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Madrassah Rant | Bad Tajweed | The Problem With Every Madrassah (Almost) & A Practical Solution

90% of students that I have come across, from as little as 5 years of age onwards, some having gone to madrassah for up to 5 years, cannot even recite the isti’aathah (A’outhou bililahi….) correctly, making both major and minor mistakes, and it can take on average 1 whole week only to correct that 1 short phrase.

How many students have I come across you ask? I’ve lost count, but in my estimate it is now close to one thousand. You could academically argue sample size and location, or you could just go find out for yourself.

And so you know my position, I am speaking from experience of a late mature student in Tajweed and Islamic Sciences, as a parent to four children, as a teacher to all 5 members of my family which are my 4 children and my wife, a teacher to both adults and children, and a local and online educator for now 5 years.

Many of these students, after even having completed reciting the Qur’aan from cover to cover, needed to be taken back to Qaa’idah to relearn arabic alphabets with makhaarij (articulation points) and sifat (characteristics), let alone main tajweed rules like Ghunnah (nasalisation), Qalqalah (echo letters) etc. Not only their little faces were disappointed, not only did some parents look confused and a little angry maybe even at myself for suggesting this, but yours truly even immediately regretted having opened his mouth to even suggest taking them on as a student, for I remember the hours, weeks, months and years of trying to correct every single letter, and it is not an easy task, in fact it is really frustrating.

And of course, if they had memorised anything from the Qur’aan, it became even harder to un-memorise. And those are children, whose minds are known to be sponges, and yet they find it difficult. Now think about those adults, some in their middle age lifespan, others at a semi retired position, now trying to transition between a heavy or full mouth letter to a light or flat letter, tongue twisting at its best.

May Allah forgive us all, but usually the first thing that comes to my mind in those situations is I want to go punch that teacher who did this to the poor child. Oh yes, blame is necessary, another word is responsibility, but even better, accountability.

And now on a different level, many imaams leading salah should not be leading salah purely based on their recitation, making major mistakes and minor mistakes, repeatedly, even when they are advised in private, clearly not having studied Tajweed properly, and the irony is that in many of those occasions I know brothers within the congregation praying behind them with much better tajweed, and yet they are not in front leading salah. That does not make sense, I hear you say, and yes you a right, it doesn’t, it shouldn’t be like that! Dear mosque committee members, please get your heads out the sand!

And not to mention the athaan. The call to prayer, the origin of which is a lesson for us since the one who dreamt of it was not the one whom the Prophet SAW commanded to offer the first athaan, and that was because of the superior voice beauty of the Sahabi Bilaal (May Allah be pleased with him). And yet, not only many mu’athin who call the athann make tajweed mistakes, both major and minor, but they sometimes sound like a cat being mauled by another cat.

Some teachers and institutions are good Masha Allah, they have the skills and knowledge to teach, but unfortunately they also think they belong to an elite group on par with designer clothing as they charge erroneous amounts of fees for any form of Islamic education. Do you think we people are made of money? Do you charge so much because you know the quality is good enough, so you over charge for that reason? May Allah forgive us all!

Okay Ash, enough with the complaining, we know there are many issues affecting the state of the Ummah, should we really be nit picking on Tajweed whiles our brothers and sisters are being slaughtered?

My answer; yes, we should be, fairly and giving every aspect of Islam its due right. Nothing should be left less than high standards, in many case not even less than normal standards. So whatever the cause is, as long as it’s just and according to the authentic understanding of Islam as taught by the Prophet SAW and implemented by the best first 3 generations, count us in!

I have not mentioned names. If you think it’s directed to you, or applies to you then it’s on you. If you are feeling offended, or insulted, to be honest, since I didn’t mention any name, I don’t care about your feelings, over and above the right for the Book Of Allah.

Some institutions overload their students intake, the ratio of teacher to student becomes unmanageable, and many students are just left trailing behind; alas, the words “we need bums on seats” have burnt my ears. Teachers also tend to change, no continuity and consistency of teaching, and of course many places still operate a very traditional way of teaching which is solely dependent on the teacher themselves, rather than a system for teaching and learning.

You, the teachers, if it applies to you, are stealing parents money, and have turned this Qur’aan into you personal profitable business. I mentioned accountability, that’s a reminder to myself first and foremost. Some of these mistakes I did myself, at the beginning, but I am improving Alhamdulillah. I could point fingers, name and shame, but this is another principle in Islam, not to expose your brother. So I am proposing a practical solution, at least to my ability.

Here it is! I have started a platform, on YouTube, and slowly integrating other social media platforms, and with our own W.I.P website. The brand is “HealMyTajweed”.

The philosophy is to create awareness (not name, shame or blame; the jury is still out on this one), and offer free tajweed lessons to all, children and adults. It is my intention to equip the parent with enough tajweed awareness, so that they can help their child on their journey with the Qur’aan. Additionally, we want to train the parent to recognise a scam artist who is trying to steal their money by pretending to teach tajweed but not delivering.

Tajweed lessons are made available freely on youtube, in a structured manner, so you will be able to follow and learn at your own pace. Of course no pre recorded lesson will ever replace a teacher 1:1, not even an internet live teacher, but it will create enough appreciation for you to continue learning and finding a good qualified teacher.

We have designed the lessons in a way that both adults and children can study together. In my madrassah, I teach the students in groups, and 1:1, and it’s quite a unique approach. Instead of the child only getting 5-10 minutes with the teacher, they get at least a full hour, whey they all sit in a disciplined controlled manner, and listen to each other's lesson and correct the mistakes as a group. It often happens that a child who is lesson no. 4 on Qaa’ida for eg, is still making mistake on their own lesson, but is able to correct a child on lesson 20, supposedly more advanced, all because of this unique approach to teaching and learning, where they are exposed daily to varying aspects and levels of tajweed, including terminologies.

Furthermore, every child can become really good in Tajweed, and I mean really good. If you teach a child correctly, they will recite correctly. By Allah’s will, we have corrected speech impediment such as lisping and stuttering because of the miracle of the Book Of Allah. Unless someone has a physical defect in their mouth, there is no speech impediment that cannot be cured, Alhamdulillah!

As opposed to the standard practice which is to push forward only the best students for any sort of promotional program, we teach all the students to a high level which means everyone can be pushed forward, not just a select few. We teach based on a systematic approach rather than relying totally on the teacher’s entire time and input. Think student led supervised teaching and learning, whilst also using technology and automated systems, a similar approach to modern secular academic schools. Of course there will always be some individual more gifted than others, without a doubt, but the gap between them should be as narrow as possible, and not a night and day difference. For a new student who just reached Juz Amma, their recitation of Surah Al Falaq should be similar to the recitation of Surah Al Falaq of a more advanced student who is on Surah Al Baqarah, after having completed Juz Amma.

As for those adults who keep telling themselves that the reason they do not know tajweed is because of time constraints, that they are too busy to find time to study, they really need to stop lying to themselves. No one is that busy, really, as a good old friend of mine once told me; “The busy person will always find time”, and I completely agree.

And if your excuse was you cannot find a suitable teacher or institution to study from, at HealMyTajweed, we are prepared for all eventualities. The students, child or adult, gets their lessons with corrections audio recorded and sent to them at home for revision and correction. On top of that, many theoretical and practical lessons have been now uploaded onto our YouTube channel for them to refer back to, and parents can equally join in to check what work was done and what homework to expect.

But wait, we want to take this one step further. We are now inviting every student to our new madrassah. We will Insha Allah live stream as many lessons as possible, so that the student and parents can tune in even if they cannot physically attend the lesson for whatever reason, and if it’s on YouTube the lesson will be available later as a normal video for viewing.

I know there are individuals and communities out there who want a higher standard for their children’s and their own Islamic studies. Our plan is to connect with them, and inspire others to do the same for their own communities. Part of our strategy is to go to every mosque who will receive us in London, then in UK, and offer a taster course of Tajweed to all, focusing on correcting Surah Al Fateha as a sample course, and to create awareness and build relationships. Check out our initial project done during Ramadhan 2018 on our YouTube channel!

And yes, before you ask, Arabic language, especially Qur’anic Arabic teaching and learning is also an important aspect of Islamic studies, and this will Insha Allah also be implemented onto our platform in due time. We need to start somewhere for now. Unfortunately we do not have a standardised quality assurance monitoring committee, like what Ofsted is to educational institutions in UK, whether or not you agree with their practices. We are talking here about a similar code of supervised practices, or better; but we have the internet!

Of course there is plenty more to cover, and Insha Allah we are continuing our project mission, it’s not just talk, it’s already happening. For more details, you can find us on YouTube, on our website, and various social media platforms, all under “HealMyTajweed”.

This is a humble start, so I am inviting you to the following:

Renew your relationship with the Qur’aan from today
Join us on our YouTube channel, subscribe, like, comment, and share our videos.
Join our Madrassah or Tajweed classes, either local or online or both. Let’s study together.
Contact your local mosque or other relevant organisation, speak to them about bringing us over for our taster course, ask them to get in touch with us, or you yourself and get in touch with us.
Contribute to our project by donating your time, skills, money or in any way you can. This will include marketing, social media management, content creation, teaching, administrative work and the list goes on.
Start your own project within your own community, let us know how we can help.
And to parents, you must find some time to learn Tajweed and Islamic studies yourself so you can help your child, even a little, at home, as you are the first responsible and accountable person for their Islamic studies, not the teacher. We are here to help you!

May Allah forgive us all, guide us on the straight path, and accept our efforts!

Your Brother In Islam!

Asheeq

HealMyTajweed

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/healmytajweed

Email: healmytajweed@gmail.com

Donate: www.paypal.me/healmytajweed

10 Reasons Not To Send Children To Madrassah Under The Age Of 7

In this presentation I will give you 10 reasons Not To Send Children To Madrassah Under The Age Of 7, and 1 bonus reason in the end, with a free practical & beneficial solution which you can do with your young child if you still want to give them some Islamic education at a young age.

This article will make more sense if you read and/or watch our previous presentation on: Madrassah Rant | Bad Tajweed | The Problem With Every Madrassah (Almost) | A Practical Solution

Watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ft17-P8gU5M

The Prophet Muhammad SAW advised us to teach our children how to pray from the age of 7, Islamic years of course. For that reason, and for all the following reasons I will mention, we do not want to enrol any child under the age of 7 (islamic years) in our madrassah.

By the way, do not abuse your misunderstanding of this established hadith. I will link you to an article from Islamqa (https://islamqa.info/en/127233), and there are many lectures you can find on youtube to educate you on not striking the child to an extent that you cause harm, no marks should be left on them, no striking the face or other lethal sites, no doing in front of others to protect their dignity and self confidence. We operate a STRICT NO CORPORAL PUNISHMENT here!

Now I am not saying you should not teach your child anything Islamic related, I am saying that you should not send them to an after school evening madrassah, like the traditional 5-7 pm, or even weekend part time madrassah. And I am not saying this applies to every single child in the world, Masha Allah there are exceptions from gifted children whom Allah has favoured from a very young age, even from much younger. Let me explain!

I am speaking to you as a late mature student in tajweed, as a parent of 4 children, and as a teacher to both children and adults for the past 5 years, both local and online.

1 – Reason 1: It is enough for us to follow the advice of the Prophet SAW, and Allah and His messenger know best.

2 – Reason 2: Many parents are looking for a cheap babysitting facility, and they figure they might as well send the child for a couple of hours. Believe me, I know the feeling, but you are not doing them any favour by taking this position. You think you can kill two birds with one stone. We are not babysitters, but educators. If you want babysitting facilities then employ a babysitter, or we need to offer a separate babysitting facility and charge you appropriately.

3 – Reason 3: At 4, 5 and 6 years of age, the child is still too weak physically to undertake regular after school studies of anything, let alone tajweed lessons where they come and literally pass out in class, especially now that we are reaching into winter soon, the poor child is exhausted. What kind of learning do you think take place when they are sleeping? Again, we are not an afternoon babysitting service.

4. Reason 4. At 5/6, most children are far too immature and mentally not ready to undertake serious tajweed studies, especially with us where we require full participation, and also give regular homework, and expect regular progress. They are unable to follow the lesson, and absorb the learning.

5. Reason 5. At this age, children are still quite difficult to manage in terms of behaviour. They are restless, all over the place, and much time is spent dealing with unnecessary behaviour and that is disruptive to the whole class, and impacts on learning. We are not here to deal with behaviour issues that you should be tackling at home, we cannot turn you child into a good muslim, that is your duty. We are only here as facilitators, not miracle workers. By the way, we have children of our own, and believe what you wish, but our children are not saints for the most part. Do you think our children wake up for salah, do a perfect wudhu and pray all their salah on time, and regularly recite Qur’aan? If you do, maybe you should have yourself checked with a psychiatrist for delusion ideas.

6. Reason 6. “I just want my child to be in an Islamic environment, otherwise at that time they will just sit on front of the tv, or tablet, or phone”; I hear some of you parents say. Then here is what you do! Make your home into an Islamic environment. Research the worrying effects of giving them a tablet or smartphone without any restrictions, this should be controlled and not a 24 hour unsupervised access privilege. If you need them to entertain online, give them some Islamic games and Islamic children's programs as well, and not just cartoon network or otherwise. There are so many Islamic books for children you can pick up which does not require you to have studied Islamic sciences formally to read with them. There is so much you can teach them at this age. Start with Islamic etiquettes. Like saying bismillah before acts, eating and drinking with the right hand, entering homes with right foot, learning small duahs with their meaning, learning some arabic vocabulary. You will not believe that even after 2 years of daily standing at the madrassah door, I still have to tell children to enter with right foot and put their right shoes on first.

7. Reason 7. Toilet training. This is a biggie. Many parents claim that their child is fully toilet trained at this age. We have different experiences where not only the child does not know how to use the toilet properly and clean themselves according to the teachings of Islam by using water and making sure they do not soil themselves and their clothes, but there are often accidents that happen. Most children do not do wudhu before they come because the parents says they are too young to do wudhu or to do salah, which I agree. Our students need to pray here at the madrassah when it is salah time. They need to come with wudhu, and they need to know how to do wudhu if they break it, so this is a mute point. Some parents argue their child is very mature and ready to learn, except when it comes to time for salah, and they don’t even come to madrassah with wudhu.

8. Reason 8. “I do not know tajweed and I don't know how and what to teach my child from basic Islamic knowledge”. Are you telling me you do not know any duahs, you do not know how to recite surah Al fatiha and a few short surahs from Juz Amma, that you do not know anything about Islam that you can teach your child? If that’s the case you have bigger issues that you need to sort out first.

9. Reason 9. “My tajweed is not good enough, I don’t want to make mistakes and teach them wrongly”. Here is what you do; improve your tajweed! Takes lessons, pay for courses, spend time learning so you can teach your child the basics. After all this is why platforms like HealMyTajweed exist. Not only are we also offering adult courses, but we are also putting our lessons online for free. What more do you want?

10. Reason 10: “I don’t have time because I am too busy”. So, two things here. Firstly, is to stop lying to yourself and to everyone else, because I never believe anyone who says they do not have time; I challenge you to come with your detailed daily schedule and prove that you do not have time. You would be surprised that once you start breaking down your daily activities down to the hour, or even better some people can do minutes, you will find that time is all you have; the evidence is you are listening to this or reading this, which means you are still alive, which means you have time. And no one is saying to spend one whole hour everyday. We all have at least 10-15 minutes, 20 minutes to half hour even better, ideally 1 hour daily. Do you know how long it takes to recite one page of the 15 lines mushaf? If your tajweed is good, anything between 2 and 3 minutes. My students are required to do it within 5 minutes, including mistakes and correction, with all the tajweed rules and at reasonable pace. Remember that Allah prefers small regular good deeds to one off big gestures.

And secondly, please forgive the harshness, but if you do not have time for your child, we do not have time for them neither. We have had enough experiences with parents who do not get involved at all with their child’s study, and in a few months time they approach us to ask why their child is not moving on; Insha Allah you will find that we will be calling you in regularly when your child is no progressing, and if we find that you are not doing your part at home, we may terminate their placement here.

And no this is not the same as secular education, where the child may be studying a topic which is not your expert field, or not even an interest of yours. This is not science or advanced maths, or philosophy. This is Islam, and we are here only talking about daily basic minimum which every muslim must do to sand a chance for success for both this world and aakhirah. Both you and your child is accountable, from puberty, for the 5 pillars of Islam. We are not asking you or your child to become a hafidh, or a fiqh scholar, Alhamdulillah if you wish to do that, the better for everyone.

Bonus Reason:As a bonus reason, you may be so desperate to send them anywhere, and you have no idea of the teaching quality, and you do not supervise or get involved in their learning, and we end up in this situation where the child now has learned the wrong tajweed, and the next teacher that takes them on now have to start from scratch, taking them back to qaidah. On top of that some of these teachers and institutions are not trained in dealing with teaching children of that age, there is sometimes age gap, culture gap, and language barriers.

To conclude. Do not hasten to send your child to madrassah at 5/6 years of age. Spend time teaching them etiquettes of Islam, small duahs, small surahs, even arabic alphabets but with good tajweed, so make sure you yourself learn some basic tajweed rules so you do not make major mistakes. Use free online resources instead of dumping them in from of the TV babysitter, and they will pick up many lessons. You will find that if they start madrassah a little later, they will pick up faster as long as they study with a good teacher.

If only more parents understood this, and more madrassahs undertook this approach, this would greatly reduce the pressure on everyone, resulting in less overcrowded madrassahs, better teacher to student ratio, and overall better teaching and learning experience.

Please forgive me if anything I have said sounds like it was unjustly directed to you. Myself I made the same mistake with my 5 year old, and it was only when I stepped back and returned with fresh eyes and a new method, that I saw a difference. And same goes to to other 5/6 year olds I have taught.

So I am inviting you to join our programme, whether local or online or both. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel, check our website

JazakAllahu Khairan. Outro