Muslim School Mentality

I have committed the ultimate folly of sending my kids to an Islamic School. I am now left frustrated with a system that is both archaic and pedantic, that does not encourage freedom of expression. Freedom of thought, well they’ve almost got a thought police in place. They are teaching my children all the narrow interpretations that I would rather not have them exposed to at all and worse, I am powerless to do anything about it.

So now what? Either I uproot then – yet again – and do the madrassah bit by myself. Or I go with the flow and tell them a different tale every time they come home and tell me stuff like, “You mustn’t listen to Yusuf Islam. He is no longer a Muslim.”

Now I’m not one for minding my P’s and Q’s, so when I hear gunk like that it takes all my self control not to spew out the first words that springs to the tip of my tongue. Then I take them aside and tell them the ‘other’ story. The one that is less judgemental and open to allowing people a point of view. Will this confuse them? Most like it will. That or leave them with an unhealthy disrespect for authority. Since authority has now been proven to be highly mistaken.  

But that’s not the only problem I have with Islamic schools. I have an issue with someone who tells my son that he cannot wear Bermudas on weekends and threatens to hit him (yes, you read right) for that. So yes, I’ll go no further.

Yet it is in this same environment where my son is given the impression that name brands maketh the man. That cars put you up there, with the stars – the soccer stars – English Premier League. And that houses are meant to have six bedrooms and a movie theatre. Kids come to school and discuss – and exaggerate most wildly too (I wonder where they learnt to do that?) – the turnover in their father’s businesses. And – wait for it – some even sell ‘stuff’ at school.

Something is clearly not right with the state of Islamic Schools. Is this a reflection of the moral decay that pervades our society and has driven us so far from the Path that is Islam that we cannot see it anymore? Hmmm, I wonder…

Your Worship

I recently visited some family of mine. ‘Pious’ people. Son’s an Aalim and his wife, an Aalimah. We sat and spoke. I got to see an old aunt. Of late she’s taken to remaining in her room. Walking has become painful due to arthritis. I knew the position well, having witnessed my own granny suffer with this ailment.  And besides, you’ve walked your entire life. It’s only natural that you might be a tad sick of it.

We got to talking. When the discussion came to Ramadaan, the learned daughter in law has some choice words to say about women who ‘earn a living’ during Ramadaan (those who do so from home) saying that it was simply logical that doing such a thing interferes with ibaadat. (I couldn’t help but wonder about the hadith that speaks of earning a halaal income as being a form of worship.)

Anyway, she continued speaking. And then I mentioned how my aunt seems to have aged tremendously in recent years.

“Well, she doesn’t want to walk. She’s too lazy to do that. It’s too much of an effort for her to come to the kitchen to eat. And if she ends up bed ridden, who will look after her?” The malice was ill concealed. I had to bite back the answer, “You would.”

At the time, I was at a loss for words to ease the tension. But when I returned home and reflected on this discussion, I remembered the incident of the son who stood by his parents’ bed, a bowl of milk in his hand, waiting for them to awaken and have their milk (as was their habit). He did this seeking the pleasure of Allah alone. And it became a source of deliverance from hardship for him later in life.

And I wondered, when did we begin to equate His worship – the worship of the only One worthy of all Praise – with prayers, fasting and Quraan alone? Can a woman who speaks of ibaadat and its importance miss the most obvious ibaadat? Care for the aged, respect for them and love.

A reflection of the times, perhaps. Where knowledge abounds but true taqwa – Allah consciousness – is totally absent.

Many are those who live their lives, greedily collecting reward. Is that why the servant does his good deed? Is Allah alone not enough of a reward?

Sardonic on SMS

Whoever said that Muslims are technophobes could never have been more mistaken. And one area where we consistently outstrip ‘everyone else’ is the arena of cell phones. Far be it for any self respecting Muslim to be seen without the latest that Nokia (thought they support Israel??!) has to offer.

But my issue is not so much with the phones as it is with the SMS’es. Jumu’ah mubarak, Ramadaan Mubarak, Eid mubarak, Layaltul Baraah’ah messages, there litter the sms-o- sphere in their multitudes, like so many bits of toilet paper and they are about as meaningless.

When last did you actually see a sincere one? One that was not forwarded a couple of hundred times.

I’ve been told to make Allah my Pilot! Next someone who killed my cat will sms me to ask for maaf.

It’s easier than picking up the telephone and calling up someone, someone whom you have wronged and actually asking them with totally humility to forgive your trespasses. And it’s cheaper.

Nothing brings out the inner Scrooge in each of us better than a cell phone. Even Birthday wishes (now don’t tell me Muslims don’t celebrate birthdays!) are sent via sms.

Scrooge Message System.

Fear Factor

The perfect state of Iman has been described a state of being between hope and fear. And that’s true, very true.

This message was drummed hope by cane wielding Molwis, was it not? The guys who stood beside you while you recited the Kalaam of Allah and let their cane whistle through the air and find its mark on you each time you made an error. Or by the kinds of sadists who made you balance a chalkboard duster on the nape of your neck each time you committed a misdemeanour and should the said duster fall – which it inevitably would – the punishment (it was coming anyway) would be a solidly humiliating caning.

It was repeated often enough by those lovely Apas who would say, ‘If you wear shorts on weekends, Allah will put you in Jahannum’ (No explanation of the qualifier – the shorts could be Bermudas which cover/reach the knees and not a thought for the whole concept of Allah being the sole Judge, shorts notwithstanding). Until you reached a stage- in the manner of childhood Magical Thinking – where you wondered whether Allah was the Apa’s Big Brother who was always waiting for you to put a foot wrong so that He could punish you the way the Apa wanted you to be punished.  A truly fear inspiring ‘Brotha’hood .  And would you believe it, it still happens in the here and now where corporal punishment has been outlawed? My son regularly has run-ins with the cane of an Ustaad who has (disrespectfully, I might add) been dubbed Batista.

Force children to succeed by creating a fear in them of the outcome should they fail. Yet should the desire to succeed not stem from a desire to please, which is often borne out of love? This is the way the Prophet Muhammed (SAW) did things. The hadith tells us about how he never struck a woman of child in his entire life. I remember reading of the young Sahabi who was taught the etiquettes of eating by example and with love. Their love for Nabi SAW due to his excellent character left them with a dread of displeasing him. Read the incident of the ‘Three who were left behind’ in the Quraan. The Tabuk expedition. Read of the misery experienced by the companions whose grief was not because they felt that they would now be punished, but rather because they felt most acutely the removal of the Prophet SAW’s pleasure. A fear to displease borne of love.

Which should also be the way we view Allah. We should love Him to such a level that He should become the conscience that guides, that inspires, that decides. A fear to displease the Rabb who remains the Sole Benefactor. The Only Benefactor truly worth mentioning, Whose bounty does not cease, even when we, sinful beings that we are, fail to give Him thanks.

Isn’t it perhaps time we re-evaluated our relationship with Allah? And perhaps gave more thought to the messages we give our children and would like to convey to them?

Yours in Faith

Sardonic Scholar  

Alif se Allah

Islamic education has come a long way. Where tajweed was once almost unheard of, it has now become a standard part of the quraan reciter’s repertoire. Zabr is now Fat’ha and Namaaz is called Salaat with much flourish. Alif se Allah, Be se bismillah? Why, who ever said such a thing? 

But while all the wrappings may have been modernised, the contents remain much the same. Some madrassahs use the same Seerah textbook that I used some twenty years ago – there, now you even know how old I am – and discuss the same wells that I once grappled with. So many feet wide (who uses feet as a measurement in SA anyway?) by so many long. I really can’t remember it.

But above all, they are still taught in exactly the same manner – one that is sure to have any child nodding off within minutes – as I was. This in spite of the fact that it is common knowledge that children of today are a different breed altogether. They want fast –paced- computer game- thrill- a- minute adventure in everything they do. And because they are being hopelessly let down, Islamic history has no relevance to them, nor does the fiqh, for that matter because they are still not shown how to apply it to their daily lives.   

 

This situation is further crippled by the fact that many of their teachers – Allah bless their noble efforts – are women who only completed standard five in school and lack the basic linguistic flair to convey the message succinctly as well as cogently.

 

And worst of all, they are still not allowed to question. Is Islam so weak – Allah forbid- that it cannot stand up to close scrutiny? Do we want to make the mistake that the Catholics made by telling people that they need blind faith? Do we want to scare people into believing?

 

The Quraan has stood the ravages of time. It is under the Protection of He who never Falters. So why do we not teach our young children what it is that they are reading when they recite the Words of Allah? Why do we continue to have them see it as empty Arabic words, when really, they are anything but?

 

Why do kids still have silly signing books – we had them and forged our parents’ signatures in them – for salaat and reciting of Quraan? Where are our efforts going amiss in that we are unable to cultivate a natural love and yearning for these two acts of worship? Have we reduced a faith that is intrinsically so dynamic to mere rituals?

 

And are we inviting disaster by refusing to address all those issues that trouble our youth to such an extent that many drift far from Deen, feeling that to be most comfortable for them?

 

Uncomfortable questions, perhaps, but questions that bear asking. Questions that our Scholars and the community in general need to take heed of. Is it not time we joined the 21 ^st Century in word as well as deed?

 

It’s a Gay thing, right? Wrong…

The mail that got many knickers all twisty… 

I’m seething. It may be a delayed reaction- but hey, that’s better that not reacting at all, right?

I was told about a Muslim Radio personality who was ranting and raving about the ‘Same Sex Marriage’ thing. He went as far as to say that (I’m paraphrasing here, okay) if this is how the ANC want to run the country then things were better in “The Old Days”. Ooh, and he’s a guy who pronounces Apartheid as: apart height. You’ve gotta love him.

Now aside from my views on how insane it is for any Muslim to hanker after the old days even though it was a time when a certain sector of the population were stripped of their basic human dignity (yes, I know, I said that already last time around), I want to ask the brother how he would feel if some bunch of greenie beanies canvassed the government to outlaw Qurbani and they succeeded.

We’d be affronted, right? We’d march and protest. Infringing on our rights – that would be the phrase of the moment.

SO as repugnant as it may be to some, gay people expect a democratic secular government to uphold the rights of all their citizens, and this includes the right of people of the same sex to marry. Moral issues in the eyes of religions aside, if we, living in this country consider it our right to exercise our freedoms that are enshrined in the constitution, we should be prepared to accept these rights as guaranteed to every citizen.

We cannot impose our laws on another who has not accepted our path. And, really, how another person chooses to live their life, does not impact on mine. And at the end of the day, Allah is the sole judge.

Apart-height

Sardonic Scholar – Post two 

Apartheid has been relegated to history books, and is taught in schools as this ‘terrible thing’ that happened years ago. Everyone seems to be singing a song about how appalling it was for us and how everyone, including my Dadi who would not let her maid drink from any of the cups that the family used, were opposed to it. The Indian community is painted as this wonderful band of stalwarts who fought valiantly against the oppressor and contributed towards the ‘Struggle’ (don’t you just love the word?).

 And yet, I cannot help but wonder, when I sit amongst ‘my own people’ and the discussion goes to crime – which it invariably does – and the comment is made – which it invariably is – about how ‘things were better in the old days’, what it is that people are speaking of?  

Was it the way that black people had to call us Baas and were referred to as boys and girls even if they were older that us? Was it the freedom with which we could bandy the K word (yep kaarias) around with impunity, since the one the whiteys used was infinitely uglier? Yes, that’s it, it was the safety and comfort we lived in, while the black South Africans struggled for survival every day. Lived in townships where the roads were not tarred, in schools where even the basics where not provided. While Stock Rooms in ‘Indian Schools’ were overflowing with sporting equipment and our suburbs were expertly maintained by the ‘council’. 

I’m not saying that we don’t have problems in the New South Africa. I’m not saying that crime is not a huge one. It is and it affects all of us – including the ‘kaarias who don’t know how to run a country and make a mess of everything.’ 

I recently heard a whitey call in on a radio show saying that Arabs don’t know how to do democracy, and I thought, “What a racist!” But are those of us who express these views really any different? 

 Apartheid went against the basic teachings of every major religion that seeks to better the state of man. It went against Islam, against the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him)’s last sermon, where he emphasised the equality of all men by saying: All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. 

So the next time I’m in a gathering where the discussion goes that way, you’ll forgive my rudeness when I select some choice words to silence the speaker. I mean, really, intelligent people have no place speaking that way…