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"Children are influenced by media - then they learn by observing, imitating and making behaviors their own…" This was said of the link between media and violence in a recent report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (Healthworld, p.2).
This was never more evident for me as a teacher at an Islamic summer school. My students were 11 - 14 year old boys with professional parents who were always too busy. Born of born Muslims, they behaved like any other English boys nurtured by modern media. As a convert, I had made too many assumptions. I was not forewarned. Falling-back on my Afro-Caribbean story-telling heritage, I spent sleepless nights digging-up all the correct hadiths and stories during the time of the Prophet (saw). I extracted dialogues and made props. Day one of the experiment worked and it became a part of the daily lesson-plan. I did little during those sessions. The boys were the narrators and enacted the characters they chose. For that hour, their energies were absorbed by the process of story telling. The following half-hour was dedicated to a question put to them linking the story to their own personal stories. This formed the group discussion.
Now more than ever, we need our stories. Not dispersed amongst thousands of books, but accessible. Theaters, cassettes, CDs, TV, radio and the wide-scope of film formats are vehicles that we should be using to enrich us - much like Mona Abdul Nasr, whose childhood love of cartoons helped her become and editor who has also founded the Cairo Cartoon Production Company. The animated children's program "Bakar" made her realize that Egyptians of all ages loved watching the show because it reflected their identity.
Four years running, the show carries thematic episodes like responsibility to others and even causes such as Palestine. Mona learned early on that what really matters is the content of the message. Her professor, 'Ali Muheeb, taught how to make an interesting animated film on a meager budget. "Bakar" has offered an alternative, though it sometimes ends up repeating Western thematic stereotypes. "It is easier to import foreign series. This can have a very negative effect on our children. Neither the content nor the characters reflect our own cultural identity. This can only forge a weak generation, with poor language and an uncertain identity…" (Khallaf, p.1, 2).
This is indeed what has happened. Though there are increasingly more productions available for Muslim children, they sometimes fall short in the art of storytelling. In the book "The Life-Shaping Power of Mediums," Dr. Daniel Taylor tells us that as "thinking, feeling, spiritual beings, humans need stories to acquire complete and concrete knowledge." Characters are remembered more than the plot, and the story can have a profound effect on its readers and listeners. Few productions exist that we can share as a family. Sharing Islam in this way creates affinity, especially with recent events threatening to drive us apart.
Dr. Taylor goes on to say "This power of the imagination links the past and the present to the future, and gives us the possibility not only to know things, but to create whole new realities" (Steinman, p.3).
Our story or their story, and it shouldn't matter which story it is, really, as long as there is a value-laden message. But unfortunately, total exposure to another denies our own story. The American Academy of Pediatrics revealed that children aged 2 - 18 spend an average of six hours daily using one or more media. The highest proportion of TV violence is in children's programs - including animated features produced in the U.S (HealthWorld, p.2). It cannot be made clearer!
The Sufi tradition links children's stories, entertainment and instruction, with instruction as the essence. From this tradition, storyteller Idris Shah collected thousands of stories from Central Asia and the Middle East and adapted them to contemporary Western culture. Many have been published with an interesting response. Denise Nessel, a consultant for National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, said of Shah's stories "They're fun to read, but the meaning will also linger in young minds, helping children to understand their own and others' actions."
Robert Ornstein, author of "The Psychology Consciousness and the Right Mind," commented, "These stories are different from the common children's stories, which seem to be built on fear and on emotional resolution. It suggests to children ways of looking and problems that may help in resolving difficulties in a calm way, and at the same time they help in the development of children's cognitive abilities" (Hoopoe, p.2).
This is precisely what is needed. It would also help to address the idea that is floating around quite strongly since September 11th, which seems to imply that Islam needs to go under some kind of revision. Allah (swt) informed Prophet Mohammad (saw) that "…This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam..." (Surat ul Maidah 5:3). It is only for us to choose or not choose Islam. In choosing Islam, and if we recognize the scope of what it has to offer, then we place ourselves in a creative mode with which to express ourselves to each other and the world. So forward march storytellers and producers. May your paths be brightly lit!
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