and not carry on with the family’s name”. Instead, he invested in and fully supported all his daughters to achieve their dreams. He did not only provide them with Western education, but he also invested heavily in their Islamic education while he and his wife also provided adequate moral and domestic education for the girls. The result was tremendous, but was it all a smooth sail? What challenges did they face as parents? How did they surmount them? How well did the girls heed their parent’s training? Was any of them tempted to carve a different path for herself? How did they all end up? These and many more questions will be answered as you read through the pages of this book.

Girls are Golden is a 3-part book that you would not want to drop until you get to the last word. While the book runs through the life of all six girls, the first and last daughters were the main protagonists into whose lives readers have the privilege of a deep dive. This book is a must-read for every parent, aspiring parent, woman, girl, and lover of girls. It is written in simple language and is appropriate for everyone from teenagers upwards.

As a global development practitioner, I am a stickler for the belief that girls and women have a lot to offer and should be empowered to maximize their potential while not going outside the boundaries set by Islam. In every capacity that we find ourselves, whether as parents, teachers, counsellors, mentors, etc., let us give the girls around us the support and encouragement they need to be better versions of themselves in all areas. That way, they are better Muslimahs, wives, mothers, and impact makers. As it is said, educating a boy is educating an individual but educating a girl is educating a nation. Education here includes all forms of beneficial knowledge including the spiritual. Girls are future mothers and nation-builders, hence, we cannot afford to joke with them.

GIRLS ARE GOLDEN is in 3-part and the 3 books cost 18,000.