Colors of Islam Club

By YesPakistan.com Staff Writer

At three fifteen, forty-five minutes before class actually begun, there were ten students sitting around tables on the floor. At three thirty, the number of students had doubled, and were chatting happily with half an hour to go before the teachers even arrived. Telling you just that should be enough to prove that the Colors of Islam Club is a highly successful program. Very few teachers can boast that their students not only come to class on time, but come half an hour early so they don?t miss a thing. A normal class at the Colors of Islam Club may follow as such. Two volunteer teachers stand before a group of enthralled children. One teacher holds a blender, the other holds an iron. The first teacher attempts to iron some clothes with a blender, much to the joy of the children. The other teacher turns the iron over and starts crushing spices against it. Neither teacher is very successful, and the children shout out advice: "No! That's an iron! That's not what a blender is for!"

A third teacher enters the room and asks the erring teachers, "What are you doing? That's not how you use irons and blenders!"

The two teachers shuffle their feet and make excuses before the third teacher asks them sternly, "Didn't you read the manual for blender? And this iron came with a book of instructions! Everything comes with instructions! Even you!"

The children are awed, the two teachers feign amazement as well. "We come with manuals?"

The teacher produces a Quran from behind her back and holds it before her audience. "This", she says knowingly, "is your manual." Just as the ooohs and aaahs die down, the teachers begin a lesson on studying the meaning of the Quran.

Many of the lessons taught at the Colors of Islam club are done in this visual and engaging way, using skits, songs, hands-on participation and visual aid. When Tahira Aslam, a volunteer teacher at the G-10, Islamabad branch, taught the lesson of "Al-Khaliq, Allah as the Creator" she and the other volunteers went beyond showing the children pictures of Allah?s creations and filled the room with them instead. The children learned respect of the Creator and respect of His creations by handling chicks and kittens in the classroom, and marveling at how God's creations far superceded their own (they drew pictures of animals before this lesson, and compared their un-moving pictures to the actual living models that mewed and pecked about the classroom).

So who came up with this brilliant idea? Arusa Bharni, one of the initial founders of the club said "This all started with a couple moms who were studying at Al-Huda and taught their own children at home. We wanted to teach other children as well, in a manner that was comfortable, activity-based and fun. We drew up our proposals and showed them to Dr. Farhat Hashmi of Al-Huda, and she was very supportive. She said yes to some ideas and said no to others, and gave us guidelines to work with so that what we teach is approved of by the Al-Huda institute."

Since its formal initiation in '99, the Colors of Islam Club has become a full-fledged organization with roughly ten branches in various major cities of Pakistan. Each of these branches is taught by volunteers who have in turn been taught by the Al-Huda Institute. The students of the Colors of Islam Club range in ages from 4-12, and attend the club in addition to normal schooling. During summer, the club meets three times a week. During the school year, it meets on Saturdays. Each branch uses a standardized syllabus issued by Al-Huda, complete with art projects, songs, stories, and even physical activities to encourage fitness.

"My daughter Fariha has only been coming here for two or three weeks, but still she counts down the days to this class," Nazia Ihsan, the mother of one of the students laughed, "She says Amma there are three days left! Amma only two days to go! Amma hurry let's go it's today!"

Fariha nestled shyly into her mother's lap and whispered her response when asked what she liked most about the Colors of Islam Club. Her mother interpreted the barely audible reply, "She said she likes talking about Allah," Nazia Ihsan added, "Sine she started coming here she has developed a spirit of love, she's more gentle, she's more polite. Alhamdulillah, (All Praise is due to Allah) I am so glad I found out about this club from my neighbor."

It's no surprise that word of the Club is spreading, it's hard not to talk about a group of children who know all 99 Names of Allah, read prayer in congregation and go to kutchi abaadis ("un-baked" housing areas where the impoverished live in homes of mud and clay) and distribute gifts to every child in the village, every Eid. The money for the gifts is raised by the children voluntarily, each child is issued a sealed clayed pot, the Pakistani version of a piggy-bank, and is given the option of dropping a few rupees into it every day. A few days before Eid, all the clay pots are smashed open and the money is used to buy gifts. Aside from charitable activities in Ramadan, the children also collect clothing, medicine and household utensils to give to various relief organizations. The class closet, which serves doubly as make-believe jail to lock Shaitan into during Ramadan, is currently being stocked with pain relievers, cotton gauze, bandages and other medical supplies. These supplies will be donated to Afghani Muslims through Shifa Hospital Trust.

The Colors of Islam Club places much emphasis on practical Islam, about doing as well as saying, about taking an active approach to everything you do. "It's important that we do what we say we should do, children can see hypocrisy," Tahira said. "My own children come back from school and tell me that their Islamic Studies teacher told them to keep their nails clean and trimmed, but hers are this long (indicating two inches) and painted bright red! We have to have teachers who do what they say, and each of our teachers has to be taught the basics from Al-Huda before she can come and teach our children."

"The purpose of this (program)," Arusa Bharni said, "Is to join the children with God, that's Al-Huda's purpose as well, let us pray that it will be accepted of us."

Ameen

For information about finding or starting a Colors of Islam Club in your area, send email to hbaig@isb.paknet.com.pk.

Date/Time Last Modified: 6/17/2002 3:44:40 PM

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