D.C. Center Teaches 6th-Graders About Islam
Most American schoolchildren learn about Islam in a social studies classroom. But at the Friends School in Baltimore, sixth-graders make their own mini-pilgrimage every year, to the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C.
As their bus rattles along the highway south to Washington, most of the kids are busy making up songs about each other. But 12-year-old Julia Potter is counting off the Five Pillars of Islam on her fingers: charity, prayer, fasting, profession of faith, and the pilgrimage to Mecca.
These kids are well-versed in the basics of Islam and more: In class, they learn about Judaism, Hinduism and Christianity; about prophets, taboos and holy laws. And every year, sixth-graders visit the Islamic Center — though every year, according to teacher Deloris Jones, they get there late. "There's absolutely nothing over the years I have been able to do to keep this thing on time," Jones says.
Inside the mosque, boys sit on the left and girls on the right, the girls' heads covered with colorful scarves. Imam Abassie Jarrkoroma leads a question-and-answer session, and this separation of the sexes is one of the first topics to come up.
"The traditional way when we pray, the men would be in the front, the children in the middle and the women in the back," he tells the children. "This is not unique to Islam. It has come down through the Judaic and Christian faith."
Next on the agenda is a stop at the Saudi Arabian Embassy, where Tarik Allagany shows the kids a video about his country. They have pointed questions for Allagany: Is Islam the only religion in Saudi Arabia? And what about the role of women in Saudi society? Allagany's answers are long, eloquent and somewhat evasive.
Jones says that afterward, she and her students will talk about "what the truth possibly really is, and how he diplomatically answered the question."
But despite those issues, Jones and her colleagues will keep bringing their sixth-graders here; they say it's the next best thing to being in the Middle East.
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POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: The grade of the students involved has been incorrectly identified. They are sixth-graders.
GUY RAZ, host:
In the city of Baltimore, one school is trying to get children out of the classroom and into a mosque. It's the way teachers at the Friends School introduce Islam to their eighth-grade social studies classes.
NPR's Jamie Tarabay went along on one of their yearly mini-pilgrimages and sent this report.
(Soundbite of music)
Unidentified People: (Singing) (Unintelligible).
JAMIE TARABAY: The school bus is a tangle of North Face fleeces, UGG boots and braces. The bus hurdles along Interstate 95 towards Washington, D.C., tossing middle-schoolers about and making at least one student sick.
While some of them make up songs about each other, 12-year-old Julia Potter counts off her fingers the five pillars of Islam. There's charity, prayer five times a day, the Shahada - reciting the creed.
Ms.�JULIA POTTER (Student): A Hajj is a holy pilgrimage to Mecca that you have to make once in your lifetime if you can afford it, and then there's Ramadan, which is a holiday where the Muslims have to fast from sunup to sundown.
TARABAY: Most of these kids are pretty well-versed in the basics: In class, they're taught the founding of not just Islam but Judaism, Hinduism and Christianity. They learn about prophets, taboos and requirements. Tilly Cornblatt(ph) knows there are different interpretations of the term jihad.
Ms.�TILLY CORNBLATT: Jihad is struggling or striving in the way of God. But there's another definition; it's called holy war, and that means you can defend yourself and Islam, but you can't keep fighting when your opponents stop.
TARABAY: This is an annual pilgrimage of sorts for the eighth-graders. Every year, teacher Deloris Jones and her colleagues attempt this field trip, and every year
Ms.�DELORIS JONES (Teacher): There's absolutely nothing over the years I have been able to do to keep this thing on time. It just doesn't work.
TARABAY: By the time they arrive at the Islamic Center in the heart of Washington, D.C., they're way behind schedule. The girls pull out bright scarves to cover their heads, giggling as they tuck each others' ponytails out of sight. Everyone takes off their shoes, and as they enter the mosaic-filled mosque, they separate. Boys sit on the left, girls on the right. It's something the kids bring up with imam Abassie Jarrkoroma(ph) almost immediately.
The Reverend ABASSIE JARRKOROMA: The traditional way when we pray, the men would be in the front, the children in the middle, and the women at the back. So it's a tradition that is not unique to Islam but rather, that's come down through the Judaic and the Christian faith.
TARABAY: The room is still as the middle-schoolers listen while the imam talks about the religious obligations of his faith. He says men, especially, are expected to come to the mosque for each prayer, but those who can't get away from work or home must pray wherever they are.
The quiet, reflective mood is quickly broken as they pile out of the mosque and back onto the bus. The field trip is one way the class learns about different religions. They also have readings, lectures, role-plays and visiting speakers. Their next stop: The embassy of Saudi Arabia.
Ms.�JONES: I have to let them know we're here. We're a little late, OK?
TARABAY: Through metal detectors and into an auditorium where Tarik Allegany, from the Saudi embassy, plays a video - much as he does every year. It's a sweeping montage of deserts, oilfields, men at computers, and women peering through microscopes. The focus on Islam prompts a question from 11-year-old Jenna Johnson(ph).
Ms.�JENNA JOHNSON (Student): In the slide show, it said that Saudi Arabia likes to help Islam. Is that the only religion in Saudi Arabia?
Mr.�TARIK ALLEGANY (Spokesman, Saudi Embassy, Washington, D.C.): Well, all you know, the land which is now called Saudi Arabia is where the religion of Islam originated.
TARABAY: Allegany goes into a long description of Saudi society and its inextricable connection with Islam. But as to Jenna's question, he doesn't actually answer it. The students also asked Allegany about Saudi Arabia's treatment of women.
Mr.�ALLEGANY: Saudi Arabia is a very family oriented society and historically, women in Saudi Arabia have been housewives and homemakers. And up until the 1960s, we didn't even used to have any schools for women.
TARABAY: Afterwards, as the children scramble to get lunch before the trip back to Baltimore, Deloris Jones points to the obvious gaps in Allegany's answers.
Ms.�JONES: He does it every year, and then we go back to school, and we talk about what the truth possibly really is, and how he diplomatically answered the question.
TARABAY: Despite those issues, Jones and her colleagues continue to bring their eighth-graders here because it's the next best thing to being in the Middle East.
Jamie Tarabay, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
