I teach at a high school that offers a course entitled “Star, Crescent, Cross.” The teachers of the course heard from the kids that I’m Muslim and asked if I would speak to the kids about Islam. I said I’d love to.
I’m trying to figure out where to begin and what to focus on. In order to help narrow my focus, I was wondering if you all could please share some Quranic verses and/or Hadith that you think are especially important to understanding the essence of Islam.
Please share! I look forward to seeing those verses that are particularly close to the hearts of other guppans and guppies.
I had to speak for this kinda thing last year and believe me, they know quite a bit so you better touch the basics instead of explaining the basics. A better approach would be talking about the significance of holy cities because i found them asking a lot about it. Also, do talk in detail about the five pillars of Islam as that clears several misconceptions about Islamic beleifs.
Sahar, just tell your students that Islam is the most misunderstood faith in this country. It is exactly the same as Christianity and Judaism (3 religions that trace their ancestry to Abraham) and start from there…and that the differences among the three are very superficial.
Stress the fact that Islam is not meant to be monolithic. And what is portrayed in Media so often is not “Islamic” but cultural and regional idiosyncrasies. Perhaps telling that Islam was the first faith to recognize and legalize inheritance rights.
The last thing you would wana do is to mention Ayas from the Quran. Just talk basic stuff. Good luck.
One more suggestion. Don’t try to make Islam the “best” religion/faith. It is just like any other religions/faith. That’s why it is called a “Faith”.
ok. i gave such a presentation to college students. i made powerpoint slides. I have put them on my website. You can download it from here: http://www.econjournal.com/ISLAm.ppt
I think that approach might make it feel like I am defending Islam rather than sharing it.
This school is a really competitive private school. The kids are incredibly smart, so I don't know if I would focus on the media issue unless they bring it up (which they might) and I will speak honestly about my experience. They know all about media bias.
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*Originally posted by Sahar02: *
Thanks, Islamabad!
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You're welcome. Let me know if you need anything else. Alhamdulilah the presenattion proved quite effective. You can add or delete slides if you want. Its free for everyone to use. Don't forget to pray for me:)
A girl was buried?….. where did she come from? A Camel?
Islamabad this is all one big myth. Islam is very recent in the scheme of things. There are civilizations that go back a lot longer than that.
Sahar, if your kids were that smart, they wouldn't such a talk from you. Are we talking Chapin here? caz if we are, then you are as clueless as they are.
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*Originally posted by Madhanee: *
Slide “Before the arrival of Islam”
A girl was buried?….. where did she come from? A Camel?
Islamabad this is all one big myth. Islam is very recent in the scheme of things. There are civilizations that go back a lot longer than that.
Sahar, if your kids were that smart, they wouldn't such a talk from you. Are we talking Chapin here? caz if we are, then you are as clueless as they are.
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Do you know anything about our history? Yes Arabs used to bury their daugters alive before Islam. I am really in no mood of arguing. All this is well recorded in history.
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*Originally posted by Madhanee: *
Sahar... My kids go to smart private schools too.......and I know the level of smartness at smart schools...
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Madhanee -- I didn't mean for my comment to sound condescending or offensive. I just don't want to repeat what they already know. They are learning about the religion with their teachers and with the textbooks. But the teachers have asked me to come and speak to help them learn from first hand experience.
By the way, I forgot to mention, this is a Jewish Day School (which is why I think they are already well aware of the media bias issues).
Islamabad – As far as I can tell, I think he is trying to be helpful.
Anyway, I’m going through your slideshow now. Really nice stuff. In case you want to modify it in the future – it would be nice to know your sources for info, and also a distinction between your own interpretation and that of scholars or even direct references from Quran/Hadith.
Islamiabad…if you think they burry their daughters…then where did those daughter come from? Do you even get it? Remember daughters don’t come out of a Man’s ass, they come out of a woman’s vigina…if there were no women, how come there were daughters? Please explain from your Quranic sources before you make an ass out of yourself.
