Muslim Teens Rising with Resilience

The Renewal of Islamic Education

Educators explain how difficulties often lead to opportunities

BY LEILA SHATARA, AZRA NAQVI AND THOURAYA BOUBETRA

The Ninth West Coast ISNA Education Forum (WCIEF), hosted by ISNA in collaboration with the Council of Islamic Schools of North America (CISNA; www.cisnausa.org) and the Aldeen Foundation (aldeenfoundation. org), was held on Jan. 16-17 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. The theme of its first virtual forum was “The Renewal of Islamic Education: With Difficulty Comes Opportunity.”

While working with schools and educators at home and abroad, ISNA witnessed creativity and initiative as Islamic schools adapted creative policies to deal with the pandemic. They networked, attended webinars and sessions convened by organizations such as ISNA and found creative ways to meet their students’ needs in a remote learning environment. This inspired the WCIEF committee and its chairperson, Necva Ozgur, who has chaired or co-chaired it since its inception, to choose this theme.

This year’s event featured three tracks: Islamic Studies, Arabic/Quran, and Curriculum and Instruction (https://isna. net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/9thWest-Coast-ISNA-Education-ForumProgram-2021.pdf). A total of 530 domestic and foreign participants registered for this ISNA-provided virtual conference.

The Islamic Studies track included topics such as “From Memorization to Understanding” and “Teacher’s Effect on Self-Esteem,” “Legal Issues for Islamic Schools: Prevalent Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues” (attorney Muhammad Lakhani), “Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in Islamic Studies” (Fawzia Tung, Tung Education Resources; Islamic Schools League of America board member), “Maintaining Student Spirituality in a Remote/Hybrid Schooling” (Habeeb Quadri and Saad Quadri), “Contemporary Issues for Islamic Schools: LGBTQ+ (Shaykh Yasir Fazaga, director, mental health department, Access California Social Services Agency, Anaheim, Orange County Islamic Foundation, and Shaykh Abdallah Idris Ali, a former ISNA president). They helped attendees better understand how to meet their students’ social, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs.

One of our times’ most pressing concerns is the LGBTQ+ issue and how we can provide healthy gender identity and sexual orientation teachings in an environment that contradicts Islamic principles. Fazaga explained that the Quran provides guidance in how these matters can be positive and healthy when practiced within Islam’s framework. Idris Ali stressed that our communities need to handle these issues with compassion and understanding because our youth are struggling and need guidance and support.

Attorney Muhammad Lakhani, who discussed Islamic schools’ rights as private religious educational institutions, emphasized that the Constitution and religious freedom laws protect our schools when it comes to LGBTQ+ matters and that they have the right to fulfill their missions. He also stressed that our schools must know their rights and their state’s laws regarding this and other issues. He encouraged Islamic schools to handle any LGBTQ+ issues that arise with care and consideration for all parties involved.

Tung provided practical methods for a schoolwide Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program. She showed how Islamic studies teachers in particular can be the core of SEL support by merging an Islamic approach to character-building with SEL’s elements and embed it into the curriculum and classroom activities. Sadiq’s two sessions on children’s holistic development focused on deep understanding, rather than memorizing, especially in regard to religious matters.

Habeeb Quadri and Saad Quadri showcased some of the ideas they use in their school to help maintain a high level of spirituality even in the remote/hybrid models, like assemblies and competitions that engage and motivate students to remain attached to their deen and to one another. Some ideas were continuing with the morning assembly and having khatm teams compete to read the entire Quran. Such creative ideas allowed students to compete in rendering good and encouraging each other to increase their good deeds.

This track’s presentations reminded us that living and learning in the West requires us to be creative in how we teach Islam. Islamic schools and our community’s expertise must help our children and families navigate this culture’s distractions, all of which pull them away from God. In fact,