The Muslim Teacher

The usual approach in Muslim schools is to employ separate teachers for ‘Islamic Studies’. These are not the main class teachers whose role is to teach all other subjects. This only serves to strengthen this dichotomy of ‘Islamic’ and ‘Secular’ education. If a child perceives that all other knowledge is taught by their main class teacher and that a special ‘ustadh’ comes in to teach them Islam, they will quickly believe that learning about Islam is only for some ‘special’ people whilst all other knowledge is for everyone.

It is true that a teacher of Islam must have the necessary subject knowledge. However it is also true that in primary education; it is a level of knowledge that every Muslim should have.

Primary teachers are expected to research and prepare all other lessons, some English graduates may have to do extra preparation for Maths lessons or ICT graduates for English lessons. It is perfectly reasonable therefore for a school to expect teachers to similarly prepare the ‘teaching’ of Islam. Particularly as everyone will accept that the child’s main teacher is the biggest influence on their life after their parents.

In the ‘Shakhsiyah Model’ the teacher is education; everything rests on his/her shoulders. Buildings, facilities, resources are all only as good as the humans that use them. “According to Iqbal … A teacher is the ideal and model to be followed by students. He is the key to the whole education process. … He should grasp the meaning of education and it’s relation to society.”

Thus the teacher must not only possess shakhsiyah Islamiyah herself but also understand that this is her primary task in teaching, further she must have the necessary knowledge and skills to achieve this. “It is not enough that such a teacher should be well read in Islamic material, or that he should possess an insight into Islamic beliefs and fundamental judgments. In addition he must be endowed with two essential qualities. Firstly, he should have true academic and intellectual capacity; that is he should have a good grounding in the sciences of Islam and should be well read in the general culture of Islam. Secondly, he should have the moral ability to be able to educate his pupils in such a way that they will become fully aware of the perfect accord between their teacher’s words and his actual behaviour.” [Teacher Training – The Islamic Perspective, M. Zafar Iqbal, 1996]

The most significant point about the teacher is that she must practice what she preaches, even on the tiniest of matters. For example if the school has a ‘Healthy Lunch’ policy for children then staff should not consume crisps and chocolates in front of children.

Thus the recruitment of teachers is the most important decision made in a school. However this is just the commencement of the school’s responsibility. Trustees and Head teachers must see teacher development as a priority. As there is no training programme in Islamic education for teachers available in the U.K, at Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation we took this on in-house. With our limited knowledge we began preparing and delivering training days for teachers prior to their taking their first lesson. They would receive eight days of training in August before the first term of the year. Some examples of sessions are given below:

1. What is Education in Islam?
2. Building the Shakhsiyah Islamiyah
3. Islamicization of the National Curriculum
4. Cross Curricular Teaching
5. Historical Enquiry and Skills
6. Lesson Planning the Halaqah
7. Questioning in the Halaqah
8. Halaqah-Personalising Learning and Shakhsiyah
9. Integrating the Halaqah with English
10. The Young Child in Islam
11. The Child as an Amanah
12. Ikhtilaf fi Islam

Over time, the quality and scope of this training has improved and the potential is there to develop it into a course which could be of service to the wider ummah. The training sessions have been of immense use to teachers and feedback has been positive. Teachers often comment that their time at ISF has helped them develop as Muslims and that through teaching the children they have learnt the Islamic ‘Skills for Life’. The training is coupled with close mentoring and ‘sisterhood’ amongst staff. The training also contributes to staff-retention as teachers feel they are serving a higher purpose and engaged in sadaqah jaariyah. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said “The most generous man among them after me will be a man who will acquire learning and disseminate it.” [Baihaqi]

The relationship between the teacher and the children will not only determine their character but also their approach to learning.