City of Residence:
Fridley, MN
Occupation:
Educator, Ed. D. from University of Minnesota
Excerpt:
“The importance of Islamic education to me was, I sort of divide it into two fronts: one is sort of the defensive front, and one is the proactive front. On the proactive front, providing children with an Islamic education helps imbibe that Islamic identity that you want to help maintain in a society that’s, sometimes, you know, some of the values are at odds with what we want to teach our children. So it’s a sort of, like I said, a proactive effort to help build strong Muslim children; and then the defensive part of it is, sort of protecting Muslim children from some of the negative influences that you find in public schools that not only Muslims are concerned about, but everybody’s concerned about. Things like drugs and, you know, promiscuity amongst teenagers and that type of thing. And another aspect also is providing the child with a God-centered atmosphere. Public schools, as good as they may be in providing academic education, are sort of sterile when it comes to spirituality; and I felt that it was important for children to always be aware as Muslims, that God is the center of everything in their life and it’s not just, you know, school five days a week and maybe Sunday school on the weekends.”
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