Why do we need this program? For the Muslim parent and teacher.
To have no past is to have no future. If you don’t know where you’re coming from you won’t know where you’re heading. If you do not understand the mistakes of the past you are doomed to repeat them. It has been with exerted deliberate efforts that our Muslim heritage has been either wiped out, distorted or at the very least hidden from us. As a result, nowadays we have generations of Muslims who don’t take pride in their identity. They look to the west to learn how to lead their lives.
They no longer find role models in their authentic heritage on the path of righteousness, instead they follow deviant paths leading to the path of the devil. They are filled with confusion and conflict. They either live with distorted identities that bring them shame or eventually leave their identities completely. It is a sad state of affairs which the only solution to is to go back and uncover our proud history and contribution to civilization.
We need to reconnect to our great heritage to pave the path to an honourable successful fulfilling future. A future where people can fulfil their purpose of creation, spreading the word of Allah and inhabiting earth and contributing in a positive way to humanity. The purpose of this course is to reconnect Muslim generations to their roots and revive their Islamic identity. Through this course we will explore world history from the beginning of times, we will examine history through the lenses of Islam.
As we are exploring history, we will also explore our beautiful religion throughout times and learn how Allah established this religion since the time of Adam p.b.u.h.
This course will cover Islamic wisdom, rulings and the understanding of the relative verses of the Quran while exploring history and geography skills.
Why do we study or teach history from the Islamic perspective? For the Muslim teacher and parent.
As they sincerely teach the facts of history from an Islamic viewpoint, Muslim history instructors and Muslim parents have a tremendous chance to develop character in their students/children. They are assisting them in developing characteristics that would enable them to become outstanding men and women in this Ummah (nation). There is no more successful instruction than that which is based on people and their personalities rather than abstract ideas and dry facts.
Only a few kids can truly understand Ikhlass (sincerity) and Tadh’hiya (Sacrifice) as a character trait, but when the names Nuh and Ibrahim are pronounced in their presence, every kid immediately understands what sincerity and sacrifice entail.
These men provide a higher level of service via their character than they do through their sacrifices and actions. They exemplify excellent characteristics and exhibit tremendous values. Despite the fact that they are no longer alive, they continue to talk with voices that have influence on our youngsters, who hear about these virtues but do not see them applied in the current reality.
History is summed up in great and wicked persons, as a figure in history embodies every virtue and vice, every character and every evildoing. Do not teach arrogance until you first tell the account of Fir’awn or Kisra, and do not explain rejection of God unless you first learn about Nimrod.
Al Quran and the Sunnah of Rassulullah ﷺ are the foundations for Muslims education and learning. These two sources can provide the Muslim history teacher and student a wealth of knowledge and lessons to learn from.
In this course we will identify these lessons and teach them with confidence because of our Islamic perspective. History, the tale of what mankind has done throughout the time Allah s.w.t. has given them, can only be properly comprehended in light of the Quran and Sunnah. Secular historians, encyclopaedias, history textbooks, and manuals refrain from evaluating history in favour of simply retelling facts. This is not how a Muslim historian should teach history. A Quranic knowledge of human nature is essential for him/her in evaluating and teaching about all times of history.
Aims and Objectives
Our aim for this program is to:
- Provide the Muslim reader as well as any curious mind an original historical program with an Islamic narrative.
- Respond to the shortness in reliable Islamic resources for the study of History for kids, teens and adults.
- Make the study of History accessible to the new Muslim generations from an early age.
- Make learning and teaching more effective with active participation and student collaboration
- Bring ease and fascination in the past of mankind.
- An in-depth immersed study of the different Historical times to make the subject of History mastered at a scholarly level by the youngest.
- We aim at making the study of History meaningful and relevant to the Muslim child of our time.
- We look at a program that will be engaging, interactive and rich in activities that will spark the interest of the child to learn about the past and present world around him.
- This program will also look at the study of past nation from an Islamic perspective. We think it is crucial for any program destined for a Muslim audience to be studied from an Islamic angle. Past nations had glory only when they followed the steps of their prophets and the way of Allah, and declined when they moved away from this path. Finding the ways of Allah and the “repeated” patterns for success (for both the Dunya and Akhira). We call these ways “Sunan”, and they will put the Muslim child in a unique position to analyse the world around him in a multidimensional view (for this life and the after). He will learn the ways that lead to success and avoid repeating the mistakes that led past civilisations to decline and loss in both worlds.
- However, our Islamic integration is not confined to the historical aspect of Social Studies. Muslim students are also given opportunities to evaluate concepts, such as cultural values, economic systems, and modern issues in the light of the Quran and the Sunnah.
- Knowing the past is the first step to know your present and take the good decisions for your future. We are challenged in our time to provide resources that encourage Muslims students to learn to think critically and Islamically away from bias, omission and distortions in history textbooks and Encyclopaedias that put the world and Human beings in the narrow scope of “Secularism”.
- And lastly but not least, understanding the human nature and developing character through the study of History. As they sincerely teach the facts of history from an Islamic viewpoint, Muslim history teachers and Muslim parents have a tremendous chance to develop character in their students/children. They are helping them cultivate qualities that would make them exceptional men and women in this Ummah. Teaching while focusing on people and their personalities rather than dry information and abstract concepts is the most effective. As an example, abstract concepts like Ikhlass (sincerity) and Tadh’hiya (Sacrifice) are hard to explain to a child as a character trait, but when the names Nuh and Ibrahim are pronounced in his presence, every kid immediately understands what sincerity and sacrifice entail. These men provide a higher level of service via their character than they do through their sacrifices and actions. They exemplify excellent characteristics and exhibit tremendous values. Despite the fact that they are no longer alive, they continue to talk with voices that have influence on our youngsters, who hear about these virtues but do not see them applied in the current reality. History is summed up in great and wicked persons, as a figure in history embodies every virtue and vice, every character and every evildoing. Do not teach arrogance until you first tell the account of Fir ‘awn (Pharoh) or Kisra (Khosrow), and do not explain rejection of God unless you first learn about Nimrod.
- Train the Muslim student to go back to the Quran and the Sunnah to find answers and to understand his surroundings. Al Quran and the Sunnah of Rassulullah ﷺ are the foundations for Muslims education and learning. These two sources can provide the Muslim history teacher a wealth of knowledge and lessons to learn from. In this course we will identify these lessons and teach them with confidence because of our Islamic perspective. History, the tale of what mankind has done throughout the time Allah ﷻ has given them, can only be properly comprehended in light of the Quran and Sunnah. Secular historians, encyclopaedias, history textbooks, and manuals refrain from evaluating history in favour of simply retelling facts. This is not how a Muslim historian should teach history. A Quranic knowledge of human nature is essential for him/her in evaluating and teaching about all times of history.
The Islamic Approach to History
Islamic education differs from all other educational systems in the world. Most of these systems are similar in that they strive to prepare students to be good citizens in a specific country. However, because each country has its own unique definition of a “good citizen,” education based on this foundation is typically nationalistic and thus limited in scope. Islam, on the other hand, takes a far larger view of the function of education and focuses primarily on “the development of a good human being”.
