Islam & Education

To the best of my understanding, Muslims are commanded to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave. That pretty much encompasses your entire life, unless I'm missing something. Many Muslim American communities ( I say Muslim American, because before we are anything else we are Muslims...but that is another topic for another day) make it their duty to establish an Islamic School as soon as possible. This in and of itself is a good thing, and I believe that every community should have at least one such school. I also believe that the members of the community have a duty to support the school by sending their children there to learn. With that said, the local Islamic School has an even greater responsibility to its community. That responsibility involves providing a HIGH QUALITY and WELL-ROUNDED education to its students. By well-rounded I mean a diverse curriculum that exposes the student to Islamic subject matter as well as the traditional subjects of language, mathematics, natural science and more. By high quality, I mean a school that has certified educators teaching students, administrative leadership that has a vision for the students and a plan to fulfill that vision. The involvement of Muslim parents in the School is essential to it being a success.

The duty of Islamic Schools is to prepare the next generation of Muslims for the world that they will face. Part of preparing them is establishing a solid religious foundation upon which they can be grounded, but it is also important challenge them academically so that they may be competitive with their non-Muslim peers. It is also necessary to encourage the students to think beyond the stock Muslims professions of Medicine, Engineering, and Architecture. As a community we need to build a true financial and social infrastructure that can insult us to a degree from the ripples of geopolitics. This can be achieved by having a larger number of the community that take professions in law, journalism, entertainment (If we want Muslims properly portrayed on TV and in Movies, we must do it ourselves!) and Sharia compliant banking.


The floor is now open for comments...Feel free to respond.