At our masjid school, one of my responsibilities is to hire new teachers. Usually we advertise our openings word of mouth but once in a while we’ve posted advertisements.
Now a senior teacher who works with me has repeatedly brought up the issue of hiring only Hanafi/Sunni muslims and has been very vocal about her preference. I’ve tried to explain to her that a muslim is a muslim, period, and that it does not matter who teaches your child how to read the Qur’an as long as they are muslim by definition and know how to read the Qur’an [along with some of our other requirements such a knowledge of Tajweed]. What lies in our hearts, only Allah knows.
I think that all these divisions are breaking our community, causing hatred for each other and ruining the very fundamentals that Islam is based on: Unity.
Re: Being a muslim and the holier than thou attitude
depends on what the teacher is supposed to do.....
if only readinng is being taught......then it shouldnt be a problem..
but if you are teaching other things............ then you got to have a curriculum etc....... which the teacher should follow........if you don't have the curriculum....the teacher will teach whatever they see fit......which might not be in accordance with what your (unwritten)curriculum suggests..
personally.........i think its all BS....about making religious education sect/fiqh specific......the kids that learn from your school will be no different that brainwashed narrowminded kids in some backward area madrassa.
Re: Being a muslim and the holier than thou attitude
well i think the title is different from what the question asked.
in terms learning the Quran, it doesn't matter what school of thought one if from.
I think the issue she might have is in terms of learning how to pray Salat. Different school of thought pray differently and at different time (ex. Asr). The kids that I had taught were a mix of Hanafis and Shafis, but the text we learned from was from a Hanafi perspective. When I would pray next to some of the children, I do notice that they did pray like Shafis ( which was fine), but they must have learned it from home (which is fine too).
Overall, its not a big issue. The teacher in question shouldn't have a baqarah about this. . She should be happy that people are willing to teach in the first place, since it's so hard to find teachers wanting to teach.
Re: Being a muslim and the holier than thou attitude
Fire that teacher , she will get you in trouble , workplace discrimination on any basis is illegal in USA , and I guess you live in USA.
To expound it more in USA there are many Jews and Christian professors teaching Islamic studies/Islamic Ideology , can they be fired because they are non Muslim and should not be teaching Islamic Ideology ? No. Universities will be sued and their funding will be stopped if they impose any restrictions.
On the same note a Muslim can become an expert in Jewish studies and teach that at a university that is why I love this country.
Re: Being a muslim and the holier than thou attitude
Yes specially in India and Pakistan , they will put words in brackets during translation which do not exist. They are trying to put words in Allah(SWT) mouth , like nauzubillah Allah(SWT) forgot to use the right words.
Re: Being a muslim and the holier than thou attitude
^it can be used for that purpose but a muslim will use brackets for translation purposes not changing the words of Allah Allmighty
as for the teacher post i would agree it would be better if intricate education is to be taught to hire hanafi teacher, since this will be more beneficial to them within their community if indeed the students are predominately south asian. however if the majority is from one of the other four schools then go with that schools teacher. if the education is basic and not intricate then any teacher from the four schools should be fine, however for kids from hanafi backgrounds hanafi teacher would be best for good assimillation (thats the theory anyway)
Re: Being a muslim and the holier than thou attitude
SO to elaborate further, we have a mixed group of students coming from all schools of thought. Per ethics of teaching, we are obligated to teach them all for no one is "better" than the other. Also, our school/masjid doesn't say: An Islamic School for Hanafi's only even though our curriculum is approved by Hanafi ulema.
The situation about the teacher was for hiring a Qur'an teacher specifically.
Re: Being a muslim and the holier than thou attitude
yeah true, better doesnt really come into it even if people have expressed preferences/loyalty. its fiqh rulings at the end of the day, and usually differences only appear at the very end of the leaves if any. for QURAN teaching preferebly a hafiz with teaching experience from any ASWJ thought would be fine, imo
Re: Being a muslim and the holier than thou attitude
At our masjid school, one of my responsibilities is to hire new teachers. Usually we advertise our openings word of mouth but once in a while we've posted advertisements.
Now a senior teacher who works with me has repeatedly brought up the issue of hiring only Hanafi/Sunni muslims and has been very vocal about her preference. I've tried to explain to her that a muslim is a muslim, period, and that it does not matter who teaches your child how to read the Qur'an as long as they are muslim by definition and know how to read the Qur'an [along with some of our other requirements such a knowledge of Tajweed]. What lies in our hearts, only Allah knows.
I think that all these divisions are breaking our community, causing hatred for each other and ruining the very fundamentals that Islam is based on: Unity.
What are your thoughts on this?
It's the problem with every religion - divisions based on something causing holier than thou attitude towards each other and empty superiority complexes based of nothing but a big bowl of delusion.
It's the problem with every religion. And it's the problem with religion.
Re: Being a muslim and the holier than thou attitude
It's the problem with every religion - divisions based on something causing holier than thou attitude towards each other and empty superiority complexes based of nothing but a big bowl of delusion.
It's the problem with every religion. And it's the problem with religion.
Peace sharaabee
I've already had this discussion with you regarding divisions ... "The holier than thou" scapegoat is a means to diminish the calling of those who are holier, by making it seem they are in some way arrogant to their position. But what if the definition of being holy is to serve people and help them? Then to be "holier than thou" means "to be most helping and serving others" ... what a difference this creates ...
For sure if divisions are based on this then people will not fight one another they will compete for being nicer and nicer to one another ... so understand !!!
Sister Niksik: Find the best person for the job - i.e. recitation, and give the position to him ... If he is trained in tafsir, then allow him to provide the tafsir so long as certain topics are controlled by you ... it is quite easy to work out which topics you want kids to learn from the Qur'an ... put those in your syllabus and restrict the teaching to take place around that syllabus ...
Stories from the Qur'an for children type books already have done the majority of the work ... There will be no talking about the people of Aad and Thamud, Legal inheritance, call for fighting, wives and husbands relationships, and so on ... certain topics can be talked about very briefly or not at all.
Re: Being a muslim and the holier than thou attitude
Peace sharaabee
I've already had this discussion with you regarding divisions ... "The holier than thou" scapegoat is a means to diminish the calling of those who are holier, by making it seem they are in some way arrogant to their position. But what if the definition of being holy is to serve people and help them? Then to be "holier than thou" means "to be most helping and serving others" ... what a difference this creates ...
For sure if divisions are based on this then people will not fight one another they will compete for being nicer and nicer to one another ... so understand !!!
ya youve given me this fluff before, it was illogical and senseless then, still is my friend.
