It is unfortunately often the case that those who have the capacity and inclination to put money into Islamic education do not necessarily have much idea of what might be taught (apart from the basic five pillars and perhaps a bit of Qur'an recitation). It was therefore necessary to provide at least a hint of the range of topics that might be included in any form of Islamic education beyond what might be found in any local madrassah. In the event I decided that at this stage a hint was about as much as I was prepared to give.
 

Project to facilitate the inclusion of the Islamic Cultural Heritage within the bounds of the National Curriculum


PART THREE
Themes for Education Packs

The number of ways of arranging Islamic material into subject themes for the IQRA Education Packs is limited only by the imagination, but decisions need to be made in this area before any serious work on contents can be started. Obviously LEAs and teachers should be consulted as to their preferences, and restraints of cost and immediate availability of material must be considered.

The range of possibilities is so vast that it is impossible to do more than outline some suggestions as examples of what might be possible, and no detailed project work considerations will be included at this stage.

Cross-curricular themes:

Weather, Lifecycles, Buildings, Environment, Textiles, Patterns, etc.,

 

Example 1.

HAJJ - the global community of Islam

Primary levels:

Display materials - Pictures and Posters of Ka'abah; places visited on Hajj; muslims from various countries in their national costumes; pilgrims in ihram; pilgrims washing and praying; pilgrims travelling en masse by plane, ship, bus, car, donkey, wheelchair, and on foot; map of muslim world; map of route of pilgrimage;

Information cards - The story of Abraham: The story of Ka'abah; Zam-Zam; the story of the black stone; Muhammad helps decide who lifts the black stone into place; stories of the Eid ul Adha celebrations; stories of muslims around the world; the requirements for pilgrimage; Qur'an quotes on pilgrimage;

Artefacts - Items of clothing worn by muslims around the world; prayer mat featuring picture of Ka'abah; Ka,abah compass; dzikr beads; Eid cards;

Secondary levels:

Display materials - Islamic calendar; Old muslim maps of the world; Geographic features of the terrain pilgrims travel; Charts diagrams and graphs relating Hajj to countries of the muslim world; Ka'abah painted on distant walls;

Information cards - Pilgrim countries (size, population, languages, vegetation, life-forms, history, economic and political statistics) with number of pilgrims from each; Statistical analysis of influence of air transport on Hajj; Requirements for pilgrimage in more detail; The meaning of the Eid Sacrifice; Source material describing the Final Pilgrimage; Descriptions of pilgrimage journeys by muslim travellers in history;

Artefacts - Saudi Airways travel magazines; Travel brochures from muslim countries; Postage stamps; Coins and currency;

Computer software - statistical analysis of logistics of Hajj;

 

Example 2.

WATER

Primary levels:

Display materials - Young and old washing for prayer; People and animals drinking; Fish; Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, sea, rain, snow, clouds, floods; Flowers in water; Water transport; (simple quranic quotations to be allied with visual material)

Information cards - Washing; Why we clean ourselves; Finding and moving water: What we can drink; How rain makes the plants grow; From sea to clouds to rivers to sea; Travelling by water;

Artefacts - Miswak; Coffee pots and water jugs; Waterwheels; A model dhow;

Secondary levels:

Display materials - Reservoirs and qanat well-systems; Waterwheels and water-power systems; Public baths; Boats in Bangladesh; Mughal fountains;

Information cards - Personal hygiene; Washing and bathing for prayer; The history of the Turkish bath; Water in plant life and the human body; Water in the weather systems; Sweet and salt water on the surface of the earth; Methods of irrigation used around the muslim world; Studies of water management in Baghdad, Isfahan, and Fez; Engineering details of waterwheels, reservoirs and well-systems; World exploration by muslim navigators;

 

Clearly, by judicious choice of material such thematic packs can be readily usable across a wide range of subjects, but it may prove more convenient to group material in subject specific units. It can be seen that there is more than sufficient material in the Hajj example for it to be used as Geography specific, and similarly, the Water example could be used under the subject heading of Craft, Design and Technology, though their cross-curricular nature would seem to be more of an advantage. Because of the nature of the material, collating it by subject suggests an uneven distribution across the curriculum.

English material might be little more than booklists for teachers, giving guidance as to availability and suitability of titles drawn from the Islamic cultural tradition. 1001 nights, Kalila and Dimna, Arab Folktales, Stories from Idries Shah, The Conference of the Birds, and a few stories drawn from modern muslim writers, will not go very far if no new translation work is done. Much language work may be inspired by cross-curricular Islamic material, however.

In Science, quite the other way, the surfeit of material available makes possible a whole series of packs on a variety of topics, such as Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Astronomy, Geology, Botany, and Zoology.

 

Example 3.

MATHEMATICS

  • Telling the time and date - Times of prayer and the Islamic calendar;
  • Numbers - The story of 'Arabic numerals'; Zero and its uses; magic squares;
  • 2-D Geometry - Pattern design; Geometric tiles; Stencils; Astrolabes;
  • 3-D Geometry - Muqarnas; The Dome of the Rock & Islamic Architecture; The Taj Mahal and invisible minarets; Astronomical Observatories;
  • Algebra - Its use in the Islamic world, and introduction to the West;

 

Example 4.

 HOME ECONOMICS

  • Family relationships - Muslim family values and traditions; Sayings of the
    Prophet concerning the family; Marriage and sexual relations;
  • Food and drink - Ingredients and recipes from around the muslim world; Health and Hygiene; Killing and eating animals;
  • Shelter - Varieties of shelter, tents, yurts, mud-bricks, stone; Islamic house design and urban landscaping; Heating and lighting; Ventilation and wind-towers; Water and sewage systems;
  • Textiles - Rug knotting in Iran; Kilim weaving in Turkey; Embroidery from
    Palestine; Batik from Yogyakarta; Applique from Ahmedabad: Prints from Africa; 'Paisley' patterns; Fashion and style of dress throughout Islamic history;