First grade girls in scarves
Prime location for afternoon prayer
Assembling for an afternoon prayer
One of the most important factors I saw influencing the very life of the school is Islam. As locals have told me, just two generations ago, Islam was observed in a more relaxed, more African form, and was not so ingrained in the everyday practices of the entire population. With large infusions of aid, construction of mosques at every turn, and religious education from good friends like Libya, Saudi Arabia, and increasingly, Iran, various brands of fanatic or fundamentalist Islam seem to be gaining momentum. I saw it everywhere in the neighborhood school, in very tangible ways.
More than half the girls in the first grade class were wearing head scarves. These are 6-8 year olds. Until recently, even in Arab countries the little girls did not cover themselves. This is the influence of fundamentalist clergy (the extreme case of this is Taliban policy) combined with social pressure. During class and break time little girls would awkwardly adjust their mis-fitting headscarves, even though some of them seemed to treat their scarves as a form of a dress-up costume.
When I was correcting the handwriting and mis-formed numbers, I noticed that so many of the children were writing “backwards,” from right to left. This is when I put my hand on theirs to show them how to properly form their words and numbers. Later, a respected educator told me that the preponderance of such errors is due to the intense training so many of the kids are getting at the Islamic schools, where pupils are copying the Quran (in Arabic, from right to left) – even if they don’t understand it. This training starts early and has a strong impact on the kids.
A third example of Islam’s influence was the odd half of an empty 50-lb burlap or plastic rice bag I saw so many of the children carrying with them to school. At the 1:45 break I realized what they were. The majority of the school population had assembled in the back dirt courtyard of the school, under the shade of a few large trees, for the communal prayer. The site of the hundreds of kids with those improvised prayer rugs, and joined at the front by the local imam who teaches Islamic studies (Quran memorization) at the school, both fascinated and shocked me. This is a public school, where church is supposed to be separated from state. But Quran lessons and communal prayer don’t seem to fall under that rule.
While the US is deploying its resources fighting a war on terror, cutting its international aid programs, and watching American Idol, Islam and the Middle Eastern regimes are focusing on the future battles and winning the hearts and minds of the youngest Africans.
3 comments:
My intention here was simply to demonstrate the impact of Islam, not to try to "counter" it. Noone here equates Islam with terrorism, just as Americans don't equate terrorism with the religion of people like Timothy McVeigh or other bombers. Islam is simply intertwined with the routine of daily life here.
I could not agree more, Homa, with your insightful conclusion. We are, I believe, missing the point entirely in our "war on terror." As we become the "American Idol" nation and as a society sit idly by and allow our role in the most important affairs of the world to diminish (feeding the hungry, clothing the poor) we unwittingly sacrifice untold opportunities to insure that our democratic values are advanced. Thank you for your efforts.
I can't agree more with u. This is the most important war that will confront us if world leaders dont pay attention to it. I am a Gambian student in the United States, and really worried about fundamentalist Islamic mentality posoining our youths. It's one thing to be a muslim,but it's a lot different if u want to act like a "Yusuf" in Saudi Arabia. We can be muslims, and still maintain our African traditions.
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