Islam for Muslims

• THE FAITH OF MUSLIMS
• 1 Meaning & Importance of Faith (Iman)
• 2 Some Signs of Ideal Faith
• 3 God As The Unique and Supreme being
• 4 God as the All-Powerful
• 5 God’s Power in Shaping Destiny
• 6 God as the Creator
• 7 God as the Merciful
• 8 God as the Protector
• 9 God as the all-knowing
• 10 God as the Guide
• 11 God as the Judge
• 12 The Prophets in the Quran
• 13 Mohammad (pbuh) as the Final Prophet
• 14 Divine Books, Angels & Jinns
• 15 Various Stages of Life after Death
• GOOD DEEDS IN PERSONAL LIFE
• 16 Importance & Types of Good Deeds: Importance & Types of Good Deeds
• 17 Some Ideal Signs of Good Deeds
• 18 God at the Center of Religious Universe
• 19 Sources of Islamic Laws (Sharia)
• 20 Purification & Preparation for Prayer
• 21 The Essentials of Prayer (Salat)
• 22 The Essentials of Charity (Zakat, Fitr and Qurbani)
• 23 The Essentials of Fasting (Siam)
• 24 The Essentials of Pilgrimage (Hajj)
• 25 The Essentials of Knowledge (Ilm)
• 26 The Essentials of Inheritance (Faraiz)
• 27 The Essentials of Halal Income
• 28 The Essentials of Halal Food
• 29 The Essentials of Modest Dress & Behavior
• 30 The Essentials of Marriage & Divorce
• 31 The Essentials of Death & Funeral
• 32 Optional but Valuable Deeds
• 33 Avoiding Personal Sins: Why & How?
• 34 Fighting Satan (Devil) to Avoid Sins
• 35 Five Major Sin Packages
• GOOD DEEDS IN SOCIAL LIFE
• 36 The Importance of Preaching & Good Advice
• 37 The Techniques of Preaching & Good Advice
• 38 The Roles of Family & Parents
• 39 The Roles of Schools & Students
• 40 The Roles of Mosques & Muslims
• 41 The Roles of Print and Social Media
• 42 The Importance of Resisting Social Sins
• 43 The Techniques of Resisting Social Sins
• 44 Observing Islam in a Non-Muslim Environment
• 45 Islamic Governance: Legality, Potentials & Problems
• 46 Criminal Justice System for the Muslims
• 47 The Ideal Qualities of a Muslim: Piety & Proficiency
• 48 The Unity among the Muslims: Why & How?
• 49 The key to progress and prosperity of muslims
• 50 Final Appeal to the Muslims

39: THE ROLES OF SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS

Introduction: The children after spending early years at home enter the next phase of life at school where they spend nearly half of their each active day. Here they are exposed to a different type of world with opportunities to gain wider and diverse experiences. Obviously, the impacts (good or bad) of this long and significant time will have a substantial bearing on their life. In order to make these impacts positive, schools can play pivotal roles.  Now let us see what kind of schools is good for them and how the schools can make them good.

(A) School Systems:

(1) Religious Schools: Presently, barring some exceptions, the education system of the Muslim world tends to be a dualism of religious and secular schools: each often being divergent in goals and curricula. At one extreme, the traditional Islamic schools (madrasa) ordinarily teach mainly religious subjects for producing religious scholars needed at mosques and other religious institutions. This system has some drawbacks side by side with their positives.
(i) Given the lack of central planning, the supply of graduated students may exceed the demand for their jobs. This may result in their limited job prospects and lower wages as good causes for their poverty and frustration.
(ii) Deficient in scientific, technical and vocational skills, they can hardly compete in the modern job market.
(iii)  Short on modern education and progressive outlook, they may not be well-prepared to advance Islam in the modern world.

(2) Secular Schools: At the other end of spectrum, secular schools show strong bias for modern and scientific subjects. With brighter job prospects, they have the powers to attract bright and promising students from the upper class. While these talented students rarely get any chances to learn religious subjects, they are taught almost exclusively modern curricula that often incorporate anti-religious chapters like Darwin’s theory of human evolution, interest based banking, sex education at early age etc. In the absence of any religious leanings, it is probable that these negative ideas will impress them in a convincing fashion. As a result, by the time they finish their school years, they will have their attitudes hardened against religion.

(3) Third System: Upgraded Islamic Schools: The above situation calls for necessary overhaul of the educational system by combining scientific/technical subjects with Islamic curricula. Accordingly, the Muslim leaders may set up ideal Islamic schools with such high quality that can be an envy of both the traditional Islamic and secular schools. With excellent performances in both modern and religious subjects, these schools will attract brilliant students and thereby eventually outperform or crowd out those two contrasting systems. This is not only a desirable goal but also a possible one.  Because, students with positive virtues like honesty, diligence, punctuality etc. along Islamic lines are likely to excel in academic performance as well.

Feeder Services: The above model of upgraded Islamic schools will, of course, call for two major types of feeder services which the Muslim educators and scholars can provide. These are: (i) quality training for the teachers and (ii) reshaping conventional curricula in Islamic light. For example, the authenticity of the Creation Theory and Intellectual Design Theory can easily edge out the eternally unproven Evolution Theory of Darwin. In fact, it is quite feasible as well as there is ample scope for Islamizing topics across various disciplines. For example, research into Islamic economics in the 70’s led to the growth of viable model of interest free banking now successfully operating worldwide.  

(B) The Roles of Students: The students not only can get help from schools, but they also can help themselves. As Muslim students, you have lots of Dos and Don’ts.

(1) Good Environment: You (students) cannot afford wasting your time with bad companions like those “who turn away from divine Messages and intend only the earthly life” (53:29). Make the most of your precious time in study and use the spare time “being with those who are true (in word and deed)” (9:119). The importance of a good environment on your positive development can never be overstated. If your campus environment is infested with addiction, adultery or other vices, then your only option is to cooperate with like-minded religious students in order to form a mini environment of your own favorable for cultivating good deeds.
             
  You are reminded to “keep your soul content” by associating with pious people instead of those who seek “earthly glitter” over God’s “remembrance” (18:28). Islamic wisdom suggests that the quality of your earthly companionship: good or bad will largely determine your ultimate placement (Heaven or Hell) in the Afterlife. This does not mean your non-cooperation and hostility toward others. Islam wants you to model as peacekeepers and not as peace breakers. You can, therefore, participate in peaceful programs like interfaith dialogues, collaborative social works, communal charity etc.

(2) Progressive Cultures: Students are the progressive forces of the society. As students, whatever you think, say or do, are likely to have a ripple effects in the society. So you should have the following in mind:
(i) You may pick up entertainment cultures that are basically good and helpful for skill development like competitions on Quran/Adhan recitation, essay writing, poetry reading, public speaking, debating (in defense of a moral issue), spiritual songs like hamd, naat etc. You can also bring out a scholastic journal with your own contributions.

(ii) You must stay away from illegal cultures like sex club, dance club, nude party etc.
(iii) In between the above two clearly legal and illegal options, there are numerous possible fun cultures which are mix of both good and bad and you can purify them by taking off bad elements. For example, you could turn soccer into a legal game if you wear a pant long enough to properly cover your navel to knee prohibited area and its schedule does not conflict with your prayer time. Likewise, you can observe birthday party by replacing candle lighting with partying, prayer and ‘dua’. In similar fashion, by using your knowledge and creativity, you can make pro-Islamic adaptations or reforms to many more cultures to feed your young mind. Examples include but are not limited to: picnic, traveling, sightseeing, hunting, cycling, swimming, gymnastics, sprint, cricket, basketball, baseball, volleyball, badminton, table tennis etc.

(3) Preparation as Future Citizens: As students, you are the future of the nation and that future is not far away. In years to come, you will fill up key government and other positions to run the country. The prosperity of the nation will be determined by the quality of your civic virtues and productive contributions. So you must have a career goal and you will work hard to reach that goal. Be discipline-bound and have respect for the law. Stand up for any good causes and against any bad ones, in a manner consistent with Islam. If you throw your full weight behind a right cause, you can probably make big positive changes. Needless to say, in many parts of the world, your student community created history by taking the lead in fighting for independence and making progressive reforms. Accordingly, you can match the historical example of some “youthful people (who) believed in Moses” braving the risk of persecution from Pharaoh (10:83).

Conclusion: Obvious from the above is that the right kind of schools and students hold strong potentials to promote Islam in the society.