all praise due to Allah and may Allah's
peace and blessings be on the last
prophet Muhammad sallallah alaihi
wasallam and on all those who follow the
path of righteousness until the last
day the concept of islamization of
knowledge is one which has been
discussed
for the last almost 40
years at least
in the 20th
century where Educators from various
parts of the Muslim world World gathered
in Mecca in the'
70s
and
analyzed the problems
facing Muslims with regards to
education they looked at existing
models and
discussed Islamic
requirements and
they wrote
about the need for
islamization of knowledge as it is
conveyed in the educational
institutions in fact they wrote
virtually an
encyclopedia on this topic and that was
in
the70s since that time
a number
of Islamic schools have
Arisen in Muslim countries in the West
in
particular and those numbers have been
increasing
exponentially till we
have now in the UK US Canada Australia
South
Africa
thousands of Muslim
schools though these
numbers are still not
sufficient to
provide proper education
for the umah of these
areas it is a major effort in that
direction
and there is
no
doubt in the
minds of those who are
knowledgeable that it is the
right of every Muslim
child to be
educated in Muslim educational
institutions that is their right
[Applause]
it is
fundamentally
Haram to put our children
in
non-muslim
schools I know this is
something which a lot of people who have
chosen to immigrate to the West find
very difficult to swallow
but it
is the fact people might have
excuses and perhaps these excuses might
be accepted by Allah and perhaps they
might
not but it is because
education is primarily the
responsibility of
parents it is is primarily to the
responsibility of Muslim parents to
educate their Muslim
children the issue of school is
something which came
along that's why you don't find any
writings from the early generation where
they discuss this point because it
wasn't a point of discussion
the early Scholars of the
past whether it was Imam Malik or IM
Shafi IM sufan Etc you hear them talking
about their
mothers their mothers taught them the
memorization of Quran their mothers
taught
them their mothers taught them
Hadith it
was they were taught in their
homes that was the
norm as schools arose in Muslim
lands naturally those who taught in the
schools were
Muslims so there wasn't any point of
discussion should our children go to
Muslim schools or non-muslim schools
that wasn't a point of
discussion so it is only in our
times after the colonial error Etc where
this has become an
issue and the bottom
line is that every Muslim
child who goes into the
non-muslim educational
system
and whatever Islam they had when they
went
in is
neutralized confused
lost by the time that they graduate
Allah will ask those parents about what
they
did Allah will ask them Prophet Muhammad
wasallam
said each and every one of you is a
Shepherd responsible for his
flock the man is responsible for his
wife and the children of his home the
wife is responsible for the children of
the
home
so
Mas means you will be
asked
accountable so every child who goes
astray destroyed ISL islamically
spiritually by the
system the individual family will be
asked
because for them it was to put the child
or to educate that child islamically it
was far for them then the community as a
whole will be
asked because it is the responsibility
of the
community to establish Islamic
educational
institutions and this is
on the
community if some of the
community undertakes that job Challenge
and establishes the
school then the responsibility is
removed from the West rest that is
if sufficient schools are established to
handle the needs of the Muslim
Community but if they're not
sufficient then the obligation remains
on the
community that is the fact that we live
with a sin which the community
carries for being negligent in this
matter but
for those who are actively involved in
the educational
process we are faced with other
challenges
alhamdulillah in most
cases we have in many parts of the
country today
Muslim schools meaning structures
buildings owned by
Muslims the
administration is
Muslim most of the teachers are Muslim
and the children in the school are
Muslim
however the material which is being
taught and yes we do have Arabic on the
curriculum and we also have Islamic
Studies on the curriculum
but the majority of the material which
is being
taught is still the standard material
taught in government
schools so there is a
challenge a
challenge to Islam amiz that material
because
islamization process is not
complete until and unless all subjects
taught in the
school are taught from an Islamic
perspective that is the bottom line at
that point we can then say we
have a truly Islamic inst
institution
so to
look briefly
at this process of
islamization
we this evening will briefly look at the
three EAS of
Education the three main
elements involved in the educational
process the educator who we call the
teacher the education that is the
material which is being taught and the
educated the
student now the basic
philosophy
behind the Islamic
institution is is
fundamentally that the Muslim teacher is
distinctly different from the teacher
who happens to be a
Muslim this is one
component that the Muslim
teacher one who is going to teach in
this
institution is fundamentally different
from a teacher who happens to be a
Muslim meaning that the teacher who
happens to be a Muslim has gone into the
field of
education for other
reasons other
than worshiping Allah through
education serving the Muslim
Community their reasons have to do with
materials money
or
Prestige or
whatever other
reason for which people go into teaching
it might be that they were trying to be
a doctor or an engineer but they
couldn't get the
marks they didn't have the marks which
were necessary for them to get into that
field so then next best okay we'll
become teachers
so they are
teachers by
default they could have been anything
else so the
intent the
Nia is not for the sake of Allah it's
missing
secondly the Muslim school and this is a
problem that we're faced with
is distinctly different from a purely
business venture which happens to be
called a Muslim
school cuz this is another thing we're
faced
with that many of the schools out there
are
businesses business
Investments
those who are the owners or behind it ET
are not really that concerned about
serving Allah through
education they see a need they see the
Muslim Community Desiring
wanting Muslim school so we say okay
this is a area of demand so we will be
the
suppliers so we provide this instit
institution but our concern is
profits so we will cut
Corners we will not hire the proper
people to do the job the cheapest ones
we can get these are the ones it's it's
the marketplace now right this is
business you know we try to get the
cheapest teachers we can and of course
as they
say you pay peanuts
you get
monkeys so you don't get the quality
that should be in the
school
and the main concern is just roll them
through the more go through the more
graduate the more profits we
get so the real concern in terms of
Standards not be there
so very important element is the school
itself and that's a whole another cup of
tea the
trustees the
backers the
administration the last
concern in terms of our philosophy is
that that the Muslim
student in the school and produced by
the school should be distinctly
different from the student who happens
to be a
Muslim in the same way that the
teacher Muslim teacher is different from
a teacher who happens to be a Muslim he
could have been a
Christian a Hindu a anything similarly
the Muslim Muslim student studying in
the school graduating from the school
should also be Muslim
first he should not be a student who
happens to be a Muslim it could have
been anything else meaning his character
her behavior is no different from the
non-muslims in their
schools if that's what we graduate
then the school is a
failure
financially it may be a
success but islamically it is in fact a
failure if we look at the
educator the first of the three e that
we spoke about in the
beginning the basic qualifications
will not
differ
from the qualifications
necessary for a Muslim in any other
field because we
said the Muslim
teacher is a
Muslim who happens to be a teacher and
not a teacher who Happ happened to be a
Muslim so if he could have been other
than a teacher it could have been a
dentist could have been a taxi driver
could have been anything else then the
basic
qualifications are the
same
so he should have El
knowledge he should
have
Iman
Faith he should
have
sincerity and he should
have good
deeds these are the Core
Qualifications for the
Muslim so whether he's a teacher or he's
anything else these have to be in
place in terms of
knowledge we're talking
about correct
knowledge not just
knowledge because you may have people
knowledgeable and they say they're
qualified but they really don't have
correct
knowledge they will come into the school
and they will misguide
as people are misguided in the general
schools across the
country because the process of education
and we're looking at going to look at it
later is not merely one of
conveying
facts it is a
culturation it is passing on a culture
a culture which for
Muslims
challenges some of the
basic cultural
principles that the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam left
behind so that teacher should be able to
distinguish between what is true
knowledge and what is false
knowledge false knowledge for example
is theory of
evolution so they shouldn't be in there
teaching
convincing Muslim
children that we are the product of
evolution that's false
knowledge and there's a body that's just
one example a common one which everybody
knows but there's a body of knowledge
like
that also the teacher should be able to
distinguish between useful and useless
knowledge useful and useless
knowledge what do you mean by that
well useless knowledge
is for example
spending $12
billion to send a rocket ship to
Mars to land on Mars and gather up dirt
on Mars and analyze the composition of
the dirt on
Mars that is useless
knowledge it's not saying it is
knowledge but
those who study in our institutions
should understand that that is useless
knowledge because if you spend 4 billion
or 12
billion to find out the composition of
dirt on Mars and at the same time in
your
country you have more than 4 million of
your citizens living in the
streets homeless people more than 4
million of
them in the united stakes of
America 4 million of its citizens living
in the
streets and you spend 122 billion to
find out the composition of dirt on Mars
we say that is useless knowledge
so the teacher has to impart that these
are principles which are based on the
guidance of prophet Muhammad s wasallam
he used to make a
Dua Prophet s Al wasallam
used
to seek
Refuge from knowledge which was of no
benefit
regularly knowledge which is of no
benefit is either useless knowledge or
it's false knowledge those are the two
basic C categories of knowledge which is
of no
benefit so when we're involved in that
process of teaching it is important that
the one who is going to teach has to
have knowledge to be able to distinguish
between the
two also that knowledge should be
prioritized of
course the beginning
point
is the knowledge which we call far
knowledge which is obligatory on each
and every
individual then knowledge which we would
consider to
be knowledge which
is obligatory on the community but as
soon as or as long as somebody
learns or gains that knowledge then the
rest of the community are are
absolved so individual
knowledge knowledge
ofed that is primary individual
knowledge knowledge of Salah all of the
obligations that are on us right now
24/7 that becomes F knowledge which we
must have
detailed knowledge of
Hajj when you don't have the money to
make Hajj or it's not time for Hajj
anyway even if you had the money not
required but when you have the money to
make Haj it's obligate obligatory on you
and the time for Hajj is at hand then it
becomes obligatory at that
time
and we have
effective knowledge
transfer that
is
that one who is engaged the
educator should be properly qualified
for the vocation of teaching this is far
for
them
for the teacher according to the
Sharia knowledge becomes
compulsory when the
obligation for an action
exists knowledge of that action when it
becomes obligatory like the Hajj I spoke
about then having knowledge of the Hage
itself becomes
obligatory meaning that the teacher who
is hired is not hired simply because
they're
Muslim or simply because
they're a relative of one of the owners
or the
trustees you know some of our schools
are famous for that people are in there
teaching who have no qualifications but
they Beyond Family
Ties so they've gotten in there not
because they're the best qualified but
because they had the
best connections
the
second area of qualification is that of
Iman Iman as we all know the six pillars
of Iman that Prophet wasam Left
Behind each educate should have clear
knowledge of it not just to be able to
Rattle it
off but to really understand what the
pillars of Iman
are and
what is the impact that these pillars
should have in our lives meaning it has
some consequence there is a realization
of these pillars
actualized in our daytoday lives a
person who really knows their
Islam and what you find when you look at
the issue of
Education much of it is built
on
patience and where does patience come
from those pillars of Ean
the pillars of
Iman when they're understood and
implemented then they provide the
foundation of patience necessary for the
educational
process the
third
characteristic which we said that the
educator must possess and really all
Muslims true Muslims should possess is
that
ofas meaning
sincerity
that the intention
behind being a teacher and this is not
just for Islamic Studies teachers but
for all teachers the intention behind
it is that it should be for the sake of
Allah and not just for for material
gain the
educator recognizes that this process of
education is in fact
I they have the
Consciousness that
causes them to approach their subject as
a way of worshiping Allah and not
these are two terms in
Arabic and they sound quite
similar is
worship is custom habit
tradition so the educator should have
that point clear when Prophet wasallam
said
a that this world is cursed and
everything everything in it is
cursed except for the remembrance of
Allah and what helps us to remember
Allah
L and the
teacher one with
knowledge and the
student and this relationship teacher
student relationship
is a holy
relationship it is a sacred relationship
ship it is one which the prophet
wasallam said is the truly blessed
relationship in this
world the teacher and the
student so when that
teacher takes that profession chooses
that profession in life he or she
chooses it believing that this is
something pleasing to Allah subhana wa
ta'ala
the Most Blessed profession that they
can
choose because the prophet wasallam put
his seal of approval on
it and
also in terms
ofas the material which is being
delivered must be delivered
sincerely as they say teaching from the
heart reach is the heart
if we're really teaching from our heart
then we can reach
those people who are teaching the
children young people Etc but if it's
just from our lips it's just a routine
it's something we do we've been doing it
for the last so many years and it's just
we're on automatic pilot you know we
just come in we do it we're out and
we're just thinking about the paycheck
at the end of the month that's it
then who is it going to
reach and the
last
characteristic is that
of righteous Deeds foundation for
righteous Deeds is that it should be
according to the Quran and the
Sunnah because righteousness
goodness is that which has been defined
by Allah as
good that is the basis of what goodness
is and evil corruption is what Allah
defined as evil and
corrupt that is the stable Criterion
otherwise what people agree
upon
changes every
day Satan is busy I just finished giving
a two day 10 lecture seminar in the
North in
Huddersfield on Satan and his
tricks and one of his tricks is to make
good look bad and bad look
good so those
societies that have
abandoned divine revelation as the basis
of defining for them good and
evil they're
lost what was evil yest today is good
today what was good yesterday is evil
today just think and one of the favorite
methodologies of Satan
is calling things by other names giving
them attractive names so when Allah said
don't eat from that tree and Allah
didn't give the tree a name Satan comes
to Adam and
says this
tree is the tree of eternal
life the tree of eternal life so what
does that do it Sparks in the heart some
kind of the tree of eternal
life and that's the
methodology a long time back the term
gay meant
happy now there's a bunch of people that
they call
Gay which are really wretched
people wretched people
gay is a
misnomer interest used to be called
Usery Usery has a kind of a nasty sound
to it Usery you know but interest ah
it's
interesting it's
nice so
the foundation for righteous Deeds has
to be
Revelation and our basic source of
Revelation is the Quran and the
Sunnah and the pillars of righteous
Deeds for that those the Deeds Done
according to the Quran and Sunnah to be
accepted by
Allah one they have to
be correct Deeds being done correctly
and two they have to be based on
sincerity and from and for the
teacher the
educator righteous Deeds should be by
example we want to teach the children
righteousness then we should be the
example of
righteousness be what we want them to be
because if we're
not then they won't
be among the qualities of the
educator is that he or
she should have a sense of
mission that they feel they have a
mission to accomplish they are driven by
a mission
there is a driving force which is behind
them they feel a sense of responsibility
the children the young people that have
been put in their hands that they will
have to answer to Allah for what happens
to these young
people they should be
[Music]
merciful as the prophet am had said he
who is not or he is not of us who does
not respect our elders and show Mercy to
our little
ones
Mercy Allah
is he didn't just use one description of
Mercy he used
two stressing
the importance of mercy and as the
prophet wasam also
said whoever doesn't show Mercy will not
receive himself or herself Mercy from
Allah so that quality of Mercy is
essential when we read
about what happens sometimes different
places in
schools where people take this as a
job we find
them doing things to
Children things we cannot
imagine
because there is no mercy in their
hearts it's just a job
you read about these people who
are being jailed now 10 years 30 years
50 years ago they were in charge of
young
people and they abused them in
unimaginable
ways and we wonder how could people do
these things no
mercy there's no mercy there
unfortunately when we talk about
Mercy there is an
element within the educational
system of
Muslims where that Mercy has
gone and
unfortunately it is connected with the
Quran I've met so many people from the
subcontinent and outside the
subcontinent who when they look back to
their
childhood learning the
Quran was a horrifying
experience a horrifying experience
we have a bunch of people out there in
charge of
madrasas in charge of teaching the Quran
who don't have
mercy they're abusing our children young
people some of the
brothers actually when I was visiting
the north before few months
back and they were driving me to the
airport we were talking about the
importance of setting up Islamic school
Etc and I was talking to them about
their
experiences you know alhamdulillah they
survived but what they
described it meant that they were one
out of
10 nine others didn't
survive their Islam destroyed
the Quran had no meaning in their
lives why
because that Quran teacher used to beat
them and beat them and torture them we
talk about
Guantanamo what they were describing to
me they described this move they called
the the
chicken huh I I see his brothers
laughing and smiling they know the
chicken
what is the
chicken you stoop down put your arms
underneath your legs and hold your
ears and if you move from that position
you got whacked this is
torture this is
torture there is no
mercy and I know personally I mean I was
living in the UAE I put my
boys to memorize Quran alhamdulillah
they managed to memorize Quran but what
they went
through incredible
stuff same
things
tortured and of the group that went
through and memorized Quran most of them
forgot it after they came out they did
it their parents wanted them to do it so
they did it but they were tortured in
there and when I taught school in
Riyad Saudi
Arabia in English medium school I taught
Islamic
Studies most of the teachers on staff
were
non-muslims with the exception of the
Arabic and
Quran uh Department
and me teaching Islamic
Studies some of the
teachers from the English side
non-muslims they had the students do a
survey a
survey to find
out opinions of the students training
them in survey taking Etc but in the
survey they were asking the students
which was their favorite class and which
was their most hated
class and you know
what the most hated class was Quran and
Arabic most hated class favorite class
was English math these
non-muslims
why because
of the lack of
Mercy teachers not properly trained yeah
they spoke
Arabic yeah they memorized the Quran but
they weren't trained in child
psychology and they lacked that
Mercy their opinion was it's good enough
for me that's how I was raised and I'm
okay it's good enough for
them but this is not
education it's
miseducation so one of the things that I
have insisted wherever I've
gone addressing Schools staff Etc is
that the requirements for teachers
should not vary between
academic subjects and the Islamic
subjects just because so and so
graduated from Islamic University now
you're going to put him as a
teacher of Islamic
subjects Islamic
Studies to six year olds he's never
taught a six-year-old before what do you
think he's going to
do if he hasn't been trained in
educational psychology psychology Etc
what is he going to do he's going to
abuse those
kids and that's what
happens so this thing of
Mercy the mercy in the heart if it is in
the heart of the teacher then he will
know his own limitations and get the
necessary knowledge to be able to do the
job properly to fulfill his
responsibility before
Allah to put a love in the children's
hearts for their subject especially
Quran and Arabic it should be the most
beloved subjects in the hearts of the
children but you go across the country
here in the UK and in the US and in
Canada it's
unanimous one of the most hated subjects
so there's failure here there's serious
failure it needs to be
addressed when I took my kids to the
school in the
UAE put them in the school to memorize
the
Quran and I told them listen I don't
want my kids beaten they said they can't
learn Quran without the
stick they can't I said well listen I
will do the beating if there has to be
beating you please don't hit them said
I'm telling you they cannot learn
without
it and the teacher when he said that he
had five different sticks beside them
right from the thinnest to the
thickest this is sad we can laugh about
it now but in reality it's
sad and it is an example of not having
Mercy on our little ones
and that's why some of the brothers I
know who work in the north work in the
prisons in the north told me that in all
of the major prisons of the north they
found surprisingly
enough young people who had memorized
the Quran in their teens and now they
were in jails in the north for drugs
and other serious
crimes in
jail having memorized the Quran when
they were 14 or 15 and there they
were in every
jail so what is this telling
us we have to take another look at what
we're doing here we have to reassess
where where are we and where are we
headed
Justice there should
be among the Educators qualities
Justice the children shouldn't feel that
they are
unfair it is the nature of
people to favor some over
others but the teacher cannot afford
to do that cannot afford to be seen as
favoring some over
others we want them to be just we want
them to graduate with a firm sense of
justice then we have to show it to them
we have to be just in our
dealings and of course care and concern
it is the ential that the children
should feel a care you have teachers who
will be teaching a student for the whole
year and they don't even know the name
of the student what's his
name in the
corner no we should know the names of
all of the
students know something about them know
something about their families haven't
spoke to their parents Etc we're dealing
with Islamic education this is not a
production line we do care there should
be a sense of
concern and of
course we should approach
education the
process according to a plan we should
have a clear
plan they have lesson plans a a lot of
people just neglect them lesson plans
you know yeah yeah
yeah I know my
subject what happens is that if you
don't really make lesson plans and look
what you're doing really then you just
keep doing the same thing over and over
and over again you don't improve you
don't build so you just get into a rut
and of
course our actions in
general whatever it is that we want to
convey then we have to ourselves show it
as they say actions speak louder than
words and kids will take teachers as the
final word
how many times the kids come home we try
to tell them they say but teacher
said you what teacher said was even more
important they're ready to obey teacher
and disobey
you it has that why because they spend
more time with the teacher than they do
with the
parents so it's not
surprising so it is very important that
we be the best example that we can
be when we look at the education and
this is the
area which I really want to focus
on education is defined as the process
by which a society conveys its cultural
values to the Next Generation cultural
values that is what's really happening
it's not just the
facts it is the package in which those
facts
come a way of
thinking a way of life is being conveyed
in every
class in English in maths in science
social studies geography in every class
in the body language of the teacher in
how they speak to the
children the culture is coming the
cultural package is coming at
them and that's why Prophet Muhammad
s he
summarized the essence of The Message of
Islam as being
one focused on moral character it was a
moral message when he
said I was only sent to perfect for you
the highest of moral character traits he
was summing up that message in a moral
context how we relate to Allah tala how
we relate to our fellow human beings and
to the world in which we
live it should be from a morally sound
perspective a morally sound perspective
which has been defined by Allah and his
messenger and don't forget education is
I so
now if we look at
education it is composed
of the material which is
taught the environment in which that
material is
taught and the methods
by which that material is
taught of course those of you that are
Educators trained teachers Etc you've
been exposed to issues of
methodology and
teacher uh teaching
environments so what I'm focusing on
this evening because it's not a class in
teaching methodology
but one in
which I'm hoping that you will reflect
along with me about the need
for moving our schools up another
notch and that especially is in the area
of the material which is
taught we should have Islam
ization as a
clear
goal within or within which the
curriculum exists this should be clear
for an Islamic
school islamization of the curriculum
should be its goal as I said earlier
that school does not truly become
Islamic until the very curriculum of the
school itself that's the
heart becomes
Islamic so what does that
mean going down to the basic most basic
level the level of the lesson plans this
is the plan that the teacher
prepares in order to teach his or her
subject that plan man needs to be
islamized
islamization has two aspects to it on
one hand an Islamic element should be
introduced in every
class so in that lesson
plan
how that
lesson is linked somehow some way to
Islam should be subtly brought across to
the children young
people why because we want them to
understand that there really is
no separation between Islamic education
and academic education in the
end what did that mean Allah taught Adam
the names of
everything that's
encompassing what we call revealed
knowledge as well as what we call
acquired
knowledge it's all one in the
end it is all from
Allah what's real what's
true it is all from Allah so the student
should shouldn't feel when he is in
English class or math class or any other
class and Islamic Studies class that
there is Islamic Studies that's one
thing Arabic Quran and then we have this
other area of studies that we have to
deal with because that's what real life
is about no it's all
related when we read the
writings of the early Scholars the
science scientists Muslim scientists who
were in Spain and in
Baghdad when
the text which they left behind which
are now in the museums when you go and
you read them you see the scientist
discussing about the refraction of light
as it passes through a prism and so on
so and then he says and Allah
said call Allah
and he goes on to discuss some other
aspect of how to set up the lenses and
put them this way and that way then he
says and the messenger of Allah
said I say wow you know he's talking
this and his Quran comes in there Hadith
come in there it's all a part of the
same thing that's how they were there
was no
division those science scientists were
had memorized Quran they quite
knowledgeable in Hadith
Etc so they could see links they could
make references it was all there and
that's what we want to do this process
of islamization is that
reintegration bringing those two ends
back
together that there ultimately is and
should not be any separation so an
Islamic element should be there it
doesn't mean some people go overboard
with it so they turn their science class
into an Islamic class so they're
bringing all the verses and all then it
became Islamic Studies no no I don't
mean that Islamic Studies the focus is
fine you're teaching science you teach
science
but the science is
related there there are
implications there are relations
connections that you make you help the
child to understand but when you're
speaking about the thing you say and
Allah created it that way it didn't just
say
nature it was a product of Nature and
it's by in its nature no no in the
nature which Allah created it so just
putting Allah in that class as you're
explaining that's the connection or it
could be something historic you're
talking about teaching math so you
mentioned that Muslims were the ones who
introduced
zero to the
world they didn't invent it but they
introduced it took it from India
and developed it and presented it and
the Very numbers that we call Arabic
numerals were Arabic
numerals from Muslims so we can connect
them historically or we can connect them
by the terminology that we use when we
explain the class then the second
component of
islamization goes back now to the same
statement of the Prophet s wasallam with
regards to the goal of
Islam being
a moral
goal a moral message should be promoted
in every
[Applause]
class a moral message meaning bringing
moral values back into
education systematically of course a
Muslim teacher teaching will tend to do
this but we're talking about doing it in
a way which is accessible you know we
can assess it how successful are we
where have we failed Etc it can be done
systematically that's why we talk about
lesson plans it needs to be there in the
lesson
plans how do you do it I mean the
average teacher say Okay moral message
now how you going to put a moral message
in
this well The Simple
Solution
is we
sit
with because the teacher has to have
resources whether it's from the Islamic
perspective they need to get I have a
subject I'm teaching about the leaf they
will go to Islamic Studies department
they say what verses in the Quran what
Hadith talk about leaves give me them
okay after you have all the verses and
the Hadith then you look at what you
have to teach and what is relevant and
useful you can include in in the course
of the class so you have to have some
resource
persons there are books which are out
now on Muslim
inventions you know some very good books
have been done all the Muslim uh
scientific uh contributions to human
civilization Etc has been done in huge
volumes so they should be there in the
schools accessible to the teachers
similarly when we have to deal with the
moral
side we
need the benefit of those who specialize
in this field child psychologists Muslim
child
psychologist who can then identify for
us what are the moral
issues for sixy
olds 8y olds 10 year olds they give us
the
lists then the teacher only has to
choose one out of they get a list of
10 right every class they have to
include one maybe that one is included
in more than one class but you have 10
you need to indoctrinate the children
with so every class has a moral
message
now how is that done it's not done by
beginning the class
kids today we have a moral message which
is don't steal no no no that's not the
way it's going to be done that's not the
way to do it it has to be subtly worked
into the class either the subject you're
actually teaching has some way that you
can include it subtly without the kids
realizing he's teaching us a moral
message
no
or it is something you can draw from
the things that the children do in the
class sometimes you can just them just
being themselves you know you can find
the spot and
say this is not a good
thing the children actually done it and
you can clarify use their behavior to
correct
their moral
character and this is something which
should be required of every teacher
even the physical education
teacher what physical education the
sports sports teacher has to do this
yes very important because the worst
behavior of the kids come out
when in sports isn't it that's when the
worst
behavior cursing each other you know
you let the ball in the gold what' you
do that for you know blame in and you
know you know what happens so that is
the best time to correct them catch them
at
play at their worst and correct them
that's why the sports teacher is key in
this process
key but most schools don't even think
about introducing Islamic element in
sports as long as their hour is covered
done hour covered okay then they can do
whatever and this issue of the moral
message it goes even over to Islamic
Studies that Islamic Studies teachers
should be thinking in that way also not
just giving them the he this the S of
the Prophet wasallam they know his life
and they memorize his life no what are
the moral messages which are appropriate
for those
children that should be taught in every
class and that's what we need to
produce a truly Muslim
graduate and that product
will have an impact on the society that
we can hardly
imagine we want to give dawa here this
is the most powerful way to give
da we show them what Islam can do for
us every society of course they have
their attitudes they have you all the
other things that are out there you know
against Islam and all this going on but
in the
end respect will be there when they see
the quality of our graduates when they
enter into the workforce
Etc it will
speak it will speak in a way that we
haven't
spoken so this is the challenge which is
before us to bring a about to change
bring about something really radically
different
here in the area of
education
and just
to touch on a few points I mean there's
a lot that can be done this is normally
a workshop done for a few days and
number of sessions I'm just piling all
of it in here at you but just touching
really the most important aspect I
wanted to just give you an idea
because some people even after hearing
that how many of you here are teachers
put your hands up
please teachers teachers School
teachers School teachers all right I was
hoping actually it would have been more
you know because this is really focus
more on school teachers but in the rest
of you anyway uh it's something that you
can apply in your own uh life or if
you're working with schools and you're
connected with the school that you can
try to encourage them to take this new
approach
anyway usually people School teachers
when this is presented to them they said
it sounds very nice however the question
is how do you
islamize mathematics class I got to
teach the students 2 plus 2 = 4 tell me
how do you islamize it how do you give a
moral message in 2+ 2 equal
4 so I just have a
few uh lesson
plans summarized lesson plans for a few
subjects with some of the teachers and I
asked them
to present to put forward and we
critiqued different lesson plans from
different subjects different
groups uh just as examples for you so
you can know that this is something
feasible and I'm not talking you know
from uh just Theory and Wishful
Thinking uh this one is from a school
where they call eight and n a standard
three anyway they have mathematics and
they have addition they have to teach
and the objective is to uh teach the
addition of one a one-digit number to
another one-digit number like 2 + 2 = 4
so how do we islamize
this
first we can start the class with bismah
[Music]
then we give them basic word problems
for 2 + 2 = 4 we say if one prays two R
of Sunnah of F and two R of then What's
the total number of rakat have you done
four
R was that so
difficult also another example prophet
am had three daughters and he had three
sons so how many kids did the prophet
Salli wasallam have in total six 3 + 3
equals
six then we also teach them from the
other side 1 + 1 + 1 equals three and we
tell them that some people say that that
means equals one you know who those are
right who say 1 + 1 + 1 equal
1 H we we have a bunch of them here
right so we also let them know that it's
not very
smart 1 + 1 + 1 no way can that equal
one that equals
three okay so we're given them some da
at the same time some ammunition for
da the moral
message we give them a word problem
a story to illustrate the word the moral
message Ali has two reals and loses one
on the playground so his mother Sarah
gives him another two RS later that day
a classmate khed finds the missing real
and also returns it to
Ali Ali's mom is so happy with Khalid uh
that she gives him a reward of two R
what is the total number of RS that Ali
has now
[Applause]
so we can put into that story as much as
many moral messages as we
want there's a moral message in here to
[Applause]
parents H Ali's mom Ali lost his two
real what happens to most moms most Sara
say what' you lose the money for I gave
you that whack and you know now hey take
it easy you know he didn't do it
deliberately he wanted the money he lost
it be
merciful huh be merciful so there's a
message a moral message there to Sarah
the mom there too that that kind of
reaction is not the proper
reaction we can add other factors in
there you know khid who found the two
when he went
home his father said uh he showed his
father the two reality he got you know
real happy
he said uh where'd you get those two
reals from said I found them he said uh
where did you find them in the
playground did somebody lose two reals
oh yeah Ali
did these are probably atast two reals
right
yeah but you know Finders Keepers losers
weepers that's what we say over in our
side of the world I don't know what you
say here in the UK but that's the kind
of phrase that the kids say you
know even though they know it belongs to
somebody they found it it's in the
pocket hey no that's not good take it
back moral message still talking about
two + 2 equal
4 right and then when he gives the reals
back and Sara gives him Ali's mother
gives him two R anyway hey good is
rewarded you did a good thing you got a
reward for it too so all kinds of moral
messages can be sent in there so so you
understand what I'm saying here that we
don't put it you know out of the realm
of possibility that we can islamize
every single lesson that we teach in the
school there's no reason why not but of
course it requires effort it's not an
easy job
and
really if teachers are not
committed they won't do
it they won't do it I've set up a
website called curriculum islamization
their experiences what they've done
benefit from what others have done
because of
course every country has its own
National curriculum maybe they have more
than one National
curriculum but in the end everybody
teaches 2 + 2 equal 4 so what can be
shared is the core which is everybody's
teaching it now you can't
set one curriculum for everybody as much
as it would be nice could could be
simplified like that what it means is
every country has to develop their own
uh islamized curriculum but we can
benefit a lot from the experiences of
others okay anyway for those people are
interested in working towards this type
of an effort uh you may uh contact me at
belal
17 at Al philips.com
and I will uh forward you on to those
that are working on the website and to
the other teachers in the other
institutions that I've been working with
inshallah just try to be a middle person
to help uh bring you all together to
work on this I mean of course I'm also
helping with it in terms of overseeing
how the islamization process is going on
as so there are other examples here but
you know time doesn't permit for us to
carry on