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If one is studying an Islamic Nation Islamic Calligraphy is very much part of the Nation and in a non-Arabic Islamic Nation Islamic Calligraphy and Qur'anic Arabic are the only written forms of Arabic common to all Islamic nations. Arabic does differ nation to nation but the Islamic Calligraphy and Written Qur'an are the same world wide.
If some one is offended by the Shahada, I think they would be even more so by other examples of Islamic Calligraphy.
the teacher could have used the Asmāʾ Allāh al-Ḥusnā,
all Islamic Calligraphy will be religion related. As for Arabic calligraphy, none of it reflects Islamic nations.
'There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,' as part of a world geography class
I as a Christian don't agree with this.......Does Islam accept Jesus as the Son of God?
They students could have easily wrote, Mecca is a place of worship for those who believe in Islam......this would have left God out of it.......you do see this don't you?
I figure that the meaning of the Arabic calligraphy wasn't provided in the exercise because the content wasn't the point of the exercise. There are lots of hidden messages in class - in physics, there's E = mc(squared) - which is typically explained in class, but I don't know that most students grasp the meaning even then. Trying to get past those limitations is the point of class, & of education in general.
The Ten Commandments were removed from public schools because their posting there implied state approval or preference - which is not allowed anymore, since the 1950s.
Schools are not there to tell our kids who God is.......where does this come into what you said in the bolded? The class lesson is approved by the state isn't it?
'There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,' as part of a world geography class
If you wrote this statement in the bold, would you think it has no real meaning? Would you write something you didn't know what it said?
'There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,' as part of a world geography class
I as a Christian don't agree with this.......Does Islam accept Jesus as the Son of God?
They students could have easily wrote, Mecca is a place of worship for those who believe in Islam......this would have left God out of it.......you do see this don't you?
True they could have written something else in Arabic, if the purpose was to teach about Arabic culture, Arabic History etc. But it seem the lesson had to do with Islamic Nations, not just the Arab Islamic Nations, in which case a non-Islamic phrase would have no meaning. Very few followers of Islam are Arab. only about 15% of the worlds Muslims are Arab. Most people living in Islamic Nations do not speak Arabic and are only familiar with the Qur'anic Arabic and Islamic Calligraphy.
Because it doesn't matter. It wasn't a lesson on the teachings of Allah and the word of the Koran or whatever, the point of the lesson was to focus on the intricacy of the language itself. But at the same time, that is an important phrase religiously for Muslims, so now you're killing two birds with one stone. It's not just some useless American/English phrase translated into Arabic.
God IS Allah. God is also God. God is also Yahweh (or whatever other of the various words, in any language, Jews may use). These are all God. Some of them may not be YOUR God, but they ARE Gods that are recognized by the major world religions. The fact that I don't believe in Allah doesn't make him not a God. It just doesn't make him MY God.
The Ten Commandments may be taught in school in the context of teaching Christianity, like this was teaching Islam. A student can learn the Ten Commandments to better understand Christianity, and then they move onto another lesson, another religion. At least this is how it went in my district. However, they cannot be words for students to live by in public schools, as they would in a Catholic school. There is a difference. They cannot be taught to children and reminded of it each day. You cannot say to a child "you can't steal money from your fellow student because God says "thou shalt not steal."" Once someone says to a kid in this school in question in VA, "you can't believe in God because Allah is the only God," then we can talk.
This statement is written as fact, not sure how you are missing this.
'There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,'
If they had put Islam believes, but some how that got left out. They could have easily used, Mecca is a place of worship, for those who believe in allah.
What I find strange many people want to give God different names and saying it is a different language. God is very clear in the Bible about who He IS to be called, changing that is not the wisest move. Even Jews use the word G-d, why are you giving allah so much credit. Where in the Bible does God speak about this religion Islam? Don't tell me by Ishmael........
True they could have written something else in Arabic, if the purpose was to teach about Arabic culture, Arabic History etc. But it seem the lesson had to do with Islamic Nations, not just the Arab Islamic Nations, in which case a non-Islamic phrase would have no meaning. Very few followers of Islam are Arab. only about 15% of the worlds Muslims are Arab. Most people living in Islamic Nations do not speak Arabic and are only familiar with the Qur'anic Arabic and Islamic Calligraphy.
The kids doing the lesson where here in America, this makes no sense. Handing out a lesson and not telling the kids what they were writing, is not being upfront about ones intentions. Islam's god is not a part of geography, why is no one seeing this? One can discuss Islam and geography without stating who God is, can't they?
The lesson was presented as fact, not as a writing.
I will ask you again, is Jesus the Son of God? You have avoided this many times with me, but feel very comfortable having kids write who allah is blindly through calligraphy.
True they could have written something else in Arabic, if the purpose was to teach about Arabic culture, Arabic History etc. But it seem the lesson had to do with Islamic Nations, not just the Arab Islamic Nations, in which case a non-Islamic phrase would have no meaning. Very few followers of Islam are Arab. only about 15% of the worlds Muslims are Arab. Most people living in Islamic Nations do not speak Arabic and are only familiar with the Qur'anic Arabic and Islamic Calligraphy.
Actually, I think it's still a question for us out here in Webworld whether the lesson was about Islamic nations or Arabic nations...or whether the lesson even made that distinction.
The lesson was not thought through that thoroughly, I think.
Schools are not there to tell our kids who God is.......where does this come into what you said in the bolded? The class lesson is approved by the state isn't it?
'There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,' as part of a world geography class
If you wrote this statement in the bold, would you think it has no real meaning? Would you write something you didn't know what it said?
I don't know whether the teacher came up with the words in the assignment by herself, took it from a textbook lesson plan, or something else. Whatever, the school district has at least put a stop to that particular phrase. Though I think the exercise as a whole is ridiculous, that's a step forward, thanks to the parents who complained. to them.
The kids doing the lesson where here in America, this makes no sense. Handing out a lesson and not telling the kids what they were writing, is not being upfront about ones intentions. Islam's god is not a part of geography, why is no one seeing this? One can discuss Islam and geography without stating who God is, can't they?
The lesson was presented as fact, not as a writing.
I will ask you again, is Jesus the Son of God? You have avoided this many times with me, but feel very comfortable having kids write who allah is blindly through calligraphy.
I had not answered that as it does not seem related to the thread and you are asking about my personal belief.s not what I think the lesson was. I did notice in the article the teacher was a Social Studies teacher, not a geography teacher. Although the rest of the article states it was a Geography lesson.
But to answer your Question, I do not believe God has any offspring. He is unique has no partners, no equals and no children. He is the creator of all things, not the father of all things.
By his word alone he created jesus in Mary with no need of a father. Mary is the Mother of Jesus(a.s.) but he has no Father.
There are also other miraculous births comparable in the Bible not the least of being Adam and Eve. Adam had neither Father nor Mother, Eve came from Adam who techically was a virgin and Eve would be the Daughter of a virgin male.
We believe the Virgin Birth of Jesus(a.s.) was a miraculous sign of His Prophethood. We do believe Jesus(a.s.) is a true Prophet and upon his return he will destroy the Dajall(the anti-Christ) and the followers of the Dajall. Then with the Mehdi He will lead all non-Muslims to Islam. At the resurrection he will be a witness against those who worshiped him as a god.
Last edited by Woodrow LI; 12-24-2015 at 12:32 PM..
Reason: Corrected typo the Is was supposed to be He.
This statement is written as fact, not sure how you are missing this.
'There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,'
If they had put Islam believes, but some how that got left out. They could have easily used, Mecca is a place of worship, for those who believe in allah.
What I find strange many people want to give God different names and saying it is a different language. God is very clear in the Bible about who He IS to be called, changing that is not the wisest move. Even Jews use the word G-d, why are you giving allah so much credit. Where in the Bible does God speak about this religion Islam? Don't tell me by Ishmael........
I'm not missing it. No one is forcing the kids to accept that Allah is the only God. They're in high school. They have the ability to think for themselves and they do. Just because something is written as fact in a historical type of context (like a religious one) doesn't mean the kids will adopt that belief and take that fact to heart. It's only a fact for people who believe it. Someone who isn't a Muslim, like myself, would not take that as fact and would understand that it's someone else's fact, another religion's fact, but not my own. I can separate the religious aspect from the fact and understand that that "fact" is not MY fact because it has a religious base.
High school kids will not be converted from this one simple sentence written in another language that they cannot even read. They have their own set of beliefs and opinions by now. This would not bother me one bit if I were back in high school. If the state of VA recognizes this assignment as okay, I think that it is. Had this been another religion, I don't think the outcry from anyone would be this bad. Like I've said, I think people are mostly angry because it's Islam.
Other religions can call God whatever they want. Allah is not in the Bible because Islam formed centuries after Christianity did. Judaism came first and Jews don't believe that Jesus is the savior, but Christians do, yet do you think this bothers Jews? I don't think it does. I don't personally view Allah as the same God as mine. Maybe he is, but not to me. So I don't care what anyone else calls God. I don't expect them to think how I do or think that MY God is superior in any way.
Originally Posted by southwest88 I figure that the meaning of the Arabic calligraphy wasn't provided in the exercise because the content wasn't the point of the exercise. There are lots of hidden messages in class - in physics, there's E = mc(squared) - which is typically explained in class, but I don't know that most students grasp the meaning even then. Trying to get past those limitations is the point of class, & of education in general.
The Ten Commandments were removed from public schools because their posting there implied state approval or preference - which is not allowed anymore, since the 1950s.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3~Shepherds
Schools are not there to tell our kids who God is.......where does this come into what you said in the bolded? The class lesson is approved by the state isn't it?
'There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,' as part of a world geography class
If you wrote this statement in the bold, would you think it has no real meaning? Would you write something you didn't know what it said?
Yah. The school was not endorsing Allah as the sole God in the World, & that's the test for unnecessary state/religion entanglement in these cases, TMK. You can look up religion in public schools in the US if you like, I use Wikipedia. The translation wasn't provided to the students, as far as I know, until after the debate about it started.
The point of the calligraphy exercise was the intricacy of the writing, not the content. Sure, in English it's plain what it says. In Arabic calligraphy - or even just in Arabic - it's just squiggles, unless you can read Arabic.
Yah, I try not to write nonsense, unless that's what I'm aiming @. True enough, in the students' place, I would have been concerned about what the content was - & some of the students refused the assignment. But I don't know - @ 9th grade - that I would have refused the assignment altogether. I was a difficult student, I'm sure - but I'd probably have wanted more justification than just my uneasiness. Kudos to those students - they're pretty brave.
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to them.
Plowing the field, over & over
