As salamu ‘alaykum…

Thank you for your question, sister. It must be a very difficult time for your family, indeed. It’s a very good question, also, and needs to be handled delicately. Nevertheless, I always believe that honesty is always the best policy, especially with young people. My fear from your choice of action is what happens if and when, whether now or in the future, your kids DO find out the truth. Then, what will they think of their father and religion? Probably much worse things than they would think now if you told them. And you would be part of that big cover-up as well. Islam is about truth, honesty and understanding. I think you need to tell your kids the truth – that their father made a bad mistake – something that all human beings do. The point of religion is not to make false claims to perfection and pretend to be something that we’re not. Rather, it’s about being authentic and striving to increase our level of authenticity every day.

I think you need to find a way to explain what has happened to your children in a way that they can understand, just as the Prophet (SAW) taught us. Don’t lie to them, but tell them that their father made some bad choices, and now he’s paying for them here in this world, but insha-Allah, through repentence (tawbah), Allah will forgive him for what he has done. It is the same story for all of us, really. We all sin and therefore we all need tawbah every day. That is why the Prophet (SAW) himself made tawbah 70 times a day, and then encouraged us to do the same. Allah loves our repentence. He loves hearing us turning to Him for help and repent – that is one of the greatest forms of glorification, to turn to our Lord and beg for His forgiveness after committing sins. Then, Allah, in all His greatness and forgiveness can show us how merciful He is by forgiving us, insha-Allah. Thus, sins are never something we want, or should wish for in any way, but they too have a divine wisdom to them that we cannot understand completely. One of their functions, however, is to facilitate forgiveness and the manifestation of Allah as the Most Forgiving.

So, these are the types of things that you can teach your children through the experience of your husband’s misstep. Another very important aspect to true tawbah is the determination never to commit the sin again. That is something that your husband will have to work on, and find in himself the strength to not fall into the sin he committed again. Insha-Allah with your children privy to what has happened, it can help to motivate your husband to avoid these behaviors in the future.

In the end, there are certainly risks in telling your kids the truth, but I would not fear or shy away from letting them in on that truth. Truth is part and parcel to Islam, and although it may sting at first, in the long run it is the best course of action to be truthful in the family. Family secrets are highly unhealthy and always lead to problems down the road. Accept the truth now, and work on how to deal with it and communicate it with your kids. Focus on what can be learned from the situation and how everyone in the family can help the father to turn his life around for the better…

For further guidance, please try the following link(s):

Away from a non-Muslim Father
Interview With a Former Drug Addict
Parent-Child Relationship
The Importance of the Father