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Parents, Teachers Meet For Future Of Education In Muslim Community
By Ayesha Ahmad
WASHINGTON, May 13 (IslamOnline) - Wisdom and real knowledge do not always come from school, and what we call education does not seem to be producing what we need in our children, a concerned parent said at a discussion held Saturday on the future of Islamic education in America.
Alaa Eltalmas of Virginia came to the discussion sponsored by the Islamic Schools Council of the Greater Washington area because of this concern. He gave the example of his mother-in-law, whom he said was illiterate and yet had more wisdom and capability than anyone he knew.
"How come with all the education and schooling we have, we cannot produce someone like my mother-in-law?" he asked. "They say, if you know how to read and write, that is education."
Eltalmas said that the current situation of Islamic schools does not allow for the kind of education that really prepares a student for life and for truly understanding their purpose as a Muslim.
"The Prophet [Muhammad's] [SAW] definition of knowledge is different from your definition of knowledge," he said.
It was this concern and many others that brought together teachers, administrators and parents from local Islamic schools "not [to create] a solution, but start a discussion on coming up with a truly Islamic model of education," said Council coordinator Inayet Sahin.
The dialogue, entitled, "Beyond Schooling: A Discussion of the Future of Education in the Muslim Community," was held at the George Mason Regional Library in Fairfax County.
"Our goal is to increase ourselves in knowledge and make ourselves more aware, and in that way we can be the best," Sahin said.
Sahin, a graduate student in education at the University of Maryland, College Park, opened with a presentation on the history of education in the West and the need for developing new methods based on Islam.
She referred to the work of educator John Taylor Gatto in describing the current system as one that produces minds designed to function as manageable elements of a controlled society - as Eltalmas said, "as part of the machine," - and urged teachers and administrators to make an informed and studied critique of our educational system.
Afeefa Syeed, from Al-Fatih Academy and the Muslim Homeschool Support Group, led the open discussion.
"Islamic education is not a body of information, it's a body of experiences," she said. "We're not trying to teach Islam, we're trying to teach how to be Muslim."
Syeed tossed forward issues such as cultural literacy, curricular integration of Islamic studies, parent education, home schooling and making education more challenging and active for children.
"We have to teach our children how to process information. We have to be ready to try a different way," she reiterated.
Imad Ahmad, a professor at the University of Maryland, elaborated on the idea of reconsidering our perception of education. "Schooling is just a tool; it is not education," he said. "If educational advice could be summed up in one word, that word would be iqra [read]."
Syeed encouraged the exploration of alternative methods of education that give children the tools they need to teach themselves, while at the same time making their religion an integral part of every aspect of that education. "It's about being a Muslim in the context of where you are, in a society," she said.
Presentations by Anas Coburn of Dar al-Islam and Mary Al-Khatib of the El-Iman Learning Center also touched on the role of education in the larger society and on historically Islamic models of education.
The Islamic Schools Council brings together the 11 different Islamic schools in the Greater Washington area, said Syeed, allowing them to cooperate on projects, exchange ideas and learn from each other. Principals meet once a month under this Council to work together on issues central to all the Islamic schools.
"Ultimately, it's the children in our schools that are our priority, not the image of our schools, not the name of our schools," Syeed said.
The Council is planning a teacher-training program in June and a conference for educators in August. More information is available by emailing
ISCGWA@hotmail.com.
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