Education and islam

English Montreal School Board, Work shop
for the spiritual community animators
June, 2010

May Abou Zahra
may.abouzahra@acadiau.ca

May Abou Zahra, 2010

20th century: building
big things that did
things for peoplepeople
It was a century of mass production,
couch-potatoes, and one size fits
all.


All the 21st The 21st century is one of symmetry.
These heardnew technologies have
century given us all a voice and a hunger for
success stories that voice to be.
are about
"helping people
to help each
other", from
Talking Heads
and Teachers'
TV, to eBay
and Google.


Did you know?


The 21st century mantra
"helping people to help
themselves"
should move us forward here in
a way that is efficient
for
everyone's time, and agile enough
to respond to personalised needs.

?
What would you like for future in
education?


Smile
Moving from
National to
Glaobal

We live in a Global World


Listen to student voice

listening to the authentic voice of learners
does two things well: it helps us to build
better, more personalised, learning, but
it also triggers a meta-level reflection in
our learners.


Cooperation and team spirit
ž  “We need cooperation and team spirit.
Modern society does not rely on
individuals... we need teams of people to
work together.
ž  We have seen clearly that through
cooperative learning students become
more motivated.. and of course they learn
better.


This is not just a method for learning...
it's about how you live your life“
Stephen Heppell: http://
www.heppell.net/

(Students) … think about their learning
and as a result they perform better.


Communication between teachers and the
students


Case Study
Teachers have often different social and
cultural universe then students.

What will happen if :
Teachers don’t have information about the
culture and religion of students?


Case Study

ž  That
develops a ditch in the
communication and sometimes of the
negative representations.


It could be a problem for learning
process.


(-) COMMUNICATION

(-) MOTIVATION

=
?


Negative result on learning
process


Solution
ž  Itis important to have teachers who are
more representative of the cultural
diversity (religious diversity) of the
country.
ž  The presence of such teachers certified
immediate communication and more
confidence.


Definition :

Culture
Islam and life style


ž  Talk
about a public figure, named one of
Time magazine's as most important
innovators of the twenty-first century ( a
leading Islamic thinkers in the West, with
a large following around the world)


Talk about

Le siècle de lumière
"islam of enlightenment"

Appreciation of the
Diversity of the Human
Race and Islam.

Culture
ž  Culture is the means by which people
“communicate, perpetuate, and. develop
their knowledge about attitudes towards
life. Culture is the fabric of meaning in
terms of which human beings interpret their
experience and guide their action” (Geertz
1973).
ž  Usunier (1993) delineates several sources
of culture: language, nationality, education,
ethnicity, religion, family, gender, social
class and organization.


ž  Muslims do not distinguish between the
religious and the secular but consider Islam
to be a complete way of life (Kavoossi
2000, Lawrence 1998).
ž  They derive this life-system from the
teachings of the Qur’an (which Muslims
believe is a book revealed by God to
Prophet Muhammad in seventh century
Arabia), and from the sunnah (the recorded
sayings and behavior of Prophet
Muhammad).


ž  The Islamic worldview is based on
concepts of human well being and good
life which stress brotherhood/sisterhood
and socioeconomic justice. This requires
a balanced satisfaction of both the
material and spiritual needs of all
humans (Chapra 1992).


Appreciation of the Diversity of
the Human Race.
ž  A strikingfeature of Islam is its diversity.
Prophet Muhammad emphasized the
equality of different races and ethnic
groups.
ž  Diversity is clearly illustrated in a
comprehensive photographic record of
the Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca (Nomachi
1997).


Appreciation of the Diversity of
the Human Race.
Appreciation of diversity of human “No Arab has superiority over any non-Arab and no
race
non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; no dark
person has superiority over a white person and no
white person has any superiority over a dark person.
The criterion of honor in the sight of God is
righteousness and honest living.” Saying of Prophet
Muhammad (Sallam and Hanafy 1988)

“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of
a male and a female, and made you into nations and
tribes, that you may know each other....” (Qur’an
49:13)

“Let there be no compulsion in religion....” (Qur’an
2:256)


Public figure
Tariq Ramadan

ž  http://
www.youtube.com/
watch?
v=KhLbewOVFwc&fe
ature=player_embed
ded#


Tariq Ramadan
Tariq Ramadan is very much a public figure, named one of
Time magazine's most important innovators of the twenty-
first century. He is among the leading Islamic thinkers in
the West, with a large following around the world. But he
has also been a lightning rod for controversy.

Indeed, in 2004, Ramadan was prevented from entering the
U.S. by the Bush administration and despite two appeals,
supported by organizations like the American Academy of
Religion and the ACLU, he was barred from the country
until spring of 2010, when Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton finally lifted the ban.


http://
www.amazon.co.uk/
Radical-Reform-
Islamic-Ethics-
Liberation/dp/
0195331710#noop


Based on Tariq Ramadan works and
philosophy

http://www.tariqramadan.com/spip.php?rubrique6


ž  The world of Islamic reference, what I
would call "islam of enlightenment" (le
siècle de lumière) is reform tradition that
has emerged from the beginning, scholars
and thinkers who have taken the text found
seriously, but who have never stopped to
think, to reason and to renew. It was for
them to marry the faith and reason, the
recognition of the divine commandment
with the affirmation of human freedom: they
were creative and believers.


ž  These are, as early as the 8th century,
great scholars of the law schools, some
of their students, and the extraordinary
flowering of the xe to xive century such
as al-Kindî al-Farabî, al-Ghazali, ash-
Shatibî, philosophers, Ibn Sina, Ibn
Rushd, not forgetting Ibn Khaldûn,
figures. I cannot mention them all, but
must not omit figures of Sufism deep
and demanding that filled the Muslim
history.


ž  Briefly,the “Islam of the Lights” is the
sum of all these scientists and
intellectuals and all these great
moments of the history of Islamic
civilization where fidelity with the texts
strengthened and nourished intellectual
energy and human creativity.


Moderate Muslims?
ž  The topic of moderation in practice crosses the
Islamic literature since the origin.
ž  In Coran and the prophetic traditions which
accompany it, the Moslem women and the Moslems
have to show moderation in all the fields of the
practice.

ž  “God wants for you the facility and not the difficulty”
points out Coran and Muhammad (PBSL) affirms
“Facilitate the things, do not make them difficult” and
it gave itself the example by choosing the reductions
(as not to fast Ramadan on a journey) so that the
faithful ones do not fall into excess.


ž  Thus, right from the start, the majority of the
scientists included/understood the Koranic
formula qualifying the Moslems of “the
community of the happy medium”.

ž  Very early, it appeared two tendencies in the
nature of the practice:
ž  those which applied the lesson to the letter
without taking account of the context or the
reductions (ahl Al `azîma)
ž  and those (ahl rear-rukhas) which held account
of the latter and the flexibility of the practice
according to the social context and the time
and in situation of need (hâja) and/or need (will
darûra).


Misunderstanding of the concept
of moderation
ž  In
the Western society where there is no
daily practice or visibility of the religion
even in the United States, the fact of
speaking about prayer, fast, moral
obligations and vestimentary related to
the religion seems already almost
excessive.
ž  Moslems moderate would be those who
do not express vestimentary distinction,
who drink alcohol.


Moderate Muslims
ž  Theimmense majority of the scientists
(ulamâ) and the Moslems throughout the
world or in Occident (whatever the
traditions Shiites or sunnites and the
schools of right) promote and follow the
way of moderation and flexibility in
practice. They remain strict on the
fundamental principles but propose
adaptations according to the
environment and the time.


The stories and the references are not the
same ones and the concept of
moderation is always to consider interior
of each universe of reference.


Listen and understand students

There is, for once, a very clear global
consensus that hearing the learner's
voice makes learning more personalised
and improves learning.


But where is student Voice

In the 21st century we don't hear the students'
voices through a representative "student
council",


we hear it through the
channels that
technology has brought us:

texts, podcasts, diaries and
blogs,

Conversations, forum, wiki,
and more.

Tools to improve communication

ž  Teachersprofile can help but it is
important to give teachers tools and time
to improve this communication beyond
the simple transmission of knowledge of
which they have initially the load.


ž  Initial training has some very considerable
distance to go.
ž  It is important to be creative
ž  We have to learn to listen to student voice
ž  Understand their universe of reference


It will be necessary to take communication
issue and its temporal and space
organization seriously.


To avoid gaps in communication, all the
ghettos in order and to develop new
projects allowing the women, the men
and the children - all citizens and
residents – to better communicate, take
time to listen, to be expressed and to
better know.


Engagement and communication are keys to
make a success of an active, interactive
and creative teaching


Wouldn't it be great if we could have a better
communication? Would it be good if kids
could collaborate, have fun in school and
be creative.


Education and islam

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