Download Safeguarding Children in the Madressah

Safeguarding children in the
Madressah
An Islamic perspective
Objectives
 Participants will be able to appreciate the importance
of safeguarding children in Madressah in the light of
ECM
 Participants will be able to appreciate the importance
of safeguarding children from the Qur’a’an and hadith
 Participants will be able comprehend the different
Islamic perspectives to educating children
 Participants will discuss their own opinions of child
protection in Madresah
The Quraanic approach
• In the Qur’aan there many instances when
children and young people have been
addressed
• Namely;
– Ibrahim (AS) with his child Ismaeel
– Yaqub (AS) to his child Yusuf
– And Luqman (AS) to his child.
The Prophetic approach
Aishah RA, the wife of the Prophet, said that
the Prophet Muhammad said,
“Allah is kind and He loves kindness and confers
upon kindness that which he does not confer
upon severity or anything else besides it.”
(Muslim)
• `
The Prophetic approach
• A Companion of the Prophet, Anas bin Malik (R.A.),
reported that whenever the Prophet passed children on
the road he would give them a smile and a greeting. He
also said, “I have never seen anybody more merciful to
children than the Prophet.”
• In another narration Anas bin (R.A.) narrates his own
account that I spent ten years in the service of the
Prophet (SAW) as a child never did scold me and say why
haven’t you carried this out or why have you done this?
The Prophetic approach
• Another tradition relates his emphasis on treating children with
respect and understanding:
• The incident is narrated by `A’ishahRA: The Prophet took a child in
his lap … and then the child urinated on him, so he asked for water
and poured it over the place of the urine. (Bukhari) ....
Embarrassed, the father sprang forward.
• “What have you done, you silly boy” he shouted. His arm shoved
forward to grab the child away from the Muhammad, his red face
showing his anger. Fear and confusion showed in the face of the
child. Muhammad restrained the man, and gently hugged the child
to him. “Don’t worry,” he told the over-zealous father. “This is not a
big issue. My clothes can be washed. But be careful with how you
treat the child” he continued. “What can restore his self-esteem
after you have dealt with him in public like this?”".
Rights of children in islam
• Children have the right to education. A saying
attributed to Muhammad relates:
"A father gives his child nothing better than a good
education."
• Parents are recommended to provide adequately
for children in during their lives and in
inheritance.
• An incident of Umar R.A. summed up some of
the rights of children in the following anecdote:
• “Seek knowledge even if it be in China.”
• Islam regards teachers as the pillars of the
educational process and highlights
• These included Omar bin ‘Utbah, who wrote
to the teacher of his children that “Let your
first action in attending to my children be in
attending to yourself. Their eyes will see what
your eye sees. They will see good the things
you do and bad the things you renounce.”
Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali, known in Europe as Algazel, is one of the most illustrious Muslim scholars,
who wrote many works, and became renowned for his learning. His ideas on education
dominated Islamic educational thought for centuries after his death.
According to Al-Ghazali,
`knowledge exists potentially in the human soul like the seed in the soil; by learning
the potential becomes actual.’
The child, Al-Ghazali also wrote,
`is a trust (placed by God) in the hands of his parents, and his innocent heart is a
precious element capable of taking impressions'.
Al-Ghazali
• If the parents/the teachers:
• brought the child up in righteousness he
would live happily in this world and the next
and they would be rewarded for their good
deed.
• If they neglected the child’s upbringing and
education he would lead a life of unhappiness
in both worlds and they would bear the
burden of the sin of neglect.
Al-Ghazali
• Education , Al-Ghazali states in ‘Ayyuha l-walad’ is
like:
`the labour of the farmer, who uproots the weeds,
trims wheat so as it grows better and gives a
better harvest.'
• Every human needs a teacher to guide him in the
right direction. To try and do without leads to
worst illusions.
• In Ayyuha l-walad the pupil’s outward respect for
his teacher is evidence of esteem for such in
one's heart.
Al-Ghazali in Practice (Part 1)
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He who undertakes the instructions of the young, points Al-Ghazali:
`undertakes great responsibility'.
He must therefore be as tender to his pupils as if they were his own children.
He must correct moral lapses through hinting.
above all he himself must set an example so that his action accords with his
precepts.
The teacher should never criticise the subject taught by another.
He must adapt his teaching to the pupil's capacity and ability, and not to
overburden the pupil's capacity, nor give him fright.
He must respect the less gifted pupil, who might if lost, leave safe foundations for
standards he would never reach.
And after school, Al-Ghazali insists, the pupil must be allowed to have recreation.
To prevent play and insist on continuous study leads to dullness in the heart,
diminution in intelligence and unhappiness.
Al-Ghazali in Practice (Part 2)
Even more on this matter, in ‘Ihya ulum al-din’, the teacher, Al-Ghazali
holds, carries eight duties.
1.
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First and foremost he is a father for his pupils.
He must teach for the sake of God.
He would advise the student with prudence,
fight the excessive urge to learn too quickly, and to overtake his
peers.
He would reprimand with moderation,
in private, discreetly, not in public.
To blame too much is to make the pupil too stubborn in his way of
seeing and doing things.
And one other duty of the teacher is to make sure that what he
teaches he pursues in his life, and that his own acts do not contradict
what he is trying to inculcate.
Ibn Khaldun and Education
• Ibn Khaldun stated that excessive violence to the
child accustoms him to weak will, cowardice, and
escaping from life requirements.
• He said, “The one who was brought up by
violence and submission…[will be] displeased,
inactive, and lazy. It will force him to lie and be
cunning for fear of hands stretching to subdue
him. It will teach him trickery and deception,
which will become habits and manners and will
spoil his humanity.”
Ibn Khaldun
• A gradual approach to discipline is what Ibn Khaldun
appears to really be advocating. And, his critical tones
toward punishment in general seem to imply that other
methods of discipline are almost always sufficient without
being quick to resort to corporal punishment.
• Furthermore, he warns educators from exceeding these
limits and resorting to corporal punisment, portraying them
as God’s limits that should not be transgressed lest the
violator be prevented from God’s knowledge and mercy.
• Information should be given to students
gradually in stages, lower to higher, which
they may understand.
• If teaching methods are gradually applied to
students, the education will prove more
effective for them
It is Harmful to be very Strict on the
Student
• During education and teaching, it is harmful to be
very strict on the student especially if the student is
of young age.
• This sort of aggressiveness negatively influences the
child. It may affect the psychology of the child and
create unhappiness as well as corrupt his desire to
work and study. This will drive the child to
misbehaviour and to lie out of fear.
Imparting Information to Students at
their Level of Comprehension
• Information should be given to students
gradually in stages, lower to higher, which
they may understand. If teaching methods are
gradually applied to students, the education
will prove more effective for them.
Appropriate Length of Subjects
Taught
• According to Ibn Khaldun, an oversummarized text on certain information as
well as an over-extended text will create
difficulty in learning the actual information.