Understanding Islam: A Guide for Teachers Hardcover – 15 April 2020
by Imran Mogra (Author)
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This book aims to give non-Muslim teachers the confidence to engage meaningfully with important facets of Muslim pupils’ lives leading to a richer and more rewarding experience in the classroom.
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Introduction
PART 1 KEY CONCEPTS IN ISLAM
1 Allah
2 The Word of God
3 The Prophet of God (#)
4 The Stories of Prophets
5 Foundations of Faith
6 Obligations of Faith
7 Expressions of Practice
PART 2 CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
8 The Ethical Dimension
9 Education in Muslim Communities
10 The Shia Traditions
11 Muslim Heritage and Intellectual Contributions
12 Islam and Contemporary Britain
Glossary
References
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BOOK REVIEW
Understanding Islam: A guide for teachers, authored by Imran Mogra, London, Sage, 2020, xxii + 313 pp., $108.00, ISBN 9781526438584 (hardcover), $32.00, ISBN 9781529721669 (electronic).
Article in International Journal of Children s Spirituality · May 2021
Terrorism and violence by Muslims have created the discourse of Islamophobia because non-Muslims may assume that Islamic teachings legitimise such actions. In fact, the discourse of Islamophobia does not really recognise the meaning of Islam from a critical perspective (Mirza 2019; Najib and Hopkins 2020), and in the educational context, this situation can increase psychological insecurity among Muslims and Muslim students in particular (Bi 2020).
In this book, Mogra attempts to deal with ‘the misconceptions and misunderstandings’ of Islam (p. xv) among non-Muslims, particularly primary teachers and tutors (p. xvii). Therefore, non-Muslims can have an accurate understanding of Islam before teaching their students how Muslims understand the Qur’an and enact it in the day-to-day life.
In doing so, the goal of this book is to broaden students' horizons of religious education in terms of their critical religious awareness and sensitivity as well as solid understanding of Islam (p. xvii).
Mogra’s book consists of two parts.
Part I explores key concepts in Islam comprising chapters 1–7 which highlight the theological and contextual information as a framework for knowing and understanding the foundation of Islam teachings as practiced by Muslims.
Key points for chapters 1–4 underscore the concept of a pure monotheistic belief so called Tawhid in Islam that places emphasis that God is the One (p. 7).
As explained in Part 1 of the book, the Qur’an as the commandment of God, which is going to be materialized until the end of the day, contains the stories of the Prophet Muhammad and other prophets as a religious yardstick for moral, ethical, and spiritual deeds among humans (p. 76).
Chapters 5–7 highlight the foundation of faith, which covers
- Iman, Islam, and Ihsan;
- five Pillars of Islam as a representation of obligatory rituals for Muslims (p. 98); and
- social practices guided by Islamic teachings.
These chapters accentuate how Muslims enact their socio-religious identity in which the notions of belonging, community, culture, and citizenship matter (p. 121).
Part II in chapters 8–12 provides
explicit teaching and links between the historical legacy and contemporary matters which pertain to the real lives of Muslims.
The innovative and creative ways introduced give richer and wider conceptions and applications of ethical dimensions, where Muslim communities around the world could manifest them in the educational context.
Chapters 8–10 exclusively describe Islam from a Shi’ite perspective;
while in chapters 11–12, Mogra includes the explanations of Muslim Heritage, the history of Muslims in Europe, and their intellectual contributions.
In the monograph, Mogra has fruitfully elucidated the teaching of Islam.
Another noteworthy point is that the book was written in a semi-textbook style that features chapter objective and overview, diagrams, voices of a Muslim or Muslimah, case studies, summaries, reflective tasks, and further readings in each chapter.
The monograph should be a must-have collection for religious education teachers, Muslims, and non-Muslims who would like to have a solid understanding of Islamic teachings in order to interrogate what is presented in media regarding Islam and Islamophobia.
While Mogra provides a specific section touching upon the Shi’ite tradition (Chapter 10), there is no particular section addressing the Sunni tradition.
Since the book is intended as a key resource for Islamic teachings in primary and secondary schools, it is of great interest to the readers of this journal.
As in the practices of Islamic teachings in the Muslim world, young Muslims are taught key principles of Islam and expected to practice Islamic rituals (socio-religious practices), such as daily acts of worship to Allah, performing obligatory prayers (five-times a day), obligatory fasting (in Ramadan), giving alms and performing the Hajj in Mecca.
In addition to the Islamic rituals, young Muslims are also taught how to interact with others and behave morally, ethically, and spiritually regardless of their ethnicity or religious backgrounds (Muslims and non-Muslims).
As the monograph also aims to provide non-Muslims a with a better understanding of Islamic teachings, young non-Muslim children should be a foundational knowledge of Islam so that they can understand and respect their Muslim peers.
As primary and lower secondary school teachers are target readership, the monograph has clearly provided hands-on information on how the teachers should treat and teach pupils regarding Islamic teachings in practice. It will also be a useful reference for policymakers who are interested in designing Islamic education curricula that promote religious criticality.
This monograph can also be a collection for scholars who are keen on understanding contemporary Islamic education issues.
References
Bi, S. 2020. “The School as a Double-edged Panopticon—increased Anxiety and Deflated Islamic Identities: A Child-centered Perspective on the Trojan Horse Affair.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 40 (2): 332–344. doi:10.1080/13602004.2020.1773103.
Mirza, N. 2019. “Everyday Living with Islamophobia.” Culture and Religion 20 (3): 302–321. doi:10.1080/ 14755610.2019.1705032.
Najib, K., and P. Hopkins. 2020. “Where does Islamophobia Take Place and Who is Involved? Reflections from Paris and London.” Social and Cultural Geography 21 (4): 458–478. doi:10.1080/ 14649365.2018.1563800
