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North Wales Islamic Societies
www.nwis.org.uk/education
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Islamic Studies
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First Grade
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Age
group: 5-7
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Main
Focus: Introduce the students to the themes, stories and values
of an Islamically-oriented milieu.
Learning
Abilities: Children at this age level are able to comprehend simple
concepts. While writing is still at the very basic level, their reading
ability is getting well underway with halting and sometimes difficult growth
stages in their comprehension.
Formats
to Avoid: Do not lecture. They will not be able to pay attention for more
than a few minutes at a time. Their attention span is limited. Preferred
Format: Interaction, stories, hands-on activities and group activities.
Children at this age love making things with their hands. Posters,
scale-models, paintings, sand-art, etc... are
wonderful activities for reinforcing Islamic awareness.
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Primary Textbook
Weekend
Islamic Studies Level 1
http://www.weekendlearning.com/
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Enrichment
Let's Learn from the Holy Qur'an
(Coloring Book)
(IQRA)
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Alternate Primary Textbook
I Love Islam
Series
Volume 1 + WB
(Noorart)
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Enrichment
My Little Book of Du'a
(Noorart)
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Secondary Textbook
The Life and Sayings of Rasulullah
(IQRA)
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Enrichment
What Do We Say... by Kathryn Abdullah
(IQRA)
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Teacher Resource
IQRA First Grade Curriculum
(IQRA)
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Nasheed (Songs Tape)
We are Muslims Vol. I and 2
Noorart
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Teacher Resource
Eid Mubarak Resource Binder by
Susan Douglass
(IQRA)
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Qirah Tape
Qur'an for
Little Muslims
Noorart
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Other books: 1. Mosques
Around the World Coloring Book 2. Masajid Allah Coloring Book (IBTS) Other Tapes: Bismillah, Love Allah, Little Muslims (Halalco)
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1. Surahs: An Naas, Al Falaq, An Nasr, Al 'Asr. (Simplified
English and Arabic + revisit previous surahs.)
A. Simple meaning of An Naas:
"In the Name of Allah, the Caring and Kind. Say out
loud: 'I want to be safe with the Lord of People, the Ruler of People, the God
of People, from the secret bad whispers in the hearts of people from the jinn
other people.'"
B. Simple meaning of Al Falaq:
"In the Name of Allah, the Caring and Kind. Say out
loud: "I want to be safe with the Lord of the sunrise, from the fear of
(any danger in) what He made, from the fear of the night time, from the fear of
bad magic and from the fear of a jealous person when he's jealous."
C. Simple meaning of An Nasr:
"In the Name of Allah, the Caring and Kind. When
Allah's help comes and you (Muslims) win, you will see lots of people entering
the lifestyle of Allah, so glorify your Lord and look for His forgiveness. He
is the one who forgives."
B. Simple meaning of Al 'Asr:
"In the Name of Allah, the Caring and Kind. Time
proves it! People are truly lost. All except the ones who believe, do what is
right, and who teach each other the truth and how to be patient."
C. Simple meaning of Surah Al Qadr:
"In the Name of Allah, the Caring and Kind. (Allah
began) this revelation on the Night of Power! And what is the Night of Power?
The Night of Power is better than a thousand months, because lots of angels
come down and the (Angel Jibrail comes too), all of
them have their Lord's permission. They do every kind of job. Peace is
everywhere until the sun comes up!"
2. The Qur'an was sent to the Prophet Muhammad (p) by
Allah. Allah asked the Angel Jibra'il to carry the
Messages to him. Allah is to powerful and important to bring them to a small
human by himself, although he can do it. A person could not handle all the
power and light he would see.
3. The Qur'an was given in the Arabic language because the
Prophet and his people spoke that language. Also, Arabic is a language that is
good for rhyming and poems. The Qur'an often uses rhymes so it is easy to
memorize and learn. We also have English translations but the Arabic is better.
4. The Qur'an has chapters called, "Surahs" and verses or sentences called
"Ayahs." Their are 114 Surahs. The longest
is Surah Al Baqarah and the
shortest is Surah Al Kauthar.
5. Muslims learn the Qur'an by heart and say it in their
prayers. They also learn it by heart so they remember the directions Allah
wants us to follow. We get rewarded by Allah for reading the Qur'an, saying it
out loud and learning it by heart. Every letter gives us a reward.
6. The Qur'an can only be touched if you are clean. We
need to make Wudu if we need it before we hold the
Qur'an. We don't need Wudu if we are only saying it
out loud and not holding the book.
7. Another name for the Qur'an is "Kitabullah" or "The Book of Allah." The word
Qur'an means, "The (Book) to read."
8. The whole Qur'an was revealed, or given, to the Prophet
Muhammad in his life. He could not read or write himself so he learned all of
it by heart as the Angel told it to him. Then the Prophet would go to the
people who could write and tell them what to write.
9. The Qur'an has never been changed by people and Allah
promised He would never let people change it.
10. Muslims should read a little bit of the Qur'an
everyday.
1. Allah is just one and has no partners or
helpers, and He doesn't need any.
2. Introduce the word "Tawheed"
and its significance, in simple terms, to the doctrine that Allah is one.
3. Allah has no children, wife, husband or parents. Allah
is not a boy or a girl. We only sat the term He because in Arabic there is no
word for "it." And anyway, it wouldn't sound nice to call Allah an
"it."
4. Allah is not a creature, spirit or a thing we can see,
but His knowledge is everywhere all at the same time. When we believe in Allah,
we have "Eman" or belief. (Sometimes
"Eman" is spelled "Eemaan"
or "Iman" or "Imaan".)
5. We should say, "Subahanahu
wa ta'ala" (Glory to
Him and the Highest) whenever we say the holy name: "Allah."
6. The angels are not male or female. They can move super
fast and do whatever Allah tells them. They are made out of light. Allah
does not need them but they need Allah.
7. There is another kind of creature called a Jinn. The jinns are invisible and are made from fire energy. Some are
good and some are bad. The bad ones come to bother people and make them think
bad thoughts.
7. Allah chooses people to bring His messages to other
people. These special people are called Prophets and Messengers. There were
many of them. Every group of people everywhere got a Prophet a long time ago.
The Qur'an tells us the story of some of them. The last Prophet Allah sent in
the world was Muhammad.
8. The world will all end one day and we will all stand in
front of Allah and find out how we did in our life. We are alive to be tested.
We must try to be as good as we can and we must never forget that we will have
to face the One Who made us and He will give us our final grades.
9. Allah knows what happened yesterday, today and what
will happen tomorrow.
10. Allah knows all our hidden thoughts and we can't keep
any secrets from Him.
11. In the next life, after we die, we will be sent to
Hell-fire if we were very bad and we will go to Paradise, Jannah,
if we were good and we believed in Allah.
12. Hell is a bad place where bad people are punished.
Paradise is a fun place where the good people get endless fun and rewards.
Everyone is always happy there and there is no crying, fear or sadness.
13. The biggest bad Jinn is named Shaytan.
He disobeyed Allah a long time ago and said he would hurt all the people and
make them disobey Allah also. Hell is where Shaytan
will go, too.
1. Our biggest job in life is to serve
Allah. The word for this is 'Ibadah, or service to
Allah. (Use the word "serve" for 'Ibadah
and never use the word "worship." 'Ibadah
comes from the root word "'Abada" which
means to serve. We don't say "Worshipper of Allah" when we translate
the name 'Abdullah, get it? Worship is the one word we must avoid because it is
a Christian term denoting simply praying and hoping. Nothing more.)
Allah is good and He loves goodness
from people. Allah hates it when people do bad. Mention Tawhid
in more detail.
2. The word Islam is the name of our way of life. Islam
means to do what Allah asks so we can feel nice and peaceful inside. A Muslim
is a person who follows Islam. A person becomes a Muslim only if they say and
believe in what the Shahadah means. Anyone can become
a Muslim and everyone should. The words of the Shahadah
are: "Ash hadu an la ilaha
illa Allah wa ash hadu anna Muhammadar
Rasulullah." (It should be learned in Arabic and
English) Use this English translation: "I say that there is no god but
Allah and I say that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." Islam is a Deen, or way of life.
3. Students will be taught the basic Salah
procedure, in order, concentrating mostly on all of the physical movements. The
terms Rak'ah (section), Sajda
(bowing), Jalsa (sitting), Qiyam
(standing) and Ruku (bending forward) will be
introduced and the students will be taught that they are supposed to look at the
spot of Sajda during the whole Salah
procedure.
4. The verbal parts of Salah
will be taught. The Tahiyat and Durood
Sharif may take most of the year to teach it right.
Go easy on the students this year concerning those two items and let them learn
at their own pace. Don't give a deadline for these items. Never be harsh or do
anything that will make the students associate Salat
with disappointment, anger or fear.
5. Teach the number of Rak'ahs
in each Salah as well as the concept that there are
extra prayers called Sunnah prayers. Only teach the wajib (two rak'ah) prayer before
Fajr and the two-rak'ah Sunnah
prayer after 'Isha. Introduce in more detail, the names and times of the Salah.
6. Zakah is the way Muslims help
each other. A monthly collection system of pennies can be used to demonstrate
how Zakah can benefit the community (class). The
proceeds at the end of the month can be used to buy food for the needy local
Muslims, or a canned food drive, using the food as symbolic money, can be
organized. Teach civic Islamic duty early!
7. Muslims stay away from food and drink for one month
every year. This is called fasting, or Sawm. (Siyam is an alternate way of pronouncing this word.)
It happens in the month of Ramadan. We learn to feel sorry for the poor and we
learn to control our hunger. From before sun up to sunset we don't eat, drink
or let ourselves get angry.
8. Children should not fast all day yet. The amount of
"practice" fasts and the length is up to the parents. Make a special
accommodation for those students "practice" fasting and encourage
them lavishly. Monitor closely so they don't faint or get sick. If any child
seems very weak, make them eat and encourage them by telling them that they are
only "practicing" right now and look how long they went today!
9. Ramadan is a special month. The Qur'an started to be
given to the Prophet Muhammad in this month, a long time ago. Surah 97 tells us about the night it first started to
happen.
10. It is the month where all our good deeds get extra
rewards, up to 700 times more!
11. Sahoor and Iftar concepts should be introduced.
12. At the end of Ramadan is the special holiday called 'Eid ul Fitr.
Teachers must make the 'Eid as special and as festive
in the school as Christmas is for non-Muslims. Otherwise, the children will
long for Christmas and think 'Eid is nothing very
special. Encourage gift-giving in the class and a special party should be held
in the school before the 'Eid vacation begins. Give
the children 'Eid gifts.
13. Muslims pray more in Ramadan, especially in the Masjid at night. This is called Tarawih.
14. Ramadan is the chance to get lots of bad deeds
forgiven, if we do our fasting the right way. Ramadan comes once a year.
15. Our parents use special time-tables to show the sahoor and iftar times.
16. The Hajj is a special month. It is the month where
Allah invited every Muslim in the world to go to Mecca and visit His special
place. Everyone who can make it, goes there for Allah's invitation. The Ka'bah is a building in Mecca that people face when they
pray because the great Prophet, Ibrahim, made it a
special place for people who want to pray to Allah.
17. Introduce the concept that people do certain
activities on Hajj and introduce the basic story of the Prophet Ibrahim.
18. Introduce 'Eid ul Adha and what its lessons are,
based on the example of giving up things you love the most out of even more
love for Allah. Make this Eid festive also.
19. Muslims have a duty to tell other people about Allah.
1. The following Adiyat
and ahadith should be learnt by the children in
Arabic and English:
A. Before eating we say, "Bismillahi
wa 'alaa barakatillah." "In the name of Allah and on the
Blessing of Allah."
B. "La Tanaafaru"
"Don't fight with each other."
C. "Rabbana ateena fid Dunya hasantin, wa fil
akhirati hasanatin, wa qeena athzabin
narr." "Our Lord, give us the good in this
world and the good in the next and protect us from the painful fire."
(2:201)
D. When we say the Prophet's name, or hear someone else
say it, we should say, "Sallallahu 'alayhee wa selem."
"Allah's prayer and peace be on him." We say it to show how much we
love our dear Prophet.
E. "Miftahul Jannati as Salah."
"The key to Jennah is the Salah."
(Ahmad, Ibn Majah)
F. "Af shoo Salama baiynakoom."
"Greet each other with Peace."
G. "Bismillahi wa kool bee yameneka."
"Start eating with Bismillah and eat with your
right hand."
1. Muslims eat with the right hand. We shake
hands with the right hand. We use our left hand for the bathroom. Teach the basic
cleanliness of using the bathroom (instinja) and the
importance of cleaning with water. ("So the evil germs don't get us and
make us stinky!")
2. Muslims greet older people first with the Salam and the young people offer their hand to the older
ones first.
3. Children must share their toys with others and always
be patient if they don't get what they want right away.
4. A Muslim doesn't call another Muslim a bad name or
tease them. Allah said in the Qur'an that the mean person who teases is the one
who really deserves the teasing. (49:11-12) No one should talk about someone in
a bad way if they are not there. This is called backbiting. It is called that
because you are like an animal eating their body from behind their back.
5. Muslims must follow the directions of their teachers
and parents. We never call an adult by their first name without adding brother
or sister first. i.e. Sister Zainab, or Brother Hameed. It is a good and wonderful thing for students to
use the terms brother and sister when they talk to each other. Muslims are,
after all, one big family in the world. The terms and concept of the Ummah can start to be introduced in this grade.
6. A Muslim does not insult food, even if it tastes bad.
Just don't take or accept any more or the food you don't like.
7. If you love your friend, you should tell them that you
love them for the sake of Allah.
8. Muslims don't put the Qur'an on the floor. We treat the
book with great respect.
9. A Muslim doesn't waste food. Whatever we don't eat, we
either give away or take back home.
10. When we stand in line, we keep the lines straight.
11. If someone comes and tells us a story about someone
else we know, we don't believe it automatically and we don't repeat the story.
We try to find out the truth about it ourselves first. (49:6)
12. If we see someone doing a bad thing, we tell them to
stop because Allah doesn't like bad deeds. If the person doesn't stop, we tell
the teacher or our parents.
13 . Allah loves the Muslim who tries his or her best in
anything.
14. When we first wake up we say: "Asbahna wa asbahal
mulku lillahi rabbil 'alameen."
"We wake up and the kingdom wakes up to Allah, the Lord of all the
worlds."
1. In this grade, more concepts of the Sirah can be introduced. Building on what was mentioned in
KG, we can now add a sense of continuity of Prophethood.
Reiterate the concept that Allah sends His messages to people and then tie this
in with the flow of Prophethood beginning with Adam
and then going to Nuh, Ibrahim,
Musa and up to Prophet Muhammad.
2. Introduce the incident with Abdel
Muttalib and the vow to sacrifice one of ten sons if
he found the well of Zam Zam.
Describe the results. Follow through to the baby Muhammad being an orphan.
3. Add more details to the Prophets childhood. Describe
Arabian pagan society afresh.
4. Talk about the caravan trip to Syria and the incident
with Bahira, the Monk.
5. The visit from Angel Jibra'il
to cleanse his soul while Muhammad was tending sheep.
6. Muhammad's employment with Khadijah
in simple terms and their marriage.
7. The children born to them.
8. The beginning of Prophethood
and the teachings of Islam. Actually go over what the Prophet was teaching
people (in a simplified way) so the students can see they were good teachings.
Introduce the term Wahy (revelation or inspiration.)
9. Describe the bad reaction of some people.
10. Describe the stories of the early converts to Islam:
Abu Bakr (the best friend), 'Ali (the nephew), Zayd (the adopted son), and Khadijah
and Fatimah (his wife and daughter).
11. Go over the secret plan to send some Muslims to a far
off land called Abysinia to let some Muslims be safe
from the evil idol-worshippers.
12. Explain what idol-worship is all about.
13. Explain how some people from a city named Medina came
to accept Islam and invited the Prophet to come and live with them.. Go over
introductions to the following Sahaba: Bilal the first Mu'adhan, Abu Dharr, Rumaysa bint Milhan, Sumaiyya and Asma' bint Abi Bakr.
14. Detail the incident with 'Ali in the Prophet's bed
while the Prophet and Abu Bakr escaped at night.
15. The incident with the cave can be retold with more
details about the bird's nest and the spider's web.
16. Celebrate the triumphant entry to Medina with the
song, "Ta'ala badru 'alayna."
17. More details about the building of brotherhood in
Medina. Mention there were two big groups, the Auws
and Khazraj, who used to fight, but that the Prophet
made them love each other.
18. Describe the battles of Badr
and Uhud in simple detail.
19. Mention there were two more big battles, but don't
explain them fully yet.
20. Go over the treaty of peace between the Muslims and
Mecca in a simple way. Explain how the Meccans broke
it.
21. The peaceful taking of Mecca.
22. The spread of Islam far and wide.
23. The death of the Prophet and the great sadness.
24. The people elected Abu Bakr
to be the leader of the Muslims. The wahy was ended
but leadership must remain.
1. The stories of the following
Prophets/People should be taught in an interesting way. Make the stories come
alive by reciting their history in a dramatic and entertaining way. Don't just
read from a book. Make it a magical experience for them. Don't forget to bring
props and visual aids. The children can even be given puppet shows with hand
puppets to make the stories more real.
A. Prophet Ibrahim and how he
was a boy in search of Allah. How he rejected the moon, sun and stars and also
rejected the idols. Explain how he left his father and land by Allah's command.
Introduce the concept of Ibrahim settling his wife
and his son, Isma'il, in Arabia. Then go into Hajir's search for water, finding Zam
Zam and the later building of the special Ka'bah by Isma'il and his father.
B. Introduce the story of the People of Saba (34:15-19) and how they cheated and oppressed people.
C. The story of the servant and the red cloth from Sahih Bukhari. A'ishah relates that a servant girl was accused of stealing
a red cloth when, in fact, a bird had snatched it from the servant girl's hand.
The servant girl protested her innocence for days but nobody believed her. One
day, in front of everybody, the same bird came flying overhead and dropped the
red cloth on the ground and flew away. The servant girl praised Allah and
nobody doubted her word ever again. (This story may be used to emphasize that
Allah always lets the truth come out sooner or later.)
D. The story of Prophet Musa up
until the day the armies of Pharaoh were crushed in the water.
E. The story of Prophet Nuh in a
simplified form. Use in conjunction with the coloring
book of the same name.
F. The Hadith story of the man who brought baby birds to
the Blessed Prophet and the Prophet made the man return them to the nest saying
that the mother bird missed her babies.
G. Introduce the concept that there were four leaders who
came after the Prophet Muhammad who were good and who loved Allah. There names
are Abu Bakr, 'Umar, Uthman and 'Ali. "The Khulafa
ar Rashideen" or
"The Best Rulers." Give a few sayings from each and a few of their great
achievements. Save more details for a higher grade.
1. The following manners of eating and
drinking should be taught:
A. Always share your food if you see someone with no food.
B. Don't start eating if you are in a group until everyone
is ready and the Du'a was said.
C. Don't make a mess and clean up your own place.
D. Don't throw food away. Save it in a wrapper and eat it
later. Refrigerate it if you need to.
E. After eating we say, "Alhumdulillahil
ladhee at 'ammna wa saqana wa
ja 'alnaa min al muslimeen." "Praise Allah who gave us food and
drink and made us Muslims."
2. Students should be able to define the following words
based upon all the syllabus requirements enumerated thus far:
A. 'Eid ul
Fitr, 'Eid ul Adha
B. Tauhid, Iman,
Ghafranak, Deen
C. Last Day, Shukran, Afwan, Wahy
D. 'Ibadah, Owthzubillah,
Insha'llah
3. Students should be taught the following phrases and
when to use them:
A. When we enter the bathroom we say, "Allahumma owdhoobika min al khub-ti wal khaba-ith"
"Allah protect us from the dirty things." We always enter with our
left foot.
B. When we leave the bathroom we say, "Ghafranak" "(Allah's) pardon." We leave with
our right foot.
C. When we see our parents we should say "Assalamu 'alaykum" first and
then be nice to them.
D. When someone does something for us we should say,
"Shukran" "Thank you." If
they do something really nice we say, "Jazakullah."
(Allah reward you)
E. If someone says shukran to
us, we reply, "Afwan" "You're
Welcome."
F. Anytime we're happy we say, "Alhumdulillah!"
or "Allahu Akbar!"
"Allah is Great!"
G. Anytime we plan something or talk about tomorrow, we
say, "Insha'llah" "If Allah
wills."