Yearly Archives: 2022

During our lives as teachers and more specifically as teachers at an Islamic School in Canada, we often wonder whether all of our relentless efforts of teaching, training, and enablement of the next generation of Western Muslims are sufficient enough to see us through this ephemeral world? While Allah SWT only wants us to genuinely strive in His path, it is but human to think about the results of our efforts. Seeing all the un-Islamic exposure our students have to unintentionally go through everyday living in the West, we are sometimes reminded of the times of the early days of the Muslims, who were just a handful in number, struggling to hold on to their leader and companion, Prophet Muhammed ﷺ. They faced countless hardships and struggles just to proclaim the oneness of Allah SWT...

Abdullah had just experienced the worst calamity possible as a 12-year-old child. He had just lost his entire family to a brutal and unjustified occupation that had taken over his beautiful island nation of Tooba and turned it into a living hell for its inhabitants. The oppressors waging the war on the sovereignty of Tooba, wanted to ensure total control and domination of the island. Their oppressive ruler certainly made sure no one would challenge his authority, far and wide. He decreed mass killings to ensure the population was under control on the island and pulled out all the stops in his incessant pursuit of wealth, power, and domination. No one in their right mind would have preferred to live in Tooba anymore and Abdullah also found himself wishing desperately to get away from it...

Over the past couple of years, we have all felt the big void of not having a ‘normal’ Ramadan in our lives. The pandemic had made it impossible for us to partake in any Ramadan activities outside of our homes and hence it was only natural for us to yearn for those beautiful days of worship and self-reflection, in a community setting. Alhumdulilah, with the immense blessings and mercy of Allah (SWT), Ramadan 2022 came along and had us racing against time to make full use of it, just like in the pre-pandemic days. Even at Al Manarat Islamic Schools, we have had to keep ourselves on our toes to take advantage of this blessed month and instill its love and importance in our students. Throughout the years, we have always had in-school activities in Ramadan...

When we hear the word competition, some of the first things that come to mind are sports and athletic competitions or other co-curriculars such as debates and elocution competitions or perhaps, even arts and crafts competitions. However, at Al Manarat Heights Islamic School, we have a vision of nurturing our students in the light of the Quran and the teachings of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). With this vision in mind, we have developed a broad range of additional competitions for our students that specifically revolve around perfecting our embodiment of Islam. Competitions are a great way for students to experience a host of topics such as, participation, effort, teamwork, excellence, wins and losses; and overall attain a deeper understanding of Islam which is at the heart of each competition. The first of such competitions discussed...