Friday, August 05, 2011
Beating Bad Breath during Ramadan
Beating Bad Breath during Ramadan
Abdul Jabbar Hussain
Aug 04 |00:00
Last Updated on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 01:18
Bad breath seems to be more potent when fasting due to the dryness of the mouth. To reduce this it would be recommended to drink plenty of fluids during the evening and suhur time.
The coming month is a sacred time for all Muslims when we are required to abstain from all food and drink during daylight hours in order to obey the one we love, Allah the Most High.
However, hunger and thirst are not the only obstacles during this month, a common complaint especially amongst Muslims required to work with others is bad breath or halitosis given that bad breath can lead to a decrease in self-confidence and insecurity in social and intimate relations.[1]
Halitosis is the term used to describe an unpleasant odour exhaled through the mouth. Bad breath has a significant impact; indeed, researchers say it is the third most common reason for patients to visit a dentist.[2] So what can we do to reduce or eliminate bad breath whilst fasting? To be able to understand how to reduce bad breath, it would be prudent to have some understanding of the origins of it.
In most cases (85-90%) the origins of bad breath are from the mouth.[3] The intensity of bad breath however can differ depending on diet and dryness of the mouth etc. As a result of the mouth being drier whilst fasting (where drinking any form of liquid is impermissible), there more of a potent smell. Bad breath is thought to originate mainly from the dorsum of the tongue. In 5-10% of cases bad breath originates from the nose and sinuses and in 3-5% of cases from the tonsils. Other rarer origins are systemic diseases and according to the vast majority of researchers, the stomach and digestive tract plays a very negligible role.
[4]
Foul odours are mainly produced due to the anaerobic breakdown, by bacteria, of proteins into individual amino acids, followed by the further breakdown of certain amino acids to produce detectable foul gases. For example, the breakdown of cysteine and methionine produce hydrogen sulphide and methyl mercaptan respectively. Volatile sulphur compounds have been shown to be statistically associated with oral malodour levels.
Large quantities of naturally-occurring bacteria are often found on the posterior dorsum of the tongue, where they are rather undisturbed by normal activity. This part of the tongue is also quite dry and poorly cleansed, and bacterial populations can thrive on remnants of food deposits, dead epithelial cells and postnasal drip (PND). The convoluted microbial structure of the tongue dorsum provides an ideal habitat for anaerobic bacteria. Over 600 types of bacteria can be found in the average mouth, of which several dozen produce high levels of foul odours when incubated in the laboratory. [5]
Other parts of the mouth may also contribute to the overall odour, but are not as common as the back of the tongue. These include inter-dental and sub-gingival niches, faulty dental work, food-impaction areas in-between the teeth, abscesses and unclean dentures. In some people, bad breath is associated with gum disease, especially if rubbing the areas between the teeth and gums yields a foul odour. Your dentist can help prevent and treat gum diseases in various ways, depending on the type and extent of the problem, but your own daily home care makes all the difference in maintaining gum health between appointments. Cleaning of the spaces between the teeth is of great importance. People with gum disease often have higher levels of odour coming from their tongue.[6]
During fasting bad breath seems to be worse. Why would this be? Saliva is the natural mouthwash we were born with. It contains antibacterial agents, and competes with bacteria for scarce resources such as iron. Saliva helps wash the bacteria from the mouth, and the saliva layer helps the oral odours from escaping. Bad breath is worst when there is little or no saliva flow, for example after a night's sleep. As soon as one wakes up and starts to salivate, the smell recedes. That is why bad breath increases when we fast.
The things that we can do to reduce bad breath both during Ramadan and throughout the year should now be obvious and the reasoning should be easier to understand. The first thing would be to maintain proper oral hygiene. This would include tongue cleaning. Gently cleaning the tongue twice daily is the most effective way to keep bad breath in control; that can be achieved using a tongue scraper to wipe off the bacterial biofilm, debris, and mucus. Ask your dentist to recommend a scraper for your tongue. A toothbrush should be avoided as the bristles only spread the bacteria in the mouth, and grip the tongue, causing a gagging reflex.[7]Scraping of the V-shaped row of tastebuds found at the extreme back of the tongue should also be avoided. Brushing a small amount of saltwater onto the tongue surface will further inhibit bacterial action. Eating a healthy breakfast with rough foods helps clean the very back of the tongue too.[8]
One should also brush regularly, for four minutes, twice a day. It is of paramount importance that we time ourselves since we have little idea of how much time we have actually spent brushing. Several studies have shown that we generally spend less time brushing than we perceive unless it is our routine to time oneself. When brushing we should clean our teeth and gums[9], especially cleaning even more thoroughly after eating or drinking milk products, fish and meat – especially at suhur time. Flossing should be implemented daily and choose unscented floss so that you can detect those areas between your teeth that give off odours, and clean them more carefully.
What would also be recommended to the fasting person is the specific use miswak throughout the day. The miswak (miswaak, siwak, sewak) is a teeth cleaning twig made from a twig of the Salvadora persica tree, also known as the arak tree (or peelu tree). It is well-known amongst most muslims - but is using a miswak effective at cleaning one’s mouth?
The Wrigley Company carried out a study on miswak which was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The study found that mints laced with miswak extract were 20 times more effective in killing bacteria than ordinary mints. After half an hour, the mints laced with miswak extract killed about 60% of the bacteria where as the ordinary mints managed only 3.6%.
In the August issue of Journal of Periodontology (2008) appeared a study conducted by Swedish researchers on miswak. The study apparently found that suspended Miswak pieces in a petridish (medium for culturing bacteria) were able to kill bacteria that cause periodontal disease with out being in physical contact with the bacteria. The researchers suggested that Miswak might be giving antibiotics as gases trying to explain this phenomenon.
Another study which compared tooth brushing and using miswak can be found on Pubmed (U.S National Library for Medicine Service). The study concluded that miswak was more effective than tooth brushing in reducing plaque and gingivitis provided it was used correctly. Similarly a study conducted by a group of dentists at King Saud University concluded that using miswak was at least as good as tooth brushing, if not better.
The effectiveness of miswak has been attributed to its strong antibacterial properties. Another feature of miswak thought to contribute to its effectiveness, mentioned by the King Saud University study, is that its bristles are parallel to the handle rather than perpendicular which means effective cleaning between the teeth. The World Health Organisation (WHO) interestingly enough recommended the use of the miswak in 1986. So we would have to agree that using miswak is both rewardable and effective.
Bad breath seems to be more potent when fasting due to the dryness of the mouth. To reduce this it would be recommended to drink plenty of fluids during the evening and suhur time. If you are a denture wearer, it would be advisable for you to soak the denture in an antiseptic mouthwash overnight. Regular visits to the dentist are also essential although we may not enjoy them. There may be cavities, broken fillings, spacing between teeth, or pockets that may be allowing food packing which may in itself be causing a foul smell.
So in conclusion, if you want to beat the bad breath during Ramadan, then clean your tongue, brush thoroughly (especially after those meat and fish curries!) and drink plenty of fluids whenever you can.
Notes: this article has been reposted
Source: www.islam21c.com
[1] Social relations and breath odour, published in International Journal of Dental Hygiene Nov. 2003
[2] Review of attendance behaviour in Dental Update April 2007
[3] The science of bad breath. Sci Am. 2002 Apr
[4] ibid
[5] Rosenberg M. Clinical assessment of bad breath: current concepts. J Am Dent Assoc. 1996 Apr
[6] Scully C, Rosenberg M. Halitosis. Dent Update. 2003 May
[7] ibid
[8] Production and origin of oral malodour J Periodontol. 1977 Jan)
[9] Scully C, Rosenberg M. Halitosis. Dent Update
Abdul Jabbar Hussain
Aug 04 |00:00
Last Updated on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 01:18
Bad breath seems to be more potent when fasting due to the dryness of the mouth. To reduce this it would be recommended to drink plenty of fluids during the evening and suhur time.
The coming month is a sacred time for all Muslims when we are required to abstain from all food and drink during daylight hours in order to obey the one we love, Allah the Most High.
However, hunger and thirst are not the only obstacles during this month, a common complaint especially amongst Muslims required to work with others is bad breath or halitosis given that bad breath can lead to a decrease in self-confidence and insecurity in social and intimate relations.[1]
Halitosis is the term used to describe an unpleasant odour exhaled through the mouth. Bad breath has a significant impact; indeed, researchers say it is the third most common reason for patients to visit a dentist.[2] So what can we do to reduce or eliminate bad breath whilst fasting? To be able to understand how to reduce bad breath, it would be prudent to have some understanding of the origins of it.
In most cases (85-90%) the origins of bad breath are from the mouth.[3] The intensity of bad breath however can differ depending on diet and dryness of the mouth etc. As a result of the mouth being drier whilst fasting (where drinking any form of liquid is impermissible), there more of a potent smell. Bad breath is thought to originate mainly from the dorsum of the tongue. In 5-10% of cases bad breath originates from the nose and sinuses and in 3-5% of cases from the tonsils. Other rarer origins are systemic diseases and according to the vast majority of researchers, the stomach and digestive tract plays a very negligible role.
[4]
Foul odours are mainly produced due to the anaerobic breakdown, by bacteria, of proteins into individual amino acids, followed by the further breakdown of certain amino acids to produce detectable foul gases. For example, the breakdown of cysteine and methionine produce hydrogen sulphide and methyl mercaptan respectively. Volatile sulphur compounds have been shown to be statistically associated with oral malodour levels.
Large quantities of naturally-occurring bacteria are often found on the posterior dorsum of the tongue, where they are rather undisturbed by normal activity. This part of the tongue is also quite dry and poorly cleansed, and bacterial populations can thrive on remnants of food deposits, dead epithelial cells and postnasal drip (PND). The convoluted microbial structure of the tongue dorsum provides an ideal habitat for anaerobic bacteria. Over 600 types of bacteria can be found in the average mouth, of which several dozen produce high levels of foul odours when incubated in the laboratory. [5]
Other parts of the mouth may also contribute to the overall odour, but are not as common as the back of the tongue. These include inter-dental and sub-gingival niches, faulty dental work, food-impaction areas in-between the teeth, abscesses and unclean dentures. In some people, bad breath is associated with gum disease, especially if rubbing the areas between the teeth and gums yields a foul odour. Your dentist can help prevent and treat gum diseases in various ways, depending on the type and extent of the problem, but your own daily home care makes all the difference in maintaining gum health between appointments. Cleaning of the spaces between the teeth is of great importance. People with gum disease often have higher levels of odour coming from their tongue.[6]
During fasting bad breath seems to be worse. Why would this be? Saliva is the natural mouthwash we were born with. It contains antibacterial agents, and competes with bacteria for scarce resources such as iron. Saliva helps wash the bacteria from the mouth, and the saliva layer helps the oral odours from escaping. Bad breath is worst when there is little or no saliva flow, for example after a night's sleep. As soon as one wakes up and starts to salivate, the smell recedes. That is why bad breath increases when we fast.
The things that we can do to reduce bad breath both during Ramadan and throughout the year should now be obvious and the reasoning should be easier to understand. The first thing would be to maintain proper oral hygiene. This would include tongue cleaning. Gently cleaning the tongue twice daily is the most effective way to keep bad breath in control; that can be achieved using a tongue scraper to wipe off the bacterial biofilm, debris, and mucus. Ask your dentist to recommend a scraper for your tongue. A toothbrush should be avoided as the bristles only spread the bacteria in the mouth, and grip the tongue, causing a gagging reflex.[7]Scraping of the V-shaped row of tastebuds found at the extreme back of the tongue should also be avoided. Brushing a small amount of saltwater onto the tongue surface will further inhibit bacterial action. Eating a healthy breakfast with rough foods helps clean the very back of the tongue too.[8]
One should also brush regularly, for four minutes, twice a day. It is of paramount importance that we time ourselves since we have little idea of how much time we have actually spent brushing. Several studies have shown that we generally spend less time brushing than we perceive unless it is our routine to time oneself. When brushing we should clean our teeth and gums[9], especially cleaning even more thoroughly after eating or drinking milk products, fish and meat – especially at suhur time. Flossing should be implemented daily and choose unscented floss so that you can detect those areas between your teeth that give off odours, and clean them more carefully.
What would also be recommended to the fasting person is the specific use miswak throughout the day. The miswak (miswaak, siwak, sewak) is a teeth cleaning twig made from a twig of the Salvadora persica tree, also known as the arak tree (or peelu tree). It is well-known amongst most muslims - but is using a miswak effective at cleaning one’s mouth?
The Wrigley Company carried out a study on miswak which was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The study found that mints laced with miswak extract were 20 times more effective in killing bacteria than ordinary mints. After half an hour, the mints laced with miswak extract killed about 60% of the bacteria where as the ordinary mints managed only 3.6%.
In the August issue of Journal of Periodontology (2008) appeared a study conducted by Swedish researchers on miswak. The study apparently found that suspended Miswak pieces in a petridish (medium for culturing bacteria) were able to kill bacteria that cause periodontal disease with out being in physical contact with the bacteria. The researchers suggested that Miswak might be giving antibiotics as gases trying to explain this phenomenon.
Another study which compared tooth brushing and using miswak can be found on Pubmed (U.S National Library for Medicine Service). The study concluded that miswak was more effective than tooth brushing in reducing plaque and gingivitis provided it was used correctly. Similarly a study conducted by a group of dentists at King Saud University concluded that using miswak was at least as good as tooth brushing, if not better.
The effectiveness of miswak has been attributed to its strong antibacterial properties. Another feature of miswak thought to contribute to its effectiveness, mentioned by the King Saud University study, is that its bristles are parallel to the handle rather than perpendicular which means effective cleaning between the teeth. The World Health Organisation (WHO) interestingly enough recommended the use of the miswak in 1986. So we would have to agree that using miswak is both rewardable and effective.
Bad breath seems to be more potent when fasting due to the dryness of the mouth. To reduce this it would be recommended to drink plenty of fluids during the evening and suhur time. If you are a denture wearer, it would be advisable for you to soak the denture in an antiseptic mouthwash overnight. Regular visits to the dentist are also essential although we may not enjoy them. There may be cavities, broken fillings, spacing between teeth, or pockets that may be allowing food packing which may in itself be causing a foul smell.
So in conclusion, if you want to beat the bad breath during Ramadan, then clean your tongue, brush thoroughly (especially after those meat and fish curries!) and drink plenty of fluids whenever you can.
Notes: this article has been reposted
Source: www.islam21c.com
[1] Social relations and breath odour, published in International Journal of Dental Hygiene Nov. 2003
[2] Review of attendance behaviour in Dental Update April 2007
[3] The science of bad breath. Sci Am. 2002 Apr
[4] ibid
[5] Rosenberg M. Clinical assessment of bad breath: current concepts. J Am Dent Assoc. 1996 Apr
[6] Scully C, Rosenberg M. Halitosis. Dent Update. 2003 May
[7] ibid
[8] Production and origin of oral malodour J Periodontol. 1977 Jan)
[9] Scully C, Rosenberg M. Halitosis. Dent Update
O Slave of Allah! How Strange is Your Affair....
by Abdillah Nur
O Slave of Allah! How strange is your affair
You are heedless of your Lord
Yet He remembers you much
You fast not for His Sake
Yet He provides for you your sustenance
You question Him when calamity falls
Yet He keeps you safe from every harm
You walk not to His house
Yet He provides you with a healthy body
You turn your face away
Yet He blesses you with beauty
You withhold your hands
Yet He provides for you wealth
Your face does not turn red when He is abused
Yet He answers you when you need
You complain about what you don’t have
Yet He showers you with blessings
You compete in sin
Yet He withholds His punishment
You laugh like you will live forever
Yet He allows you to wake each day
O Slave of Allah!
Who destroys you but you?
فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny
[Surah arRahman (55)
O Slave of Allah! How strange is your affair
You are heedless of your Lord
Yet He remembers you much
You fast not for His Sake
Yet He provides for you your sustenance
You question Him when calamity falls
Yet He keeps you safe from every harm
You walk not to His house
Yet He provides you with a healthy body
You turn your face away
Yet He blesses you with beauty
You withhold your hands
Yet He provides for you wealth
Your face does not turn red when He is abused
Yet He answers you when you need
You complain about what you don’t have
Yet He showers you with blessings
You compete in sin
Yet He withholds His punishment
You laugh like you will live forever
Yet He allows you to wake each day
O Slave of Allah!
Who destroys you but you?
فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny
[Surah arRahman (55)
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Put Love in the Hearts of People
A beautiful hadith about the relationship between a true Muslim leader and his/her followers....
When the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) entered a new town, he would say: "O God. . .put our love in the hearts of its people and put the love of its righteous people in our hearts."
Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 4, Number 147
When the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) entered a new town, he would say: "O God. . .put our love in the hearts of its people and put the love of its righteous people in our hearts."
Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 4, Number 147
Monday, July 18, 2011
Three Cups of Tea Makes Pakistani Girls Speak Up
By Salma Hasan Ali
Editor of Islamic Monthly
Thursday, 26 May 2011 13:31
Greg’s account of his transition from mountain climber to humanitarian – was not just an inspiring book, but a much-needed bridge to understanding.
Like millions, I’ve been mesmerized by humanitarian Greg Mortenson’s story of compassion, commitment and courage. Like so many, I am heartbroken by everything that I am reading about the current controversy. The accusations against Greg are serious and the allegations of his community-based education organisation Central Asia Institute’s (CAI) financial mismanagement are troubling.
Managing people’s donations, from pennies to millions, is a responsibility that should never be taken lightly. These and other concerns must be investigated and addressed appropriately. We need to hear from Greg, and he needs to be given a fair opportunity to address the allegations.
These are real stories of real women with real lives and real hopes. Whatever the outcome of the current controversy, it is their dreams and that of thousands of others like them that must continue to be nurtured.
Two years ago I visited three CAI schools in Pakistan, full of young girls excited at the chance of becoming doctors, lawyers and teachers because of the education they are receiving. I met members of CAI’s local team there, proud of the work they are doing and of their friendship with Greg.
As the details of this story continue to evolve, and as the facts become clearer, I hope we don’t lose sight of the larger vision and objectives that Greg’s initiatives have inspired: that building schools and educating girls is much more effective to long-term peace and development than drone strikes; that understanding different cultures requires patience and the ability to listen; and that each one of us can do something – perhaps a little more than we’re currently doing – to make the world a better place.
41f2VJXCTpL._SL500_AA300_
The Inside of the Story
For me, Three Cups of Tea – Greg’s account of his transition from mountain climber to humanitarian – was not just an inspiring book, but a much-needed bridge to understanding a part of the world through our shared humanity rather than just geopolitical exigency. Greg’s stories put a human face to an important region.
They revealed aspects of my culture that I treasure – respect for elders, insatiable hospitality, generosity towards strangers, desire for learning – that are rarely seen in the monochromatic way in which the area is so often covered by media. I sincerely hope the warm feelings engendered by this book will not be undermined by the current controversy.
Greg’s journey – whether it began in Korphe or Khane, or Timbuktu for that matter – started because of compassion, which led him to build that first school, and fueled him during years of tireless, dangerous work, before there were best-selling books or speaking fees or Nobel Prize nominations.
There are now thousands of girls who are benefiting from Greg and CAI’s commitment to educating girls, some of whom I met in Pakistan. Sadia never thought she’d return to school after the devastating 2005 earthquake killed 100 of her classmates. Now she’s deciding whether to become a doctor or a teacher.
Safeena, Iqra, and Fatima – young women on CAI scholarships – shared their excitement at pursuing higher education degrees, emboldened by their mothers who never had such an opportunity. Nasreen, forced to drop out of school at a young age when her mother died, is completing her medical assistant degree so she can teach other women in villages more remote than her own.
And then there’s Fozia, who I got to know this past month in Washington, DC. Fozia met Greg in her Kashmiri village in 2006, and invited him for a cup of tea in the tent where her family was living after the earthquake. At the time, she was completing her law degree and teaching. Impressed by her tenacity, Greg offered her a scholarship to study in the United States. It took two years to convince her family, but when she did, she seized every opportunity she could – learning how to ski, bike, ride horses, learn tae kwon do, speak English. She is now the first female CAI staff member in Pakistan, and an international advocate for the importance of educating girls.
These are real stories of real women with real lives and real hopes. Whatever the outcome of the current controversy, it is their dreams and that of thousands of others like them that must continue to be nurtured. If it isn’t, that will be the real heartbreak.
This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews). It is republished here with kind permission.
Editor of Islamic Monthly
Thursday, 26 May 2011 13:31
Greg’s account of his transition from mountain climber to humanitarian – was not just an inspiring book, but a much-needed bridge to understanding.
Like millions, I’ve been mesmerized by humanitarian Greg Mortenson’s story of compassion, commitment and courage. Like so many, I am heartbroken by everything that I am reading about the current controversy. The accusations against Greg are serious and the allegations of his community-based education organisation Central Asia Institute’s (CAI) financial mismanagement are troubling.
Managing people’s donations, from pennies to millions, is a responsibility that should never be taken lightly. These and other concerns must be investigated and addressed appropriately. We need to hear from Greg, and he needs to be given a fair opportunity to address the allegations.
These are real stories of real women with real lives and real hopes. Whatever the outcome of the current controversy, it is their dreams and that of thousands of others like them that must continue to be nurtured.
Two years ago I visited three CAI schools in Pakistan, full of young girls excited at the chance of becoming doctors, lawyers and teachers because of the education they are receiving. I met members of CAI’s local team there, proud of the work they are doing and of their friendship with Greg.
As the details of this story continue to evolve, and as the facts become clearer, I hope we don’t lose sight of the larger vision and objectives that Greg’s initiatives have inspired: that building schools and educating girls is much more effective to long-term peace and development than drone strikes; that understanding different cultures requires patience and the ability to listen; and that each one of us can do something – perhaps a little more than we’re currently doing – to make the world a better place.
41f2VJXCTpL._SL500_AA300_
The Inside of the Story
For me, Three Cups of Tea – Greg’s account of his transition from mountain climber to humanitarian – was not just an inspiring book, but a much-needed bridge to understanding a part of the world through our shared humanity rather than just geopolitical exigency. Greg’s stories put a human face to an important region.
They revealed aspects of my culture that I treasure – respect for elders, insatiable hospitality, generosity towards strangers, desire for learning – that are rarely seen in the monochromatic way in which the area is so often covered by media. I sincerely hope the warm feelings engendered by this book will not be undermined by the current controversy.
Greg’s journey – whether it began in Korphe or Khane, or Timbuktu for that matter – started because of compassion, which led him to build that first school, and fueled him during years of tireless, dangerous work, before there were best-selling books or speaking fees or Nobel Prize nominations.
There are now thousands of girls who are benefiting from Greg and CAI’s commitment to educating girls, some of whom I met in Pakistan. Sadia never thought she’d return to school after the devastating 2005 earthquake killed 100 of her classmates. Now she’s deciding whether to become a doctor or a teacher.
Safeena, Iqra, and Fatima – young women on CAI scholarships – shared their excitement at pursuing higher education degrees, emboldened by their mothers who never had such an opportunity. Nasreen, forced to drop out of school at a young age when her mother died, is completing her medical assistant degree so she can teach other women in villages more remote than her own.
And then there’s Fozia, who I got to know this past month in Washington, DC. Fozia met Greg in her Kashmiri village in 2006, and invited him for a cup of tea in the tent where her family was living after the earthquake. At the time, she was completing her law degree and teaching. Impressed by her tenacity, Greg offered her a scholarship to study in the United States. It took two years to convince her family, but when she did, she seized every opportunity she could – learning how to ski, bike, ride horses, learn tae kwon do, speak English. She is now the first female CAI staff member in Pakistan, and an international advocate for the importance of educating girls.
These are real stories of real women with real lives and real hopes. Whatever the outcome of the current controversy, it is their dreams and that of thousands of others like them that must continue to be nurtured. If it isn’t, that will be the real heartbreak.
This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews). It is republished here with kind permission.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Monday, July 04, 2011
The Prophet's Warning about Wealth
The tragic story of our Muslim world today....
Prophet Mohammad(sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said:
“By Allah, I am not afraid that you will be poor, but I fear that worldly wealth will be bestowed upon you as it was bestowed upon those who lived before you. So you will compete amongst yourselves for it, as they competed for it, and it will destroy you as it did them."
Prophet Mohammad(sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said:
“By Allah, I am not afraid that you will be poor, but I fear that worldly wealth will be bestowed upon you as it was bestowed upon those who lived before you. So you will compete amongst yourselves for it, as they competed for it, and it will destroy you as it did them."
Friday, July 01, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Bringing Barakah Into One’s Wealth and Life
Answered by Sidi Abdullah Anik Misra
Question: Assalamu alaikum. For the past couple of years I’ve been noticing that AL I make enough money but its tough to make both ends meet - Its like it vanishes away, it is taking a toll on my wife and I and we stay tense most of the time about it … Is there an obligatory duty being missed ? We do regular charity at a masjid and zakat, maybe its not getting accepted ?
Answer: Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
Thank you for your question.
You have noted that your income is not insufficient or little in terms of its amount and how much one would expect would cover their expenses, but for some unexplainable reason, it never seems to be enough for the needs of the home. This is a sign - not of a lack of wealth, but rather of a lack of divine blessings (barakah) in that wealth.
There are things that one can do to increase the barakah of one’s wealth. First, we need to understand the meaning of barakah, then look at ways to increase it, and end with some advice on the role of wealth in one’s life.
What is Barakah?
Barakah is a term that means an “increase” and “growth”- and also, happiness. It is the establishment of divine goodness in something; from whence it exudes cannot be sensed by people, nor can it be outwardly quantified, nor is it limited by anything, but rather, something with barakah in it is called mubaarak, and has an unexplainable increase and benefit in it from Allah. [al-Isfahani, Mufradaat al-Qur’an]
Having more barakah in one’s wealth does not mean the dollar amount increases- rather, that the benefits seen from that limited amount increase, reach further and last longer.
Barakah in anything, especially wealth, which is a part of one’s destined sustenance from Allah Most High, can increase and decrease depending on the good and bad actions one does.
The Means of Brining Barakah Into One’s Wealth- and Life
There are many, many different means we can take to bring barakah into our wealth, and indeed, into every aspect of our lives. The most important thing to remember is that these are only means – worldly causes that we put forth with our human efforts- but the One who gives wealth and bestows blessings in the first place is Allah Most High.
Hence, these actions are not mathematical formulae for automatic increase. One must keep Allah at the forefront of one’s seeking in this world, and make pleasing and reaching Him the ultimate goal, rather than the increase of wealth. Amongst the things that one can do are:
1. Earn a lawful (Halal) and wholesome income: Ensure that your line of work does not contravene the Sacred Law and that your wealth is lawful. This not only includes what work you do, but who you work for and their source of income as well. Ensure that your work is ethical and moral.
2. Work with excellence, loyalty and honesty: Do not take a single penny except that you duly deserve it. Do not squander the time and resources that you employer is paying for. Be loyal and honest at work. Nothing reduces barakah like cheating or deception in a sale, or unethical practices like bribes. [al-Razi, Mafatih al-Ghaib]
3. Make a good intention for Allah’s sake: purify your intention to earn for Allah’s sake, to provide for your family, to not have to borrow and ask from others, and to do works of good for others.
4. Avoid interest in all its forms, as much as possible. This includes taking it, or paying it out. If you must pay it due to a debt, work as hard as possible to pay it off in a short time then resolve not to enter into it again.
5. Give thanks for what you have been given: Allah Most High says in the Qur’an, “And if you all give thanks [to Me, for what I have bestowed on you], I shall surely increase you.” [al-Qur’an 14:7] Thank Allah with your tongue, your heart, by using His blessings for good purposes, and by obeying and worshipping Him. [al-Alusi, Ruh al-Ma’ani]
6. Give in charity, both yourself and your wife: this includes the obligatory charities (Zakat, Sadaqatul Fitr and the Qurbani for those with sufficient wealth), but also optional charity to good causes. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Charity does not reduce wealth.” [Muslim, Sahih] The physical amount outwardly decreases, but the remaining amount attracts barakah so that the actual benefit from it is not less. [al-Nawawi, Sharh Muslim]
7. Be God-conscious and increase in piety: Allah Most High says, “Whosoever is conscious of Allah, He makes for them a way out [of any difficulty] and provides for them sustenance from whence they cannot not conceive.” [al-Qur’an, 65:2-3]
8. Place your full trust in Allah Most High: Know that Allah is providing for you and sustaining you at each moment. Do not worry constantly and have fear- this is from the Shayton, who tries to instill fear of poverty, while Allah offers bounties [al-Quran 2:268]. Allah Most High says, “…and whosoever puts their full reliance on Allah, then He is sufficient for them.” [al-Quran, 65:3]
9. Establish prayer (al-salah) in your home: work to establish the obligatory prayers amongst your family, and encourage extra optional (nafl) prayers as well. [al-Biqa’i, Tafsir]
10. Read Qur’an in the home: the reading of Surah al-Waqi’ah is known to prevent poverty in a house. It is reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Indeed, the house in which the Qur’an is recited- the goodness [in it] increases…” and in another version, “things are made easier for its family.” [Ibn Kathir, Tafsir]
11. Be generous and give gifts: this means giving people around you things that they love, from the things that you love. Start with your immediate family, and relatives, and neighbors. Become more generous and open-handed, and try to fight the urge to be stingy.
12. Be obedient, dutiful and respectful to your parents: this is a means of increase in one’s lifespan and sustenance. [al-Sha’rani, Lawaqih al-Anwar al-Qudsiyya]
13. Keep up family ties and do good to relatives: it is mentioned that the barakah comes in the act of enjoining family relations only when it is combined with piety and God-fearingness [Ibn Hibban, Sahih]
14. Do not lie or say false oaths [Ibn Hajr, Fath al-Bari]
15. Give a little more than what you owe people when selling or paying someone [al-Munawi, Sharh Fayd al Qadeer]
16. Try to work starting in the early part of the day: Preferably, try do become productive after Fajr and do not sleep through the early part of the day. Try to work in mornings, as the Prophet (Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) prayed, “Oh Allah, give barakah to my Ummah in their early-morning work.” [Ibn Majah, Sunan]
17. Eat together: the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “…Gather together to eat your food, and say Allah’s name over it (bismillah) and you will be blessed in it,” [Abu Dawud, Sunan] and “Eat together, all of you, and do not separate individually, because the barakah is in the group.” [Ibn Majah, Sunan]
18. Invite the pious to eat from your food: the Prophet (peace be upon him) made dua’ for his host that pious people eat from his food, as it attracts barakah. It also promotes good company that changes the atmosphere of the home. [al-Bayhaqi, Sunan al-Kubra]
19. Ask Allah’s forgiveness often in your home and elsewhere through saying “astaghferallah”. [al-Bayhaqi, Shu’ab al Imaan]
20. Be easy-going, of kind nature, and forgiving to others: this includes from your spouse and family, to even those who do you wrong. This should spur you to heal relations with anyone you or your family may have a rift with. [al-Munawi, Fayd al-Qadeer]
21. Do not be wasteful and extravagant, nor overly-attached to worldly things: this includes finishing all of one’s food and living in moderation. [ibid]
22. Finally, ask Allah Most High to bless you with wealth: when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked to pray for young Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), the first thing he prayed for was wealth, amongst others things [Bukhari]. Ask Allah to put the wealth in your hand, and not in your heart.
There are countless more ways to attract barakah into one’s life and earnings, mentioned in the vast Islamic primary sources as well as the wisdom of the scholars and righteous. We will suffice with what has been mentioned above.
The Reality of Financial Difficulties
When a Muslim’s finances are tight, this is a test from Allah Most High. It is a mercy in disguise because through something as worldly as wealth, Allah causes us to turn towards Him in earnestness. It teaches us patience and contentment, and results in forgiveness of sins and reliance on Allah.
However, the general rule of thumb to attract blessings is always the same. When we attach our hearts to Allah Most High and submit to Him completely, and make Him our sole goal and purpose and not the blessings, then the barakah will enter our lives from all sides without us having to worry about it.
Wasalam,
Abdullah Anik Misra
Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani
Question: Assalamu alaikum. For the past couple of years I’ve been noticing that AL I make enough money but its tough to make both ends meet - Its like it vanishes away, it is taking a toll on my wife and I and we stay tense most of the time about it … Is there an obligatory duty being missed ? We do regular charity at a masjid and zakat, maybe its not getting accepted ?
Answer: Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
Thank you for your question.
You have noted that your income is not insufficient or little in terms of its amount and how much one would expect would cover their expenses, but for some unexplainable reason, it never seems to be enough for the needs of the home. This is a sign - not of a lack of wealth, but rather of a lack of divine blessings (barakah) in that wealth.
There are things that one can do to increase the barakah of one’s wealth. First, we need to understand the meaning of barakah, then look at ways to increase it, and end with some advice on the role of wealth in one’s life.
What is Barakah?
Barakah is a term that means an “increase” and “growth”- and also, happiness. It is the establishment of divine goodness in something; from whence it exudes cannot be sensed by people, nor can it be outwardly quantified, nor is it limited by anything, but rather, something with barakah in it is called mubaarak, and has an unexplainable increase and benefit in it from Allah. [al-Isfahani, Mufradaat al-Qur’an]
Having more barakah in one’s wealth does not mean the dollar amount increases- rather, that the benefits seen from that limited amount increase, reach further and last longer.
Barakah in anything, especially wealth, which is a part of one’s destined sustenance from Allah Most High, can increase and decrease depending on the good and bad actions one does.
The Means of Brining Barakah Into One’s Wealth- and Life
There are many, many different means we can take to bring barakah into our wealth, and indeed, into every aspect of our lives. The most important thing to remember is that these are only means – worldly causes that we put forth with our human efforts- but the One who gives wealth and bestows blessings in the first place is Allah Most High.
Hence, these actions are not mathematical formulae for automatic increase. One must keep Allah at the forefront of one’s seeking in this world, and make pleasing and reaching Him the ultimate goal, rather than the increase of wealth. Amongst the things that one can do are:
1. Earn a lawful (Halal) and wholesome income: Ensure that your line of work does not contravene the Sacred Law and that your wealth is lawful. This not only includes what work you do, but who you work for and their source of income as well. Ensure that your work is ethical and moral.
2. Work with excellence, loyalty and honesty: Do not take a single penny except that you duly deserve it. Do not squander the time and resources that you employer is paying for. Be loyal and honest at work. Nothing reduces barakah like cheating or deception in a sale, or unethical practices like bribes. [al-Razi, Mafatih al-Ghaib]
3. Make a good intention for Allah’s sake: purify your intention to earn for Allah’s sake, to provide for your family, to not have to borrow and ask from others, and to do works of good for others.
4. Avoid interest in all its forms, as much as possible. This includes taking it, or paying it out. If you must pay it due to a debt, work as hard as possible to pay it off in a short time then resolve not to enter into it again.
5. Give thanks for what you have been given: Allah Most High says in the Qur’an, “And if you all give thanks [to Me, for what I have bestowed on you], I shall surely increase you.” [al-Qur’an 14:7] Thank Allah with your tongue, your heart, by using His blessings for good purposes, and by obeying and worshipping Him. [al-Alusi, Ruh al-Ma’ani]
6. Give in charity, both yourself and your wife: this includes the obligatory charities (Zakat, Sadaqatul Fitr and the Qurbani for those with sufficient wealth), but also optional charity to good causes. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Charity does not reduce wealth.” [Muslim, Sahih] The physical amount outwardly decreases, but the remaining amount attracts barakah so that the actual benefit from it is not less. [al-Nawawi, Sharh Muslim]
7. Be God-conscious and increase in piety: Allah Most High says, “Whosoever is conscious of Allah, He makes for them a way out [of any difficulty] and provides for them sustenance from whence they cannot not conceive.” [al-Qur’an, 65:2-3]
8. Place your full trust in Allah Most High: Know that Allah is providing for you and sustaining you at each moment. Do not worry constantly and have fear- this is from the Shayton, who tries to instill fear of poverty, while Allah offers bounties [al-Quran 2:268]. Allah Most High says, “…and whosoever puts their full reliance on Allah, then He is sufficient for them.” [al-Quran, 65:3]
9. Establish prayer (al-salah) in your home: work to establish the obligatory prayers amongst your family, and encourage extra optional (nafl) prayers as well. [al-Biqa’i, Tafsir]
10. Read Qur’an in the home: the reading of Surah al-Waqi’ah is known to prevent poverty in a house. It is reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Indeed, the house in which the Qur’an is recited- the goodness [in it] increases…” and in another version, “things are made easier for its family.” [Ibn Kathir, Tafsir]
11. Be generous and give gifts: this means giving people around you things that they love, from the things that you love. Start with your immediate family, and relatives, and neighbors. Become more generous and open-handed, and try to fight the urge to be stingy.
12. Be obedient, dutiful and respectful to your parents: this is a means of increase in one’s lifespan and sustenance. [al-Sha’rani, Lawaqih al-Anwar al-Qudsiyya]
13. Keep up family ties and do good to relatives: it is mentioned that the barakah comes in the act of enjoining family relations only when it is combined with piety and God-fearingness [Ibn Hibban, Sahih]
14. Do not lie or say false oaths [Ibn Hajr, Fath al-Bari]
15. Give a little more than what you owe people when selling or paying someone [al-Munawi, Sharh Fayd al Qadeer]
16. Try to work starting in the early part of the day: Preferably, try do become productive after Fajr and do not sleep through the early part of the day. Try to work in mornings, as the Prophet (Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) prayed, “Oh Allah, give barakah to my Ummah in their early-morning work.” [Ibn Majah, Sunan]
17. Eat together: the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “…Gather together to eat your food, and say Allah’s name over it (bismillah) and you will be blessed in it,” [Abu Dawud, Sunan] and “Eat together, all of you, and do not separate individually, because the barakah is in the group.” [Ibn Majah, Sunan]
18. Invite the pious to eat from your food: the Prophet (peace be upon him) made dua’ for his host that pious people eat from his food, as it attracts barakah. It also promotes good company that changes the atmosphere of the home. [al-Bayhaqi, Sunan al-Kubra]
19. Ask Allah’s forgiveness often in your home and elsewhere through saying “astaghferallah”. [al-Bayhaqi, Shu’ab al Imaan]
20. Be easy-going, of kind nature, and forgiving to others: this includes from your spouse and family, to even those who do you wrong. This should spur you to heal relations with anyone you or your family may have a rift with. [al-Munawi, Fayd al-Qadeer]
21. Do not be wasteful and extravagant, nor overly-attached to worldly things: this includes finishing all of one’s food and living in moderation. [ibid]
22. Finally, ask Allah Most High to bless you with wealth: when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked to pray for young Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), the first thing he prayed for was wealth, amongst others things [Bukhari]. Ask Allah to put the wealth in your hand, and not in your heart.
There are countless more ways to attract barakah into one’s life and earnings, mentioned in the vast Islamic primary sources as well as the wisdom of the scholars and righteous. We will suffice with what has been mentioned above.
The Reality of Financial Difficulties
When a Muslim’s finances are tight, this is a test from Allah Most High. It is a mercy in disguise because through something as worldly as wealth, Allah causes us to turn towards Him in earnestness. It teaches us patience and contentment, and results in forgiveness of sins and reliance on Allah.
However, the general rule of thumb to attract blessings is always the same. When we attach our hearts to Allah Most High and submit to Him completely, and make Him our sole goal and purpose and not the blessings, then the barakah will enter our lives from all sides without us having to worry about it.
Wasalam,
Abdullah Anik Misra
Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Be Careful What You Say to your Horse!
An Imam was selling his horse in the market. An interested buyer came to him and requested if he could get a test drive. The Imam told the man that this horse is unique. In order to make it walk, you have to say Subhanallah. To make it run, you have to say Alhamdulillah and to make it stop, you have to say Allahu Akbar. The man sat on the horse and said Subhanallah. The horse started to walk. Then he said Alhamdulillah and it started to run. He kept saying Alhamdulillah and the horse started running faster and faster. All of a sudden the man noticed that the horse is running towards the edge of the hill that he was riding on. Being overly fearful, he forgot how to stop the horse. He kept saying all these words out of confusion. When the horse was just near the edge, he remembered Allahu Akbar and said it out loud. The horse stopped just one step away from the edge. The man took a deep breath, looked up towards the sky and said Alhamdulillah!
Miracle of the Qur'an
Some have converted to Islam solely by viewing this video... Amazing
Miracle of the Qur'an
Miracle of the Qur'an
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
The Amanah of Leadership....
Why we should fear being leaders today, rather than selling our souls to have power and privilege. And, why we should never fall for the line that sins are excusable if and when they are committed in the name of politics (which we hear so often in Malaysia)....
Narrated Ma'qil:
I heard the Prophet saying, "Any man whom Allah has given the authority of ruling some people and he does not look after them in an honest manner, will never feel even the smell of Paradise." (Bukhari)
"He who hires a person and knows that there is another one who is more qualified than him has betrayed Allah and His Prophet and the Muslims.” (Bukhari)
"Whoever is in charge of running Muslim affairs and hires a person on the basis of nepotism has deserved the curse of Allah and will not accept whatever justice he does beyond that." (Muslim)
And the list goes on....
Narrated Ma'qil:
I heard the Prophet saying, "Any man whom Allah has given the authority of ruling some people and he does not look after them in an honest manner, will never feel even the smell of Paradise." (Bukhari)
"He who hires a person and knows that there is another one who is more qualified than him has betrayed Allah and His Prophet and the Muslims.” (Bukhari)
"Whoever is in charge of running Muslim affairs and hires a person on the basis of nepotism has deserved the curse of Allah and will not accept whatever justice he does beyond that." (Muslim)
And the list goes on....
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Beware the Sin of Backbiting...
Reminder to myself and others -- beware of backbiting. It's something we do and witness so frequently, yet in the eyes of God it is a heinous crime... some hadith on the matter:
The Prophet (s) said: “The listener is one of the two backbiters.” [Al-Fayd
al-Kashani, Al-Mahajjat al-Bayda', vol. 5, p. 260]
The Prophet (s) once gave counsel to Abu Dharr (r) , saying: “O Abu Dharr! Beware of backbiting, for backbiting is graver than adultery (zina’).” Abu Dharr (r) said: “Why is that so, O Messenger of Allah?” He (s) replied: “That is because when a man commits adultery and then repents to God, God accepts his repentance. However, backbiting is not forgiven until forgiven by its victim.”
[Al-Hurr al-`Amili, Wasai'l al-Shi`ah, vol. 8, hadith no. 18312]
“O ‘Ali! When someone hears the backbiting of his Muslim brother committed in his presence, yet he does not rally to his assistance despite being capable of doing so, God shall humiliate him in the world and in the Hereafter.” [Al-Hurr al-`Amili, Wasa'il al-Shi`ah, vol. 8, hadith no. 16336]
The Noble Messenger (s) said: “Whoever backbites a Muslim spoils his fasts and breaks his wudu', and shall come on the Day of Resurrection with his mouth's stench more putrid than a carcass', and it shall irk those who are with him in his station (mawqif). If he dies before repenting, his death is like that of one who dies while considering permissible that which is prohibited by God, the Exalted and the Glorious.” [Al-Hurr al-`Amili, Wasa'il al-Shi`ah, vol. 8, hadith no. 16316]
Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) narrated from the Noble Messenger (s) who is once said to have forbidden both backbiting and listening to it. Then he (s) said: “Lo, whoever does a favor to his brother by refuting his backbiting upon hearing it in a gathering, God shall save him from a thousand kinds of evils in this world and in the Hereafter. And if he does not do so despite his ability to refute it, on him shall be the burden of one who commits his backbiting seventy times.” [Al-Hurr al-`Amili, Wasa'il al-Shi`ah, vol. 8, hadith no. 16316]
The Prophet (s) said: “The listener is one of the two backbiters.” [Al-Fayd
al-Kashani, Al-Mahajjat al-Bayda', vol. 5, p. 260]
The Prophet (s) once gave counsel to Abu Dharr (r) , saying: “O Abu Dharr! Beware of backbiting, for backbiting is graver than adultery (zina’).” Abu Dharr (r) said: “Why is that so, O Messenger of Allah?” He (s) replied: “That is because when a man commits adultery and then repents to God, God accepts his repentance. However, backbiting is not forgiven until forgiven by its victim.”
[Al-Hurr al-`Amili, Wasai'l al-Shi`ah, vol. 8, hadith no. 18312]
“O ‘Ali! When someone hears the backbiting of his Muslim brother committed in his presence, yet he does not rally to his assistance despite being capable of doing so, God shall humiliate him in the world and in the Hereafter.” [Al-Hurr al-`Amili, Wasa'il al-Shi`ah, vol. 8, hadith no. 16336]
The Noble Messenger (s) said: “Whoever backbites a Muslim spoils his fasts and breaks his wudu', and shall come on the Day of Resurrection with his mouth's stench more putrid than a carcass', and it shall irk those who are with him in his station (mawqif). If he dies before repenting, his death is like that of one who dies while considering permissible that which is prohibited by God, the Exalted and the Glorious.” [Al-Hurr al-`Amili, Wasa'il al-Shi`ah, vol. 8, hadith no. 16316]
Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) narrated from the Noble Messenger (s) who is once said to have forbidden both backbiting and listening to it. Then he (s) said: “Lo, whoever does a favor to his brother by refuting his backbiting upon hearing it in a gathering, God shall save him from a thousand kinds of evils in this world and in the Hereafter. And if he does not do so despite his ability to refute it, on him shall be the burden of one who commits his backbiting seventy times.” [Al-Hurr al-`Amili, Wasa'il al-Shi`ah, vol. 8, hadith no. 16316]
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Journey of Hope
Check out the Central Asian Institute's latest publication of Journey of Hope
Journey of Hope
Building peace one school at a time....
Journey of Hope
Building peace one school at a time....
Friday, April 29, 2011
Gayong Amerika Performing Arts Academy: A Concept Paper for Reviving Education in Malaysia
by Abd. Lateef Krauss Abdullah
Introduction
What is an education? Is it merely passing on information or does it mean something more? Do we educate today in a way that fulfills the Prophet’s (SAW) command to learn from the cradle to the grave? Do we educate with the intent to create lifelong learners and nurture intellect, making use of all of our God-given capabilities, senses and faculties? In Malaysia today, there is ample evidence that education is not being provided in a manner that adequately prepares young people for a future world that requires of them more than just the regurgitation of facts. This phenomenon, moreover, is not unique to Malaysia but is become all the more prevalent even in the West. Commenting on the demise of the UK education system, Henzell-Thomas (2002) writes:
One of the outcomes of an impoverished arts and humanities curriculum can be a failure to develop effective communication skills. Cambridge University researchers have concluded that in the UK presently, "the amount of time for teaching each day does not allow for a broad and balanced curriculum", and creative subjects such as art, drama and music are being increasingly squeezed out of UK classrooms. In response to the report, John Bangs, Head of Education of the National Union of Teachers, said: "What is shocking about the report is the extent to which arts have been eliminated from primary schools. Tests and targets are wiping out pupil and teacher creativity.”
In a world that is increasingly driven by the ability to think outside the box, to be creative, communicative, dynamic, ingenuitive and self-driven, education must be balanced between hard and soft skills, right and left brain activities, and with the ultimate aim of developing the whole person. However, the current public school curriculum provides very little time and investment for such a balanced approach. The very discipline that can ensure this balance – arts and humanities – is virtually absent from the Government’s notion of education. Ironically, it is the public universities in Malaysia – the IPTAs – that are being targeted to provide the necessary soft skills to their students, in the hope that after a mere four years, students will be adequately equipped to take on the world and put Malaysia ‘on the map.’ This indicates that policy makers recognize the need for soft skills development, yet have chosen to address the problem too late in the developmental trajectory of a student’s life.
"Look at the schools that have the highest test scores on standardized tests. Generally, you will find that the arts are a part of their curriculum. Now, is that just a coincidence? Or is it part of the environment that makes the students more successful in their efforts to learn and compete on standardized tests?" - Derek E. Gordon, Executive Director, Jazz at Lincoln Center
Soft skills development through the arts and humanities needs to be included throughout primary and secondary schooling for it is the early years where such skills can best be internalized and nurtured before the child becomes hindered by social, cognitive and peer-related obstructions to learning such skills. According to Houston (in Henzell-Thomas, 2002), "arts kindle the imagination, stimulate the brain's connectivity". It is no secret that young children are naturally adept at learning new languages in a very short period of time and as individuals get older, it becomes increasingly difficult to internalize such knowledge. At the primary school age, children are less hindered by peer group pressures and social conformity and tend to be more eager to learn new and different skills. They are less shy and regard such learning as play, making it a more natural activity in which to engage.
The need for arts and humanities in education also represents the all-important need for self-expression in healthy and non-threatening ways. Self-expression is an inherent need for all individuals and it is usually only a question of how the self chooses to, and is able to express itself. This occurs often in negative ways such as the joining of black metal bands, Mat Rempit and the like, where young people – in order to be validated and to understand themselves better – feel the need (often unconsciously) to take on rebellious and anti-social roles. Ultimately, it is their need for self-expression that is an integral part of the identity formation process. Young people need to find out who and what they are and will go to great lengths to discover it. This process often takes the form of ‘showing off,’ taking risks, being rebellious and the like. These types of expression of self, however, are due to the fact that more positive outlets are either not available, are suppressed, or are somehow not going far enough in meeting the need for positive self-expression, where the soul is nurtured rather than the ego. Creative endeavors thus provide a new awareness of one’s inner spirit, which cannot be silenced, and which will eventually be expressed in one form or another. As long as children are given the tools for healthy expression, then there is no time or thought for destruction (Lawson, 2005).
“If I had been given a computer during those intense ‘growing-up’ years, I may have had endless information, but I would not have had the knowledge that, in spite of all the teasing and ridicule, I was really ‘okay’. That inside of me was a spirit worthy of recognition and that through art that spirit could be revealed, acknowledged, shared and even celebrated. Most importantly, art can offer a much-needed outlet for those capped up emotions, which scream for release in a child’s heart. Art in essence is a wonderful vehicle for communication. It’s a way of saying, "I exist and I have something to share with you." (Lawson, 2005)
The arts cannot erase the pains of life. They cannot eliminate criticism and cruelty that many children endure, but they can and do connect children with a strong inner resource, which contributes to a better sense of self (Lawson, 2005). By providing children in their early years with positive opportunities for self-expression such as those provided for through the arts and humanities, led by caring adults, crucial developmental needs can be met in positive and constructive ways. However, it must be provided early on in a child’s life and offered continuously throughout a child’s development into youth and young adulthood.
The Need for Arts and Humanities in a Science-Driven World
The arts make us human. We know from research that only 15% of learners are auditory learners (i.e. absorb information through hearing it); 40% of students are visual learners (i.e. they process information primarily through seeing pictures) and fully 45% are kinesthetic learners (i.e. they learn best through the immediate sensory stimulation of hands-on experience and action). The implications of this are very clear. The best schools do not rely on predominantly verbal instruction, which is one of the main sources of the pervasive boredom which inhibits learning. To do so would not only ignore the learning styles of the majority of people, but also fail to make use of the full potential of the individual human brain (Henzell-Thomas, 2002).
The best schools will always balance the seduction of hi-tech by providing highly stimulating visual and tactile environments, and use multi-sensory teaching techniques. An education system in tune with the findings of contemporary research needs to re-evaluate the place not only of music in the school curriculum, but also the educative potential of movement activities such as dance, which energizes and stimulates the entire mind-body system. Research has shown that test scores in language arts rise in correlation to the amount of time spent in movement activities (Henzell-Thomas, 2002).
This is highly relevant to Malaysian education today in particular, with the focus on science and technology, new discoveries and a populace geared more towards critical thinking. Arts help people, particularly children, develop the skills and motivation to experience the world without hesitation and fear, to engage in new endeavors and seek out new discoveries. Arts help young people to know themselves better through exploring one’s emotions and inner experiences, which increase one’s self-knowledge as well as helping to understand abstract subjects and concepts. Along these lines, most early education practices are filled with arts activities, because they offer the most basic and immediate ways to connect to a young mind by engaging them in a way that is often more kinesthetic, and perhaps more emotionally satisfying, than the "traditional" approach to teaching a text (Gordon, 2007).
Academic Achievement and the Arts
Some evidence of the importance of arts in improved academic performance of students (from U.S.; compiled by Dickinson, 1997):
According to the College Entrance Examination Board, students who studied arts and music scored significantly higher than the national average on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Students who had participated in acting, play production, music performance and appreciation, drama appreciation, and art history, scored an average of 31 to 50 points higher for the math and verbal sections. The Board also stated that students with long-term arts study (four years or more) tend to score significantly higher on the SAT than those with less coursework in the arts.
In 1995, The United States Department of Education reported in Schools, Communities, and the Arts: A Research Compendium, that "using arts processes to teach academic subjects results not only in improved understanding of content but it greatly improved self-regulatory behavior." Barry Oreck of Arts Connection and Susan Baum from the College of New Rochelle observed integrated arts lessons in all major subject areas in fourteen New York City elementary and secondary public school classrooms. They found that "student behavior improved strikingly in such areas as taking risks, cooperating, solving problems, taking initiative for learning, and being prepared. Content-related achievement also rose."
In Needham, Massachusetts (USA) at the John Eliot school, the arts are fully integrated throughout the curriculum, and academic achievement has soared. The Superintendent told Principal Miriam Kronish, "I am absolutely astonished--even dumbfounded--by your results." John Eliot does not cater to superior, talented students and many are economically disadvantaged, but nonetheless their 1992 MEAP (Massachusetts Educational Assessment Program) scores were the highest in the state.
The arts are strong at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia (USA), a magnet school that enjoys a national reputation for consistently high achievement. Its graduates are sought by the most prestigious colleges and universities.
According to the major research study Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student
Social and Academic Development (2002), the most expansive areas where the arts pay off academically are these: first, in basic reading skills, language development, and writing skills. Increases in general academic skills also showed up and would appear to reinforce these specific literacy-related developments. This refers to focus and concentration, skills in expression, persistence, imagination, creativity, and inclinations to tackle problems with zeal. In addition, a wide range of social skills accompanies learning in the arts and engagement in arts activities. These are the sorts of skills and behaviors that, in their absence, parents and teachers have been seen to tear their hair out: positive social behavior, social compliance, collaboration with others, ability to express emotions, courtesy, tolerance, conflict resolution skills, and attention to moral development (Catterall, 2002).
The Role of Arts in Educating Muslims
The best Islamic education must encompass the two traditional categories of knowledge, and the hierarchical relationship between them: revealed knowledge; attained through the religious sciences; and acquired knowledge, attained through the rational, intellectual and philosophical sciences. In the worldview of tawhid (Divine Unity), knowledge is holistic and there is no compartmentalization of knowledge into religious and secular spheres. Both types of knowledge contribute to the strengthening of faith, the former through a careful study of the revealed Word of God and the latter through a meticulous, systematic study of the world of man and nature (Henzell-Thomas, 2002).
The perfection of the Islamic revelation embraces all the diverse aspects of the life of man and roots all of them in the Unity and Comprehensiveness of God. As Seyyed Hossein Nasr explains, Islamic education is concerned not only with the instruction and training of the mind and the transmission of knowledge (ta`lim) but also with the education of the whole being of men and women (tarbiyah). The teacher is therefore not only a muallim, a 'transmitter of knowledge' but also a murabbi, a 'trainer of souls and personalities'. "The Islamic educational system never divorced the training of the mind from that of the soul." Islamic education ideally aims to provide a milieu for the total and balanced development of every student in every sphere of learning - spiritual, moral, imaginative, intellectual, cultural, aesthetic, emotional and physical - directing all these aspects towards the attainment of a conscious relationship with God, the ultimate purpose of man's life on earth (Henzell-Thomas, 2002).
The Prophet (SAW) said: "God has not created anything better than Reason, or anything more perfect, or more beautiful than Reason; the benefits which God gives are on its account; and understanding is by it, and God's wrath is caused by disregard of it".
Art is – in its ideal form – is the result of the interplay between the cognitive and sensitive imaginations of the human soul (Wan Daud, 1998). Most contemporary art is nothing more than the result of the sensitive alone, and contains little representation of the beautiful soul, which can be seen historically in the great civilizations of the past whose integration of both the cognitive and sensitive imaginative aspects produced the greatest religiously-driven masterpieces in fine arts, scholarship, music and others. Arts from the Islamic perspective must therefore reflect both the cognitive and sensitive imaginative faculties. In the modern Muslim world, this tends to be a weak area of the curriculum. In fact, many Muslim politicians and educational leaders do nothing about the obvious ill-effects of pop culture, yet openly frown upon classical arts for Muslim students.
Yet this is highly relevant to Malaysian Muslim youth today who are bombarded by a steady stream of ‘pop culture’, disguising itself as art. This cultural influence, perhaps more than any other, has created a dichotomy in the eyes of many that religion and art can never go hand in hand and are eternally opposed to one another. The modern art form also known as pop culture, rather than the beautiful soul manifesting itself with the intention of making the world more beautiful and in so doing singing the praises of God, continues to steer young people away from religion and God and entices them to embrace hedonism, materialism, sexual promiscuity and superficiality. Arts are meant to turn people inward, to facilitate self-refinement and support one’s quest for maximizing human potential. True art reflects the beauty, struggles and uniqueness of the human condition and provides meaning to those aspects of life that are difficult to understand and communicate. It is also a vehicle for personal knowing and understanding at a level that incorporates both the sensual and cognitive levels and in so doing, results in a more unified, competent and contented self.
Why Performing Arts?
High achieving schools use the power of drama to enrich the learning experience. Through dramatic enactment in theatre, the student explores the many guises of what it is to be a human being, using a rich array of skills - music, movement, rhetoric, expression and feeling - to tour the landscape of human experience. What is more, what is enacted is more readily remembered (Henzell-Thomas, 2002). According to Gordon (2007), “The arts encourage learning as a process of discovery. We want every student to be a researcher who is asking probing questions—not only demonstrating their knowledge, but also testing and defending the assumptions that they are making. This is something that artists do all the time.”
Performing arts can be a powerful learning experience that can come in a variety of forms: vocal and dramatic instruction, discipline, self-confidence, self-awareness, physical fitness/health, etiquette, cultural expression and sharing, performance experience and martial arts. In a creative drama lesson, for example, students might listen to or read a story or poem, or hear a piece of music, or see a painting and plan how to interpret it dramatically. They might review and if necessary develop a plot, choose characters, create an imaginary setting, then improvise dialogue and action. Together with their audience (of students not in the play) they might critique the performance, decide what was good and what could have been improved, then replay applying the suggested changes. This process is a highly collaborative one, develops quick-witted spontaneous thinking, problem-solving, poise and presence, concentration, self-awareness and both conceptual and analytical thinking skills. Conducting a dramatic performance with students encourages, and even demands cooperation, compromise and commitment--all skills necessary for any work environment (Dickinson, 1997).
Such skills are critical for Malaysian youth today in order to be well-rounded, capable and confident human resources for the nation. The ‘old school’ approach to verbal instruction alone is not sufficient to mold students into being complete human beings, for such methods are too one-dimensional and ignore the human and developmental need for self-expression and experiential learning. Performing arts is a time-tested method to accomplish this goal and it is time to introduce it into the educational life of all Malaysian students.
The Need to Bring Performing Arts to Malay Youth
In 2001, thirty American Muslim boarding school students in Paulsboro, New Jersey, USA conducted a martial arts drama called ‘Hang Tuah,’ based on the classic Malay tale. The school, Taqwa Gayong Academy, was run by a Malay husband and wife team, En. Sulaiman Sharif and Pn. Nurliza Khalid who spent thirteen years in the U.S. educating young Muslims, teaching Silat Seni Gayong and running a variety of small businesses. Taqwa Gayong Academy’s production of Hang Tuah was a first not only for the young men and women that starred in the show, but also for the Muslim American community that the school served. Never before had parents, neighbors and interested community members seen their kids do what they did during that memorable performance.
Donning traditional Malay costumes, ‘Hang Tuah’ was re-created to suit an American audience. All the young people involved in the show were between the ages of 6 and 16. The students, all boarding school students at the Academy, spent 2-3 hours/day for several weeks rehearsing for the show; not including the many months spent prior honing their silat skills. The result was a fantastic display of artistic expression, creativity, music, color and a dramatic martial arts performance unlike any that the audience had ever seen. The effect on the performers was equally powerful. The young people involved, mostly African-American Muslims from poor and high-risk neighborhoods and households, discovered a potential within themselves that they never realized existed. Despite growing up in a world that teaches them that they are useless, ugly, violent and destined for a fruitless life, for the first time in their young lives they felt like they were apart of something beautiful and special. Not only apart of it, but at the very center of it. They came alive in ways that even their own parents never believed they could. It was something to behold for anyone who knew them and the multiple challenges they faced everyday of their lives trying to succeed as young, black, Muslim children growing up in America.
The lesson that En. Sulaiman and Pn. Nurliza learned from this experience was that the performing arts can play a dramatic role in changing young people in positive ways. When used and applied in a purposeful way, to develop young people’s soft skills and enhance their inner sensitivities and competencies, the performing arts can be a powerful vehicle for youth development and education. In addition, performing arts can be used to educate young people in an interactive and fun way about subject matter that they might not otherwise take any interest in, such as history and culture.
Since having returned to Malaysia in 2002, En. Sulaiman and Pn. Nurliza have been educating local youth through their own private tutoring and tuition center in Pulau Pinang. After four years, they have observed that the nature of the current education that young people are receiving is not complete. Malaysian students, particularly the Malay students, are weak in a number of soft skills and social competencies. They attribute this, at least partially, to the government education system’s virtual abandonment of arts and humanities programs. Without these crucial programs, young people lack critical outlets for positive self-expression, self-exploration, self-awareness, speaking skills, critical and creative thinking and a host of others. These observations by En. Sulaiman and Pn. Nurliza are reinforced by scientific research. As Catterall (2002) explains:
“While motivation to achieve in school comes in various forms in the literature and across the compendium's studies, probably the most central is a tendency for the arts to promote both certain competencies for children who struggle across the curriculum as well as genuinely grounded feelings of competence and engagement. Feelings of competence and engagement can impact outlook and approach to schoolwork more generally -- and research on the arts finds impacts showing both increased attendance and fewer discipline referrals. And the limited number of studies we found addressing special needs populations show that arts activities associate with particularly important outcomes: writing and reading skills, oral language skills, and (of great importance to struggling learners) sustained attention and focus.”
Arts are thus an integral component of education for the development of competences and soft skills using developmentally-appropriate methods.
Conclusion: The Gayong Amerika Performing Arts Academy
To respond to this challenge, En. Sulaiman and Pn. Nurliza are proposing a new performing arts program to integrate arts back into education for Malaysian youth. Though the program will target Malay youth, it will be open to all young Malaysians ages 7 and up. The Academy will hold regular youth-led dramatic performances with its members geared around pertinent themes, relating to contemporary social issues or even historical issues that have relevance to today’s youth. Whatever the theme, it will be relevant to youth with the intention of educating them about their world, other people and themselves.
STAY TUNED FOR MORE DETAILS…
References
Catterall, J.S. (2002). Book summary: Critical links: Learning in the arts and student
social and academic development. New Horizons for Learning Website. Retrieved
February 24, 2007 from: http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/arts/catterall.htm.
Dickinson, D. (1997). Learning through the arts. New Horizons for Learning Website.
Retrieved February 28, 2007 from:
http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/arts/dickinson_lrnarts.htm.
Gordon, D.E. (2007). A conversation with Derek Gordon. Why Arts Matter. The
Kennedy Center – Artsedge Website. Retrieved February 27, 2007 from:
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3270/.
Henzell-Thomas, J. (2002). Excellence in Islamic education: Key issues for the present
time. The Book Foundation website. Retrieved October 5, 2005 from:
http://thebook.org/tep-articles/excellence.shtml.
Lawson, S. (2005). Why art is essential in our public schools. Passion4art Website.
Retrieved March 2, 2007 from: http://passion4art.com/articles/pubschool.htm.
Wan Daud, W.M.N. (1998). The educational philosophy and practice of Syed
Muhammad Naquib al-Attas. ISTAC: Kuala Lumpur.
Introduction
What is an education? Is it merely passing on information or does it mean something more? Do we educate today in a way that fulfills the Prophet’s (SAW) command to learn from the cradle to the grave? Do we educate with the intent to create lifelong learners and nurture intellect, making use of all of our God-given capabilities, senses and faculties? In Malaysia today, there is ample evidence that education is not being provided in a manner that adequately prepares young people for a future world that requires of them more than just the regurgitation of facts. This phenomenon, moreover, is not unique to Malaysia but is become all the more prevalent even in the West. Commenting on the demise of the UK education system, Henzell-Thomas (2002) writes:
One of the outcomes of an impoverished arts and humanities curriculum can be a failure to develop effective communication skills. Cambridge University researchers have concluded that in the UK presently, "the amount of time for teaching each day does not allow for a broad and balanced curriculum", and creative subjects such as art, drama and music are being increasingly squeezed out of UK classrooms. In response to the report, John Bangs, Head of Education of the National Union of Teachers, said: "What is shocking about the report is the extent to which arts have been eliminated from primary schools. Tests and targets are wiping out pupil and teacher creativity.”
In a world that is increasingly driven by the ability to think outside the box, to be creative, communicative, dynamic, ingenuitive and self-driven, education must be balanced between hard and soft skills, right and left brain activities, and with the ultimate aim of developing the whole person. However, the current public school curriculum provides very little time and investment for such a balanced approach. The very discipline that can ensure this balance – arts and humanities – is virtually absent from the Government’s notion of education. Ironically, it is the public universities in Malaysia – the IPTAs – that are being targeted to provide the necessary soft skills to their students, in the hope that after a mere four years, students will be adequately equipped to take on the world and put Malaysia ‘on the map.’ This indicates that policy makers recognize the need for soft skills development, yet have chosen to address the problem too late in the developmental trajectory of a student’s life.
"Look at the schools that have the highest test scores on standardized tests. Generally, you will find that the arts are a part of their curriculum. Now, is that just a coincidence? Or is it part of the environment that makes the students more successful in their efforts to learn and compete on standardized tests?" - Derek E. Gordon, Executive Director, Jazz at Lincoln Center
Soft skills development through the arts and humanities needs to be included throughout primary and secondary schooling for it is the early years where such skills can best be internalized and nurtured before the child becomes hindered by social, cognitive and peer-related obstructions to learning such skills. According to Houston (in Henzell-Thomas, 2002), "arts kindle the imagination, stimulate the brain's connectivity". It is no secret that young children are naturally adept at learning new languages in a very short period of time and as individuals get older, it becomes increasingly difficult to internalize such knowledge. At the primary school age, children are less hindered by peer group pressures and social conformity and tend to be more eager to learn new and different skills. They are less shy and regard such learning as play, making it a more natural activity in which to engage.
The need for arts and humanities in education also represents the all-important need for self-expression in healthy and non-threatening ways. Self-expression is an inherent need for all individuals and it is usually only a question of how the self chooses to, and is able to express itself. This occurs often in negative ways such as the joining of black metal bands, Mat Rempit and the like, where young people – in order to be validated and to understand themselves better – feel the need (often unconsciously) to take on rebellious and anti-social roles. Ultimately, it is their need for self-expression that is an integral part of the identity formation process. Young people need to find out who and what they are and will go to great lengths to discover it. This process often takes the form of ‘showing off,’ taking risks, being rebellious and the like. These types of expression of self, however, are due to the fact that more positive outlets are either not available, are suppressed, or are somehow not going far enough in meeting the need for positive self-expression, where the soul is nurtured rather than the ego. Creative endeavors thus provide a new awareness of one’s inner spirit, which cannot be silenced, and which will eventually be expressed in one form or another. As long as children are given the tools for healthy expression, then there is no time or thought for destruction (Lawson, 2005).
“If I had been given a computer during those intense ‘growing-up’ years, I may have had endless information, but I would not have had the knowledge that, in spite of all the teasing and ridicule, I was really ‘okay’. That inside of me was a spirit worthy of recognition and that through art that spirit could be revealed, acknowledged, shared and even celebrated. Most importantly, art can offer a much-needed outlet for those capped up emotions, which scream for release in a child’s heart. Art in essence is a wonderful vehicle for communication. It’s a way of saying, "I exist and I have something to share with you." (Lawson, 2005)
The arts cannot erase the pains of life. They cannot eliminate criticism and cruelty that many children endure, but they can and do connect children with a strong inner resource, which contributes to a better sense of self (Lawson, 2005). By providing children in their early years with positive opportunities for self-expression such as those provided for through the arts and humanities, led by caring adults, crucial developmental needs can be met in positive and constructive ways. However, it must be provided early on in a child’s life and offered continuously throughout a child’s development into youth and young adulthood.
The Need for Arts and Humanities in a Science-Driven World
The arts make us human. We know from research that only 15% of learners are auditory learners (i.e. absorb information through hearing it); 40% of students are visual learners (i.e. they process information primarily through seeing pictures) and fully 45% are kinesthetic learners (i.e. they learn best through the immediate sensory stimulation of hands-on experience and action). The implications of this are very clear. The best schools do not rely on predominantly verbal instruction, which is one of the main sources of the pervasive boredom which inhibits learning. To do so would not only ignore the learning styles of the majority of people, but also fail to make use of the full potential of the individual human brain (Henzell-Thomas, 2002).
The best schools will always balance the seduction of hi-tech by providing highly stimulating visual and tactile environments, and use multi-sensory teaching techniques. An education system in tune with the findings of contemporary research needs to re-evaluate the place not only of music in the school curriculum, but also the educative potential of movement activities such as dance, which energizes and stimulates the entire mind-body system. Research has shown that test scores in language arts rise in correlation to the amount of time spent in movement activities (Henzell-Thomas, 2002).
This is highly relevant to Malaysian education today in particular, with the focus on science and technology, new discoveries and a populace geared more towards critical thinking. Arts help people, particularly children, develop the skills and motivation to experience the world without hesitation and fear, to engage in new endeavors and seek out new discoveries. Arts help young people to know themselves better through exploring one’s emotions and inner experiences, which increase one’s self-knowledge as well as helping to understand abstract subjects and concepts. Along these lines, most early education practices are filled with arts activities, because they offer the most basic and immediate ways to connect to a young mind by engaging them in a way that is often more kinesthetic, and perhaps more emotionally satisfying, than the "traditional" approach to teaching a text (Gordon, 2007).
Academic Achievement and the Arts
Some evidence of the importance of arts in improved academic performance of students (from U.S.; compiled by Dickinson, 1997):
According to the College Entrance Examination Board, students who studied arts and music scored significantly higher than the national average on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Students who had participated in acting, play production, music performance and appreciation, drama appreciation, and art history, scored an average of 31 to 50 points higher for the math and verbal sections. The Board also stated that students with long-term arts study (four years or more) tend to score significantly higher on the SAT than those with less coursework in the arts.
In 1995, The United States Department of Education reported in Schools, Communities, and the Arts: A Research Compendium, that "using arts processes to teach academic subjects results not only in improved understanding of content but it greatly improved self-regulatory behavior." Barry Oreck of Arts Connection and Susan Baum from the College of New Rochelle observed integrated arts lessons in all major subject areas in fourteen New York City elementary and secondary public school classrooms. They found that "student behavior improved strikingly in such areas as taking risks, cooperating, solving problems, taking initiative for learning, and being prepared. Content-related achievement also rose."
In Needham, Massachusetts (USA) at the John Eliot school, the arts are fully integrated throughout the curriculum, and academic achievement has soared. The Superintendent told Principal Miriam Kronish, "I am absolutely astonished--even dumbfounded--by your results." John Eliot does not cater to superior, talented students and many are economically disadvantaged, but nonetheless their 1992 MEAP (Massachusetts Educational Assessment Program) scores were the highest in the state.
The arts are strong at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia (USA), a magnet school that enjoys a national reputation for consistently high achievement. Its graduates are sought by the most prestigious colleges and universities.
According to the major research study Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student
Social and Academic Development (2002), the most expansive areas where the arts pay off academically are these: first, in basic reading skills, language development, and writing skills. Increases in general academic skills also showed up and would appear to reinforce these specific literacy-related developments. This refers to focus and concentration, skills in expression, persistence, imagination, creativity, and inclinations to tackle problems with zeal. In addition, a wide range of social skills accompanies learning in the arts and engagement in arts activities. These are the sorts of skills and behaviors that, in their absence, parents and teachers have been seen to tear their hair out: positive social behavior, social compliance, collaboration with others, ability to express emotions, courtesy, tolerance, conflict resolution skills, and attention to moral development (Catterall, 2002).
The Role of Arts in Educating Muslims
The best Islamic education must encompass the two traditional categories of knowledge, and the hierarchical relationship between them: revealed knowledge; attained through the religious sciences; and acquired knowledge, attained through the rational, intellectual and philosophical sciences. In the worldview of tawhid (Divine Unity), knowledge is holistic and there is no compartmentalization of knowledge into religious and secular spheres. Both types of knowledge contribute to the strengthening of faith, the former through a careful study of the revealed Word of God and the latter through a meticulous, systematic study of the world of man and nature (Henzell-Thomas, 2002).
The perfection of the Islamic revelation embraces all the diverse aspects of the life of man and roots all of them in the Unity and Comprehensiveness of God. As Seyyed Hossein Nasr explains, Islamic education is concerned not only with the instruction and training of the mind and the transmission of knowledge (ta`lim) but also with the education of the whole being of men and women (tarbiyah). The teacher is therefore not only a muallim, a 'transmitter of knowledge' but also a murabbi, a 'trainer of souls and personalities'. "The Islamic educational system never divorced the training of the mind from that of the soul." Islamic education ideally aims to provide a milieu for the total and balanced development of every student in every sphere of learning - spiritual, moral, imaginative, intellectual, cultural, aesthetic, emotional and physical - directing all these aspects towards the attainment of a conscious relationship with God, the ultimate purpose of man's life on earth (Henzell-Thomas, 2002).
The Prophet (SAW) said: "God has not created anything better than Reason, or anything more perfect, or more beautiful than Reason; the benefits which God gives are on its account; and understanding is by it, and God's wrath is caused by disregard of it".
Art is – in its ideal form – is the result of the interplay between the cognitive and sensitive imaginations of the human soul (Wan Daud, 1998). Most contemporary art is nothing more than the result of the sensitive alone, and contains little representation of the beautiful soul, which can be seen historically in the great civilizations of the past whose integration of both the cognitive and sensitive imaginative aspects produced the greatest religiously-driven masterpieces in fine arts, scholarship, music and others. Arts from the Islamic perspective must therefore reflect both the cognitive and sensitive imaginative faculties. In the modern Muslim world, this tends to be a weak area of the curriculum. In fact, many Muslim politicians and educational leaders do nothing about the obvious ill-effects of pop culture, yet openly frown upon classical arts for Muslim students.
Yet this is highly relevant to Malaysian Muslim youth today who are bombarded by a steady stream of ‘pop culture’, disguising itself as art. This cultural influence, perhaps more than any other, has created a dichotomy in the eyes of many that religion and art can never go hand in hand and are eternally opposed to one another. The modern art form also known as pop culture, rather than the beautiful soul manifesting itself with the intention of making the world more beautiful and in so doing singing the praises of God, continues to steer young people away from religion and God and entices them to embrace hedonism, materialism, sexual promiscuity and superficiality. Arts are meant to turn people inward, to facilitate self-refinement and support one’s quest for maximizing human potential. True art reflects the beauty, struggles and uniqueness of the human condition and provides meaning to those aspects of life that are difficult to understand and communicate. It is also a vehicle for personal knowing and understanding at a level that incorporates both the sensual and cognitive levels and in so doing, results in a more unified, competent and contented self.
Why Performing Arts?
High achieving schools use the power of drama to enrich the learning experience. Through dramatic enactment in theatre, the student explores the many guises of what it is to be a human being, using a rich array of skills - music, movement, rhetoric, expression and feeling - to tour the landscape of human experience. What is more, what is enacted is more readily remembered (Henzell-Thomas, 2002). According to Gordon (2007), “The arts encourage learning as a process of discovery. We want every student to be a researcher who is asking probing questions—not only demonstrating their knowledge, but also testing and defending the assumptions that they are making. This is something that artists do all the time.”
Performing arts can be a powerful learning experience that can come in a variety of forms: vocal and dramatic instruction, discipline, self-confidence, self-awareness, physical fitness/health, etiquette, cultural expression and sharing, performance experience and martial arts. In a creative drama lesson, for example, students might listen to or read a story or poem, or hear a piece of music, or see a painting and plan how to interpret it dramatically. They might review and if necessary develop a plot, choose characters, create an imaginary setting, then improvise dialogue and action. Together with their audience (of students not in the play) they might critique the performance, decide what was good and what could have been improved, then replay applying the suggested changes. This process is a highly collaborative one, develops quick-witted spontaneous thinking, problem-solving, poise and presence, concentration, self-awareness and both conceptual and analytical thinking skills. Conducting a dramatic performance with students encourages, and even demands cooperation, compromise and commitment--all skills necessary for any work environment (Dickinson, 1997).
Such skills are critical for Malaysian youth today in order to be well-rounded, capable and confident human resources for the nation. The ‘old school’ approach to verbal instruction alone is not sufficient to mold students into being complete human beings, for such methods are too one-dimensional and ignore the human and developmental need for self-expression and experiential learning. Performing arts is a time-tested method to accomplish this goal and it is time to introduce it into the educational life of all Malaysian students.
The Need to Bring Performing Arts to Malay Youth
In 2001, thirty American Muslim boarding school students in Paulsboro, New Jersey, USA conducted a martial arts drama called ‘Hang Tuah,’ based on the classic Malay tale. The school, Taqwa Gayong Academy, was run by a Malay husband and wife team, En. Sulaiman Sharif and Pn. Nurliza Khalid who spent thirteen years in the U.S. educating young Muslims, teaching Silat Seni Gayong and running a variety of small businesses. Taqwa Gayong Academy’s production of Hang Tuah was a first not only for the young men and women that starred in the show, but also for the Muslim American community that the school served. Never before had parents, neighbors and interested community members seen their kids do what they did during that memorable performance.
Donning traditional Malay costumes, ‘Hang Tuah’ was re-created to suit an American audience. All the young people involved in the show were between the ages of 6 and 16. The students, all boarding school students at the Academy, spent 2-3 hours/day for several weeks rehearsing for the show; not including the many months spent prior honing their silat skills. The result was a fantastic display of artistic expression, creativity, music, color and a dramatic martial arts performance unlike any that the audience had ever seen. The effect on the performers was equally powerful. The young people involved, mostly African-American Muslims from poor and high-risk neighborhoods and households, discovered a potential within themselves that they never realized existed. Despite growing up in a world that teaches them that they are useless, ugly, violent and destined for a fruitless life, for the first time in their young lives they felt like they were apart of something beautiful and special. Not only apart of it, but at the very center of it. They came alive in ways that even their own parents never believed they could. It was something to behold for anyone who knew them and the multiple challenges they faced everyday of their lives trying to succeed as young, black, Muslim children growing up in America.
The lesson that En. Sulaiman and Pn. Nurliza learned from this experience was that the performing arts can play a dramatic role in changing young people in positive ways. When used and applied in a purposeful way, to develop young people’s soft skills and enhance their inner sensitivities and competencies, the performing arts can be a powerful vehicle for youth development and education. In addition, performing arts can be used to educate young people in an interactive and fun way about subject matter that they might not otherwise take any interest in, such as history and culture.
Since having returned to Malaysia in 2002, En. Sulaiman and Pn. Nurliza have been educating local youth through their own private tutoring and tuition center in Pulau Pinang. After four years, they have observed that the nature of the current education that young people are receiving is not complete. Malaysian students, particularly the Malay students, are weak in a number of soft skills and social competencies. They attribute this, at least partially, to the government education system’s virtual abandonment of arts and humanities programs. Without these crucial programs, young people lack critical outlets for positive self-expression, self-exploration, self-awareness, speaking skills, critical and creative thinking and a host of others. These observations by En. Sulaiman and Pn. Nurliza are reinforced by scientific research. As Catterall (2002) explains:
“While motivation to achieve in school comes in various forms in the literature and across the compendium's studies, probably the most central is a tendency for the arts to promote both certain competencies for children who struggle across the curriculum as well as genuinely grounded feelings of competence and engagement. Feelings of competence and engagement can impact outlook and approach to schoolwork more generally -- and research on the arts finds impacts showing both increased attendance and fewer discipline referrals. And the limited number of studies we found addressing special needs populations show that arts activities associate with particularly important outcomes: writing and reading skills, oral language skills, and (of great importance to struggling learners) sustained attention and focus.”
Arts are thus an integral component of education for the development of competences and soft skills using developmentally-appropriate methods.
Conclusion: The Gayong Amerika Performing Arts Academy
To respond to this challenge, En. Sulaiman and Pn. Nurliza are proposing a new performing arts program to integrate arts back into education for Malaysian youth. Though the program will target Malay youth, it will be open to all young Malaysians ages 7 and up. The Academy will hold regular youth-led dramatic performances with its members geared around pertinent themes, relating to contemporary social issues or even historical issues that have relevance to today’s youth. Whatever the theme, it will be relevant to youth with the intention of educating them about their world, other people and themselves.
STAY TUNED FOR MORE DETAILS…
References
Catterall, J.S. (2002). Book summary: Critical links: Learning in the arts and student
social and academic development. New Horizons for Learning Website. Retrieved
February 24, 2007 from: http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/arts/catterall.htm.
Dickinson, D. (1997). Learning through the arts. New Horizons for Learning Website.
Retrieved February 28, 2007 from:
http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/arts/dickinson_lrnarts.htm.
Gordon, D.E. (2007). A conversation with Derek Gordon. Why Arts Matter. The
Kennedy Center – Artsedge Website. Retrieved February 27, 2007 from:
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3270/.
Henzell-Thomas, J. (2002). Excellence in Islamic education: Key issues for the present
time. The Book Foundation website. Retrieved October 5, 2005 from:
http://thebook.org/tep-articles/excellence.shtml.
Lawson, S. (2005). Why art is essential in our public schools. Passion4art Website.
Retrieved March 2, 2007 from: http://passion4art.com/articles/pubschool.htm.
Wan Daud, W.M.N. (1998). The educational philosophy and practice of Syed
Muhammad Naquib al-Attas. ISTAC: Kuala Lumpur.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Six Difficult Things....
"A man is never granted the degree of the righteous before six difficult
things become possible for him: the first, that he closes the door of ease
and open the door of difficulty; the second, that he closes the door of
honour and open the door of humiliation; the third, that he closes the door
of comfort and open the door of effort; the fourth; that he closes the door
of sleep and open the door of wakefulness; the fifth; that he closes the
door of wealth and open the door of poverty; the sixth; that he close the
door of imagining the future and open the door of readiness for death."
- Hazrat Ibrahim Adham
things become possible for him: the first, that he closes the door of ease
and open the door of difficulty; the second, that he closes the door of
honour and open the door of humiliation; the third, that he closes the door
of comfort and open the door of effort; the fourth; that he closes the door
of sleep and open the door of wakefulness; the fifth; that he closes the
door of wealth and open the door of poverty; the sixth; that he close the
door of imagining the future and open the door of readiness for death."
- Hazrat Ibrahim Adham
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Letter to a Would-be Mujahid
By Imam Zaid on 14 December 2010
Recent developments have forced me to put some things on hold to write you this letter. You might ask how I know you. I have met you at student events, in mosques, and at conferences. I have listened to your arguments and I have made my counter arguments. Oftentimes, my arguments have been somewhat formal. I figured I would write you a letter, since that is a lot more personal and less formal. Perhaps this way you will be more inclined to listen.
To begin with, whenever you are criticized for your bloody, anarchistic ideology, you point to the bloody abuses of the American war machine or their Zionist accomplices. This diversionary tactic on your part does not impress serious and thoughtful people. It is simply an abdication of your moral responsibility. It is as if you are saying you reserve the right to violate established Islamic principles, such as those guaranteeing the protection of innocent life, because the American military or the IDF do no respect innocent Muslim life. That would be a credible argument if the American military or the IDF claimed to be operating on the basis of Islamic principles. They don’t, but you do. I hope, without further elaboration, you can immediately sense the moral dilemma you are creating for yourself.
Along those lines, please allow me to remind you of something else. Your misguided attempts to kill and maim innocent Americans only make it easier for the American military to kill more Muslims with greater impunity. Your actions help to create a political climate that removes any moral restraint from the actions of the American military, the IDF and soon the forces of India’s increasingly Hindu nationalist armed forces. You see, fear is a very potent emotion and when it is carefully manipulated it can lead to very irrational politics. That most extreme form of those politics is called genocide.
Fear can be especially dangerous when it is combined with another emotion, insecurity. You are so divorced from reality that you probably haven’t noticed that a lot of Americans are extremely insecure right now. Especially, the white middle class or what is left of it. They don’t know if they will soon lose their homes, if they will have a job tomorrow, if their money will be in the bank next week, if they will be able to send their children to college or if their retirement funds will be stolen or totally devalued. Those insecurities combined with the spectre of the “Muslim terrorist next door” are a lethal combination that a group of people called demagogues is exploiting to justify an all out war on Muslims.
Those demagogues use the fear of you to prevent people from building the kind of grassroots, popular, movements that are necessary to challenge the corporate rape of our society and from challenging the destructive logic of permanent war. For example, remember the growing movement to challenge the new invasive TSA screening procedures at airports? Did you notice how it disappeared after the would-be mujahid in Portland allowed himself to be trapped into the scheme to blow up the Christmas tree ceremony? Do you think the timing was accidental? It is a shame that you and your ilk are so mindlessly complicit in such schemes.
Now you think the mujahideen can win an all out war against the Americans. Look at what the mujahideen are doing to them in Afghanistan. Sorry, but Afghanistan is not what all out war looks like. I’ll give you a clue what all out war looks like. Remember a couple years ago when the Israelis were bombarding the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Muslims, for all of their courage, couldn’t do anything except appeal to outside powers to stop the carnage? Or a few years before that when Jenin was flattened? Think of the scale of that devastation expanded to encompass all of the major cities of the Muslim world. Imagine America unleashing a new generation of “tactical” nuclear weapons being designed to be used specifically against Muslims targets raining down on Muslim capitals and there is no Muslim strategic deterrent available to stop it. AK-47s and RPGs will be of no avail. Imagine the calls to human rights organizations to stop the slaughter finding no ears to hear them because the neo-fascist forces your stupidity has helped to unleash have swept those organizations away in its maddening torrent.
I have heard you counter that such an argument is a manifestation of a lack of faith. God has promised the believers victory. Indeed, He has. However, it is very pretentious of you to assume that someone who murders women, children and innocents with blazon impunity in the Name of God are the believers that victory has been promised to. He has promised the believers victory, but that promise is not unconditional. God is not going to give victory to people who murder in His Holy Name.
I applaud your courage, but how it manifests itself puzzles me. You have the courage to fly halfway around to world to engage in an armed struggle, but you do not have the courage to knock on your neighbor’s door to explain Islam to him or to give him your take on world affairs. I am also baffled at how you can smile in his face, but are ready to blow him up if he happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. What calculus do you use to assume he would not be amenable to your message? What has he done to you to be the target of your bloodlust?
You claim a refined understanding of Islam, so refined that you can make grave decisions concerning life and death, decisions with huge strategic implications –yet you seem to perceive nothing of the divine wisdom of your being in this country. You have an opportunity to be an educator at a time people are looking for a new way. You have an opportunity to be a guide at a time people are looking for a new direction. You have an opportunity to provide a source of spiritual solace at a time people are confused, angry and afraid. You have an opportunity to be a fierce advocate for truth at a time when lies are transforming the image of your religion and the direction of your country. You have the skills, the command of the language, the knowledge of the people to do all of that and more, but you choose to run away from this battle to join one you do not even know who the commander is.
Did I say that? “To join a battle you do not even know who the commander is.” No! I didn’t say that. Do you think that if the FBI can send fake mujahids into mosques all around America to find confused, vulnerable Muslims, develop fake bomb plots, with fake bombs, for very real political objectives, the CIA couldn’t do the same thing abroad? No, wait a minute. Didn’t the CIA build the Afghan mujahideen network? Didn’t what’s his name, Zbigniew Brzezinski, describe the Afghan operation as the CIA’s finest hour?
They would never use fake mujahids, operating through fake websites, to recruit confused and desperate Muslim youth to engage in operations that keep the climate of fear alive, would they? They wouldn’t do that to keep support for bloodsucking, treasury-draining wars alive at a time when there is no money for the poor, the elderly, health-care, education, infrastructure or investment in the green economy. No! It’s preposterous. Those would be psychological operations (psych ops) and that would be cheating. America never cheats, we’re the good guys!
I apologize, I’m tripping. On a serious note, I hope you don’t one day end up feeling as stupid and abused as young Antonio Martinez or Mahomed Osman Mohamud, the Somali kid in Oregon, are probably feeling right now. They have been tricked, deceived, used, and abused by fake mujahids and then thrown in a dungeon to rot for the rest of their lives. Do you think your fate will be any different? Don’t be a fool.
Sincerely,
Imam Zaid Shakir
Recent developments have forced me to put some things on hold to write you this letter. You might ask how I know you. I have met you at student events, in mosques, and at conferences. I have listened to your arguments and I have made my counter arguments. Oftentimes, my arguments have been somewhat formal. I figured I would write you a letter, since that is a lot more personal and less formal. Perhaps this way you will be more inclined to listen.
To begin with, whenever you are criticized for your bloody, anarchistic ideology, you point to the bloody abuses of the American war machine or their Zionist accomplices. This diversionary tactic on your part does not impress serious and thoughtful people. It is simply an abdication of your moral responsibility. It is as if you are saying you reserve the right to violate established Islamic principles, such as those guaranteeing the protection of innocent life, because the American military or the IDF do no respect innocent Muslim life. That would be a credible argument if the American military or the IDF claimed to be operating on the basis of Islamic principles. They don’t, but you do. I hope, without further elaboration, you can immediately sense the moral dilemma you are creating for yourself.
Along those lines, please allow me to remind you of something else. Your misguided attempts to kill and maim innocent Americans only make it easier for the American military to kill more Muslims with greater impunity. Your actions help to create a political climate that removes any moral restraint from the actions of the American military, the IDF and soon the forces of India’s increasingly Hindu nationalist armed forces. You see, fear is a very potent emotion and when it is carefully manipulated it can lead to very irrational politics. That most extreme form of those politics is called genocide.
Fear can be especially dangerous when it is combined with another emotion, insecurity. You are so divorced from reality that you probably haven’t noticed that a lot of Americans are extremely insecure right now. Especially, the white middle class or what is left of it. They don’t know if they will soon lose their homes, if they will have a job tomorrow, if their money will be in the bank next week, if they will be able to send their children to college or if their retirement funds will be stolen or totally devalued. Those insecurities combined with the spectre of the “Muslim terrorist next door” are a lethal combination that a group of people called demagogues is exploiting to justify an all out war on Muslims.
Those demagogues use the fear of you to prevent people from building the kind of grassroots, popular, movements that are necessary to challenge the corporate rape of our society and from challenging the destructive logic of permanent war. For example, remember the growing movement to challenge the new invasive TSA screening procedures at airports? Did you notice how it disappeared after the would-be mujahid in Portland allowed himself to be trapped into the scheme to blow up the Christmas tree ceremony? Do you think the timing was accidental? It is a shame that you and your ilk are so mindlessly complicit in such schemes.
Now you think the mujahideen can win an all out war against the Americans. Look at what the mujahideen are doing to them in Afghanistan. Sorry, but Afghanistan is not what all out war looks like. I’ll give you a clue what all out war looks like. Remember a couple years ago when the Israelis were bombarding the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Muslims, for all of their courage, couldn’t do anything except appeal to outside powers to stop the carnage? Or a few years before that when Jenin was flattened? Think of the scale of that devastation expanded to encompass all of the major cities of the Muslim world. Imagine America unleashing a new generation of “tactical” nuclear weapons being designed to be used specifically against Muslims targets raining down on Muslim capitals and there is no Muslim strategic deterrent available to stop it. AK-47s and RPGs will be of no avail. Imagine the calls to human rights organizations to stop the slaughter finding no ears to hear them because the neo-fascist forces your stupidity has helped to unleash have swept those organizations away in its maddening torrent.
I have heard you counter that such an argument is a manifestation of a lack of faith. God has promised the believers victory. Indeed, He has. However, it is very pretentious of you to assume that someone who murders women, children and innocents with blazon impunity in the Name of God are the believers that victory has been promised to. He has promised the believers victory, but that promise is not unconditional. God is not going to give victory to people who murder in His Holy Name.
I applaud your courage, but how it manifests itself puzzles me. You have the courage to fly halfway around to world to engage in an armed struggle, but you do not have the courage to knock on your neighbor’s door to explain Islam to him or to give him your take on world affairs. I am also baffled at how you can smile in his face, but are ready to blow him up if he happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. What calculus do you use to assume he would not be amenable to your message? What has he done to you to be the target of your bloodlust?
You claim a refined understanding of Islam, so refined that you can make grave decisions concerning life and death, decisions with huge strategic implications –yet you seem to perceive nothing of the divine wisdom of your being in this country. You have an opportunity to be an educator at a time people are looking for a new way. You have an opportunity to be a guide at a time people are looking for a new direction. You have an opportunity to provide a source of spiritual solace at a time people are confused, angry and afraid. You have an opportunity to be a fierce advocate for truth at a time when lies are transforming the image of your religion and the direction of your country. You have the skills, the command of the language, the knowledge of the people to do all of that and more, but you choose to run away from this battle to join one you do not even know who the commander is.
Did I say that? “To join a battle you do not even know who the commander is.” No! I didn’t say that. Do you think that if the FBI can send fake mujahids into mosques all around America to find confused, vulnerable Muslims, develop fake bomb plots, with fake bombs, for very real political objectives, the CIA couldn’t do the same thing abroad? No, wait a minute. Didn’t the CIA build the Afghan mujahideen network? Didn’t what’s his name, Zbigniew Brzezinski, describe the Afghan operation as the CIA’s finest hour?
They would never use fake mujahids, operating through fake websites, to recruit confused and desperate Muslim youth to engage in operations that keep the climate of fear alive, would they? They wouldn’t do that to keep support for bloodsucking, treasury-draining wars alive at a time when there is no money for the poor, the elderly, health-care, education, infrastructure or investment in the green economy. No! It’s preposterous. Those would be psychological operations (psych ops) and that would be cheating. America never cheats, we’re the good guys!
I apologize, I’m tripping. On a serious note, I hope you don’t one day end up feeling as stupid and abused as young Antonio Martinez or Mahomed Osman Mohamud, the Somali kid in Oregon, are probably feeling right now. They have been tricked, deceived, used, and abused by fake mujahids and then thrown in a dungeon to rot for the rest of their lives. Do you think your fate will be any different? Don’t be a fool.
Sincerely,
Imam Zaid Shakir
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