Each year the holy month of Ramadan is a sacred time for us as it brings us tremendous hope in the infinite mercy of Allah SWT. It also serves as a yearly reminder to us of our purpose in life on this earth, i.e. to worship Allah SWT. However, there is nothing that we as human beings could do in order to derive the benefits of this month without the Holy Quran having been revealed to us, in this very month some 1400+ years ago.
Allah SWT says in Surah Al Baqarah,
شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ ٱلْقُرْءَانُ هُدًۭى لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَٰتٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْهُدَىٰ وَٱلْفُرْقَانِ
Translation (Sahih International):
“The month of Ramadan [is that] in which was revealed the Quran, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion…” (The Holy Quran, 2:185)
In other words, Ramadan is essentially the month of the Holy Quran and what better way to connect with Allah SWT than to take the time to study and understand His words in this blessed month. At Al Manarat Islamic Schools, it is no different. In every Ramadan, we have our Daurah-e-Quran program which is meant to allow anyone who partakes in it to experience Quranic studies in a unique and convenient manner. However, the Daurah-e-Quran program this Ramadan was tailored to take the focus away from every other activity or program in school.
During each Ramadan school day, within a fixed time slot of an hour, all students of Grades 1-12 mandatorily participated in the Daurah-e-Quran program. Students from different grades were all divided into three broad groups: Grades 1 and 2, Grades 3 – 5, Grades 6 – 12; each having a separate teacher to lead them through these learning sessions. Generally the focus of the Daurah-e-Quran program would be to go through the entire Quran in the allotted 30 days time but this year, the Academic Team decided to do a deep-dive into a select few surahs, aiming to impart maximum benefits of learning these specific surahs during these 1 hour sessions every day.
A typical hourly session consisted of first listening to the recitation of the Surah that’s scheduled for studying that day. Then the allocated teachers would go over all the important points of that Surah, where students are encouraged to take notes as they will have to answer 10 important questions as homework from the same content. Additionally, there are two ahadith that are also taught to the students and questions might be asked from these ahadith as well. Toward the end of each hourly session, the same recitation is replayed on loudspeakers and students are expected to follow along to have a better understanding of what’s being recited since they’ve already had the opportunity to listen to the tafsir on those exact same verses earlier.
In addition to the 10 questions homework, an oral testing component was also introduced to test the students’ comprehension and understanding of the verses discussed in each session. This enabled the teachers and TAs to accurately judge each student’s comprehension of the discussed verses and allowed them to identify any learning gaps that could be addressed later. All these improvements made to the Daurah-e-Quran program this Ramadan resulted in an academic program that also directly uplifted the students’ iman and provided them valuable glimpses into the intricate beauty and wisdom that’s present in the The Holy Quran.
Apart from learning the Quran, a key component of the month of Ramadan is making as much dua as possible. Taking this into consideration, the Academic team at Al Manarat compiled a thoughtful and beneficial dua book called: Whispers of the Heart. This beautiful book includes duas of the prophets, other notable believers in history as well as the angels of Allah SWT. It is worth noting that a true believer’s life revolves around dua, or beseeching Allah SWT throughout their lives. All the prophets of Allah SWT were successful primarily through their humility and their wisdom in making dua to Allah SWT to help them in their mission. The brief explanations of duas available in this book are sure to help students and parents both in relating the famous duas with our day-to-day lives.
Another welcome addition to the Academic programs in Ramadan were the iftars hosted by our Student Council for their peers and friends, which gave the students a chance to bond over something other than typical school work. Through hosting these iftars, the members of the Student Council and other volunteers learned a lot about organizing events, managing others’ expectations, troubleshooting any unforeseen issues etc.; essentially procuring life-skills that are necessary for growing up into responsible adults and leaders of their communities in the future.
Finally, the students also managed to do a lot of food drives and fundraising in Ramadan for the less fortunate Muslims living in Palestine and India; which taught them the importance of looking out for others beyond their own families and communities. Doing these food drives humbles them and allows them to be grateful and reflect on their blessings while ensuring that they are thoughtful of others too and are not just consumed in their self.