For the week of February 9 – Teaching Mohammad and Prophethood to Muslim Children
The picture displayed is a ‘Prophet Tree’
Prophet Tree made by Children
The education of religion as a devotional practice is a topic of interest to me. My children are Muslims because their father is Muslim and even in private schools in Kuwait which follow Western curricula they were required to take classes in both Islam and the Holy Quran. The Holy Quran class was entirely age appropriate memorization of the Quran and the texts memorized (memorization came first). The Islam class had broader subject areas in the curriculum though and included other subjects.
This image struck me as real – something children obviously created and not a commercially printed poster of the chain of prophets in Islam (although the ones seen in http://jarirbooksusa.com/16645.html may be more appropriate for older children). Also, it was group made and produced for display presumably to a larger group than who made it. Pedagogically and aesthetically, I think that tree is fabulous! From what I know and from what the course has taught, the tree the children produced is based on the Quran and hadith. It reinforces in children’s minds from a young age that Mohammad is a prophethood, in a group/line of prophets and is the last or seal of the prophets. Children are raised with the notion of other respected prophets (Jesus, Moses, etc.) but also that Mohammad is ‘their’ prophet – the prophet for Muslims. Subtly it can be said that Muslim children are raised to believe Mohammad is ‘different’ and – better than the other prophets.
In this image, Mohammad’s branch is off to one side with no other small branches from it. This to me may not signify a Sunni classroom because the family of Mohammad are not prophets and next to this tree in a classroom might be a student produced ‘family of the Prophet Mohammad’ tree…Teaching that Mohammad is a prophet in a line of prophets is central to teaching Islam as a devotional manner. This tree is a fabulous tool in that.