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| Fourth grader Omair Kazi presents his project on
electricity at the Anniston Islamic Center's science fair. Photo: Sarah
Cole/The Anniston Star |
The parents gathered in the little schoolroom clutching smartphones, ready to
snap pictures of science fair projects. The 12 children near the front
shuffled notecards between their fingers, murmuring lines about static
electricity and why oil and water don't mix. Poster boards behind the kids
touted the ideal weather conditions for a tornado, properties of magnets and
the size of the solar system.
Most of the boys were dressed in suits or sports jackets, although one wore a
traditional Muslim tunic and cap. The girls wore summer skirts and scarves
tied around their hair and chins.
All of them are enrolled in the Iqraa School, which opened in September at the
Anniston Islamic Center as the city's first Muslim school.
In Arabic, "iqraa" means "read."
As the school's year-end science fair began last week, there were only a few
indications of the new school's religious affiliation: the children's attire,
a poster in Arabic listing the Hijri months of the year, a few references to
the prophet Mohammad on the brightly colored walls.
"The idea was to provide an education system for our children where they can
get the training for religion plus academics," said Muhammad Haq, the imam of
the mosque, who teaches the Quran and Arabic language classes at the school. "In
the future, we would like to establish an academically excellent school that
can attract other students who are not Muslim."
Learning the Quran by heart
Haq, called simply, endearingly "imam" by students, parents and members of the
Anniston Islamic Center, may be focused on how to expand the school's secular,
academic reach, but he ultimately is the key to the spiritual side of Iqraa
School.
He is one of the few people in northeast Alabama who knows the Quran by heart
and can, therefore, instruct children in their own memorization endeavors.
And the memorization of that holy book - what local Muslims call a special
distinction of the Islamic faith - is the reason these parents have pulled
their children out of The Donoho School for the next two to three years and
transferred them to Iqraa.
"The opportunity to memorize the whole book - we got excited and we thought it
was remarkable that our children are having this in Anniston, Alabama," said
Mona Rahim, who has three children at Iqraa.
There are two other Islamic schools nearby in Alabama - in Birmingham and
Huntsville - but only the Huntsville facility offers memorization classes, Haq
said.
The imam and parents at Iqraa hope the school's ability to help Muslim
children accomplish a mile-marker of their faith will draw interest from
people in the Birmingham area who don't have that opportunity.
"It is a very difficult thing to do," Mona said of learning the Quran by
heart. She noted that neither she nor her husband, Irfan, had the chance to
memorize the Quran when they were growing up in Pakistan - another motivation
for them to provide their children with rigorous Arabic classes on top of
academic work.
"I'm really happy they are doing it," she said. "It's a dream come true."
Academics in the afternoons
At the recent science fair, the Rahims beamed as they watched their oldest
son, 14-year-old Mateen, click through a Powerpoint presentation on chemical
reactions. His teacher, Heather Franks, sat in the front row, taking notes
with a red pen and photos with a digital camera.
"Now I will ask you to step outside, as my project is a bit messy," Mateen
said as he finished his discussion of synthesis, decomposition and other types
of reactions.
In the courtyard of the Anniston Islamic Center, Mateen dropped several small
white tablets into a Sprite bottle. The liquid began to fizz, and then bubbled
violently over the side of the bottle. Delighted laughter and clapping rang
throughout the yard.
Afterward, Haq thanked parents for coming to the fair and praised the students'
hard work.
"Exploring the scientific field really is lined up with Islam," the imam said,
and quoted a supporting verse in Arabic. "I'm really thankful to the teacher
for being available to the kids."
Franks, who hopes to find a job in the public school system after helping the
Iqraa School get on its feet, teaches the 12 Muslim students from 1:30-5:30
Monday-Friday.
Mateen and his fellow students spend long days at the Iqraa School; the older
children arrive every morning at 7 and stay until 5:30 p.m. The younger kids
come an hour later and leave and hour earlier.
Students dedicate their mornings to Quran memorization and Arabic lessons with
Haq. Then, after lunch, physical activity and prayer time, students join
Franks for lessons in reading and math, science and history.
The kids are bright, Franks said, and quick to learn. Classtime resembles that
of a one-room schoolhouse. For example, while Franks meets one-on-one with the
fourth-graders, the students in different grades must sit quietly while they
work on assignments or participate in group work.
"It's a pilot program, and they've done well," Franks said.
After parents presented her with a plaque at the conclusion of the science
fair, she told them: "I know the school has good potential, and it will grow
into whatever you want it to be."
A future for all faiths?
The school year ends this month for summer break, and classes will start back
in the fall. Haq's plans for the Iqraa School are ambitious, perhaps fitting
for a man who can easily recite 30 chapters of Arabic verse.
He wants to eventually help the academic side of the school earn
accreditation, to hire a full-time teaching staff and to attract more students
- Muslim and non-Muslim alike.
Haq envisions the school as an academically excellent one that can compete
with other church-based schools in the area.
While faith-based schools don't have to register with any state agency in
Alabama, state law requires these schools to be sponsored by a local church.
As such, Iqraa School is backed by the Anniston Islamic Center, the mosque at
the same East Anniston location.
"I would like to see it as an independent school that would add more
professional people in Anniston," said Haq, who serves on the Interfaith
Ministries of Calhoun County. "And it would help the development of the city."
But for now, the fledgling Iqraa School is structured as a three-year program
for Muslim children to successfully complete their Quran memorizations. After
the students have successfully done that, many of them will transfer back to
Donoho.
At least one family - the Rahims - has hired outside tutors to ensure that
transfer goes smoothly, and that the grade credits earned at Iqraa match up
with the milestones set by Donoho.
That's a lot of work on top of long days at the Iqraa School, but the Rahims
say it's worth it. They want to ensure their children have both a strong faith
and a strong academic background.
"When I knew we were having an Islamic school, I was overjoyed," said Sakinah
Qamar, the mother of a student at Iqraa. "My dreams were answered."
*****
Source: Anniston
Star
*****
Dr Habib Siddiqui has authored 10 books. His latest book - Devotional Stories - is now available from A.S. Noordeen, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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