🌿 Comfort of Our Eyes…

A Khutbah for Jayden-Lee and Every Child We Couldn’t Save

By Adli Yacubi

“Our Lord! Grant us from our spouses and offspring the comfort of our eyes, and make us leaders for the righteous.”
— Surah Al-Furqān (25:74)

🕯️ Khutbah Part One: The Dignity of Children in the Eyes of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم

All praise is due to Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Just.
We bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad ﷺ is His servant and final Messenger. May peace and blessings be upon him, his family, his companions, and all who walk in his light.

Today, I want to speak not to power, nor to politics —
but to something more vulnerable, more sacred:
the hearts of our children.

Too often in our mosques and gatherings, we speak about parents, or we speak to the youth,
but we rarely speak for the child — the one still learning how to speak,
the one still waiting to be held, seen, protected.

The Prophet ﷺ saw children not as a nuisance,
not as future workers, not as sinners-in-waiting —
but as mirrors of mercy.

He ﷺ played with children.
He kissed them on their foreheads.
He carried Hasan and Husain on his shoulders, even during salah.
He lengthened his sujūd because his grandson was sitting on his back —
and he didn’t want to disturb the child’s joy.

He ﷺ said:

“He is not one of us who does not show mercy to our young and respect to our elders.”
(Tirmidhi)

And when a man said, “I have ten children and have never kissed one of them,”
the Prophet ﷺ replied:

“What can I do if Allah has removed mercy from your heart?”

This is who we are meant to follow.
This is who we claim to love.

So let me ask:
How then did we allow a child — eleven years old — to be beaten in a flat,
left undressed on a staircase,
while his body slowly faded
not far from our schools, not far from our mosques?

Where were we?
Where was the mercy of this ummah?

🙏🏾 Khutbah Part Two: Jayden-Lee Meek and the Silence That Kills

A child named Jayden-Lee Meek was reported missing in May 2025.
He lived in Fleurhof, not far from where I once lived.
He was found unconscious on the stairs of the very building where he stayed.
He died in the hospital.
He was 11.

The latest reports suggest this was no accident.
Not a fall.
Not mischief.
But a beating.
Possibly by someone who should have loved him.
Possibly by someone he trusted to protect him.

And while he was being beaten —
no neighbour intervened.
No one called the police.
And when he was missing —
too many stayed quiet.

And maybe, we tell ourselves this is “not my business.”
Or worse — maybe we’ve come to believe that hitting children is just discipline.

My own daughter once said to me, when she was still in school in Florida:
“Daddy, some parents think it’s normal — to hit with a slipper, a belt, even a fist.”
It shook me.

So when Jayden-Lee was killed, some didn’t see a crime — they saw something “familiar.”
But where is the line?
When does punishment become cruelty?
And how far must it go before we decide it’s “too much”?

The truth is:
The line was crossed the moment mercy was left behind.
The line was crossed the first time we taught our children that pain is a form of love.

And Jayden tried to speak.
At school — Royal College in Florida — classmates say he spoke of hunger.
He said he was often left alone.
He showed bruises.
He said he was scared.

Some of this was reportedly shared with teachers.
Enough for the Gauteng Department of Education to admit:

“There may be some truth to the allegations that the school knew.”

But nothing was done.
The silence wasn’t only at home.
It echoed in the corridors of a place meant to protect him.

So what is the line, if not this?
How many times must a child cry before we believe them?

Ya Allah…
What kind of silence is this?

The Qur’an says:

“And do not kill your children for fear of poverty. We provide for them and for you. Surely killing them is a heinous sin.” Surah Al-Isra (17:31)
“When the girl (or child) buried alive is asked: for what sin was she killed…” Surah At-Takwir (81:8-9)

But what of those children not buried, but beaten?
Not unborn, but unseen?

Who will answer for Jayden?

Who will answer for all the children who suffer in silence —
whose bruises are explained away,
whose cries are dismissed,
whose names we forget until it is too late?

The Prophet ﷺ did not simply tolerate children —
he honoured them.
He treated them as people of dignity, not property.
And he warned us:

“Each of you is a shepherd, and each of you is responsible for your flock.”
(Bukhari, Muslim)

So let us ask again:
Who is responsible for Jayden-Lee?

🤲🏽 Closing Duʻā

O Allah, You are the Protector of the weak.
The Guardian of the orphan.
The Avenger of the oppressed.

Grant Jayden-Lee peace in the next world.
Forgive what he endured in this one.
Do not let his pain return void.
And awaken this ummah — awaken our communities —
before another child suffers in silence.

Let our homes be filled with mercy.
Let our schools be sanctuaries.
Let our masājid echo with the laughter of safe, joyful children.

And let us never forget:
To love a child is a form of worship.
To protect a child is a form of jihad.
To weep for a child is a form of duʻā.

🕯️

Justice for Jayden-Lee Meek.
And justice for every child we were too distracted to see.

🔗 Sources

‘Jayden-Lee’s school knew about abuse’: Gauteng Department of Education investigates allegations, IOL, 16 July 2025.
Jayden-Lee Meek murder: How blood and school books led to his mother’s arrest, IOL, 15 July 2025.
Tiffany Meek faces charges: murder, crimen injuria, and defeating the ends of justice, IOL, 11–15 July 2025.
Hadiths cited: Tirmidhi, Bukhari, Muslim.