Global terms: Muslim

An ethnographic eye on religion in everyday life

Research Summary: An ethnographic eye on religion in everyday life

This article considers pitfalls associated with teaching about religions. The main pitfall considered is the risk of presenting religions as stereotypical monolithic systems: that all who belong to a particular religious tradition think and act in the same way. The writer calls this sort of stereotyping the ‘robotic tendency’ because it has a habit of reducing practitioners to robot-like beings that always perform identical actions. She argues that the ‘ethnographic eye’ can help educators to avoid stereotypes and the robotic tendency when teaching about religions. The ‘ethnographic eye’ means close attention to human thoughts, feelings and actions in everyday life.

Researchers

Jenny Berglund

Research Institution

Södertörn University, Sweden

What is this about?

The article is about learning to teach about religions (in this case, Islam) without neglecting the fact that within any religion, there are varieties of belief and practice that have to be taken into account. The writer tells and reflects on the stories of two teachers who were asked to investigate Islam in their own schools and local environments, then think about the ramifications of what they had learned for their future teaching. Both teachers were offered surprises and both were forced to consider that the lived reality of Islam in their immediate environments was more complex and differentiated than their previous picture, built up through text-books and media presentations. The writer argues that this more differentiated account, as well as being more accurate, avoids a rigid ‘us and them’ view and so lessens prejudice. Moreover, it helps teachers to examine their own understanding and its bases.

What was done?

As part of a continuing teacher education course on Islam, two teachers were asked to pay close ethnographic attention to the practice of Islam within their own schools and local environments, then writing an assignment about what they had discovered and how it would affect their future teaching. The article presents summaries of the process gone through by the teachers and their subsequent reflections on how their teaching needed to change in the light of what they had learned.

Main findings and outputs

Agnes
Agnes is a primary school teacher who initially believes that Islam is absent from her school. There are no Muslim pupils, but there is a book in the library stating that Muslims do not eat pork. She approaches the kitchen staff, finding to her surprise that two of them are Muslims. Their attitudes are complex, e.g. one of them has not informed their school that her children are Muslims, they eat all kinds of food at school but avoid pork at home. They mention an Ethiopian Christian colleague of theirs who avoids pork.
Stellan
Stellan is a secondary RE teacher. There are many Muslim pupils in his school. He causes an argument in a lesson by stating that Muslims do not celebrate the Prophet’s birthday. He decides to ask students about this, is informed by one student that he does indeed celebrate the Prophet’s birthday, telephones his parents to discuss it and is invited to the next such celebration. Other Muslim students tell him that they do not celebrate it. As well as building up notes on the celebration, Stellan consults background literature, finding that the celebration, especially associated with Sufism, is considered unlawful by some scholars.
Discussion
An ethnographic approach informs teachers on variations in religions. People manage different beliefs (e.g. dietary restrictions) differently. Cultural context and other factors influence this. In future these teachers will continue to ask questions about text-book presentations and examine local practices. Other research suggests that European Muslims’ religion is becoming increasingly individual.

Relevance to RE

The article has strong relevance to RE. Policy should reflect the presence of a local dimension in religious belief and practice and require the challenging of stereotypes. Curriculum planning should include the same points. There are implications for pedagogy, regarding the need to include the knowledge, views and experiences of students and their families, to accept that these may be different and to examine internal differences within religions (the article mentions the need for sensitivity in these respects). The article is itself a story of teacher development. RE teachers might usefully repeat the investigations of Agnes and Stellan in their own environments, perhaps in groups, in conjunction with academic researchers or as an element in initial teacher education or higher degree study.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The research has high credibility. The writer is a highly regarded, influential expert. The writing is characterised by clarity, balance and originality. A strength is its appeal to local, specific, individual experience, yet this is well integrated with wider scholarly references. Good ethnography resists simplification, accepting difference and individuality, and the article ‘rings true’ in these ways. In this sense, the findings appear to be secure. As individual findings, they cannot be generalised, but this is in the nature of ethnography. However, the principle of careful attention to lived reality (the ‘ethnographic eye’) ought to be generalised: that is, it ought to be and often is emphasised as an ingredient of professionalism in RE. The limitations of the research lie in its Swedish context, but again, the writer reaches out to wider literature and the article gives a basis to those wishing to repeat its methods in their own settings.

Find out more

British Journal of Religious Education 36.1 pages 39-52

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2013.820167

Woolf Institute: ‘Living in Harmony’ and ‘Gender in the Religious Experience’

Resource Spotlight: Woolf Institute: ‘Living in Harmony’ and ‘Gender in the Religious Experience’

February 2025

Arguably there is no better time for teachers of Secondary School aged pupils to be looking at resources focusing on Living in Harmony and Gender in the Religious Experience.

The ‘Living in Harmony’ resources began as a research project considering how various faith communities have lived together over centuries in the Middle East, fostering and facilitating the borrowing, adapting and integrating of traditions into a shared local culture. It explored how, in diaspora, cultural sharing carries on.

A series of materials have been created for secondary schools, but also useful to others for subject knowledge, exploring how Jews, Muslims and Christians have lived alongside and learned from one another throughout history. There are videos, written content and activities which teachers can place into their own lessons or use the fully prepared lesson plans. The resources are focused across three areas

  • Music and Interfaith Encounter
  • Architecture and Interfaith Encounter
  • Science and Interfaith Encounter

Find out more and register to use these resources.

The resources in the ‘Gender in the Religious Experience’ were developed from a research project on Religious Sisterhood: Encounters of Gender, Religion and Belonging Today. The resources include video interviews interspersed with videos from social media, and accompanied by discussion guides and lesson plans, all exploring gendered dimensions of various aspects of religious life from diverse viewpoints and lived experiences of Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The resources are made up of video interviews interspersed with videos from social media accompanied by discussion guides and lesson plans and are organised across 4 areas

  • Marriage and Divorce
  • Gender and Scripture
  • Gender and Covering
  • Gender in Religious Space and Leadership

Find out more and register to use these resources.

Scholars from the Woolf Institute are also available to visit your school to talk about the topics covered in these two sets of materials.

What do religions say about human rights?

What do religions say about human rights?

An investigation into the relationship between the development of the universal declaration on human rights and some key texts from three religions.

KS4. Originally written by Adrian Skilbeck, updated in April 2019.

Key words and concepts

Human Rights: those rights which are inherent in our nature and without which we cannot live as human beings. Human rights and fundamental freedoms allow us to develop fully and use our human qualities, our intelligence, our talents and our conscience.

Universal: in relation to human rights they are conceptually possessed by all people in the world, by virtue of being human.

Inalienable: again in relation to human rights it is the idea that what we possess should not be taken away from or given away by the possessor.

Responsibilities: In relation to human rights it is the idea that those who are in possession of their human rights have a responsibility to help those who do not. In respect of religious teachings, it is common to all the main religions that followers are taught they have a responsibility for those in need.

Needs: as a variation on the concept of rights they are those things required by human beings because they are essential and not merely desirable. In Simone Weil’s work needs are both needs of the body and needs of the soul.

Obligations: acts or courses of action that a person is morally bound to carry out. In relation to human needs they are the things human beings are required to do for other human beings to ensure their needs are met.

Promised Land: The land that God promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 12:7), a land said to flow with milk and honey.

Jerusalem: A holy city for Jews, Christians and Muslims. The name means ‘city of peace’. Israel claims it as its eternal, undivided capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Today Israel controls the whole city, and its ongoing status is disputed.

Homeland: a person or a people’s native land.

Palestine: Often called the Holy Land. Historic region on the east of the Mediterranean Sea, comprising parts of modern Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

Zionism: The belief that Jews should have their own nation. Zionism gained much support in the first half of the twentieth century, leading to the founding of the state of Israel in Palestine in 1948.

Diaspora: the dispersion of the Jews beyond the borders of their country. In general a diaspora refers to any more or less homogenous group of people with a shared heritage or homeland who have moved out to other parts of the world.

Shoah (The Holocaust): a biblical word meaning destruction which has come to stand for the mass murder of European Jewry by the Nazis and their associates during World War 2.

Angel of Death: The figure that appears in the animation is taken from the reference in the Old Testament Book of Exodus Chapter 11 and 12 to the angel who delivers the tenth plague upon Egypt – the death of the firstborn which the Jews are warned to protect themselves against by marking their doors with lamb’s blood. In Judaism the angel of death is known as Samael, Sariel or Azrael, in Islam as Malak Al-Mawt. The visitations of the plagues upon the Egyptians is also described in the Qur’an in Surah al- A’raf 133.

Pupils will need some background information that puts both the animation and the Israeli – Palestinian conflict in context so that they can make sense of it and begin to articulate their responses which will then lead into the rest of this resource.

The song ‘This Land Is Mine’ is taken from the 1960 Hollywood film Exodus, which is about the founding of the state of Israel following World War 2 and in the aftermath of the Shoah (Holocaust). The film focusses on the life of Ari ben Canaan (‘ben’ means ‘son of’) and his attempt to create a peaceful Jewish homeland in Palestine. It is a tale of struggle which does not question the underlying assumptions expressed by the central character and places his actions in an heroic light. Nina Paley’s animation challenges the absolute nature of the statement that ‘This Land is Mine’. Nina Paley is an American Jew and so the animation should be seen as a critical American response to what the Palestinian scholar and writer Edward Said called ‘the main narrative model that dominates American thinking’ with regard to the foundation of Israel, that the Israelis have a God-given right to the land of Palestine. Paley’s film brings out the contrast between the absolute claim to land based on holy scripture and the historical reality of a land that has been fought over by many different peoples for thousands of years. It introduces us to human rights and the complex relationship between religion and politics in the modern world.

This is a stimulus resource that can be used for a range of different pedagogical outcomes. It is used here to facilitate discussion of human rights but it could also be used to explore issues of peace, conflict and reconciliation, the relationship between art and religion, the different ways in which individuals express their beliefs, values and commitments and the conflict between personal and religious/cultural values.

You will need to find ‘This Land is Mine’ by Nina Paley. It is available online.

You will also need to find the following texts online:

  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • Draft For A Statement of Human Obligations by Simone Weil
  • Luke 10: 25-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Learning activities

Activity 1: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict

(adapted from Susanna Hookway’s ‘Conflict: Jerusalem’ in Questions of Truth)

Before introducing Nina Paley’s ‘This Land Is Mine’, split the class into four or five teams. Each team is presented with five statements about Israeli/Jewish claims to the land and five statements about Palestinian/Muslim claims to the land. Remind pupils that not all Israelis are Jewish and not all Palestinians are Muslims. The following statements are simplified for this activity – not all Jews or Muslims believe exactly this!

Israeli/Jewish

  1. Our history is one of suffering and persecution, especially in the Holocaust. We have been and still are, badly treated and regarded with suspicion by other cultures. We need to establish our identity, freedom and national development and we need to secure the land to do that.
  2. God made promises to Abraham which included that we would live in the land forever.
  3. The Jews are now a political nation with Israel our historic homeland.
  4. For centuries we have prayed that we would celebrate the Passover ‘next year’ in Now our prayers are being answered.
  5. Our ancestors have lived here since the twentieth century BCE.

Palestinian/Muslim

  1. Our ancestors have lived in the land for at least thirteen centuries.
  2. Jews and Palestinians are blood brothers. We share the same father, Abraham, and the same God.
  3. The 1922 mandate said the rights of non-Jews should be protected. American presidents promised to consult Arabs. These promises have been broken and continue to be ignored, creating suffering and misery.
  4. We have a stake in Abraham’s heritage. Abraham himself never tried to take away anyone’s land. The only land he owned was the field he purchased in order to bury his wife Sarah.
  5. We have suffered greatly and been cruelly treated. We need to establish our identity, guarantee our basic human rights including our right to respect, our freedom and our right to self determination as a Palestinian people.

Ask the teams to group their facts under three headings: Religious, Historical and Political. Explain that there will be overlaps but the teams should aim to recognise the close connections between the three.

Encourage the pupils to develop their reasons for their groupings. Do they find any of the statements more persuasive than the others?

Activity 2: ‘This Land Is Mine’: the song and the animation

Bring up the lyrics of the song on a whiteboard. [These can be found on several lyrics websites, but note that although Nina Paley freely shares her material, the lyrics of the song are copyright and should only be used for educational purposes within your Use the information provided in the Key words and concepts section above to provide the relevant context but take care not to reduce the impact of the animation by saying too much about it at this stage.]

Ask pupils for their initial impressions of the lyrics – the thoughts and sentiments expressed, images invoked, the tone of the lyrics.

In small groups, ask pupils to make a list of all the positive words, phrases and images in the lyrics. As a follow up ask them to consider whether there is anything negative in the lyrics.

Play the song (it can be found on You Tube and is the version sung by Andy Williams). Did the music bear out their thoughts? What words would they use to describe the mood or feeling of the song?

Tell the class they are now going to watch a short animation in which the song is Play the animation.

What are students thoughts about the animation? Were they shocked?

Suggested questions:

  • What kind of images do the words of the song evoke?
  • What kind of feelings/emotions/thoughts do they express?
  • What were your reactions to hearing the song?
  • What kind of impression did the song and the music make on you?
  • How surprised or shocked were you by the video?
  • What images were memorable?
  • How has it changed your understanding of the song?
  • Leaving aside the violent action of the animation, how is the land represented?
  • What is the position of the film-maker in relation to conflict in general and the Israeli – Palestinian conflict in particular?
  • Does she favour one side over the other?
  • Is this a biased or unbiased video?
  • What is the film maker saying about the conflict?
  • How does the film help us understand the religious nature of the problem?
  • The animation has been described as ‘facile’. This means it is too simple and avoids the complexities of the conflict. Do you agree?
  • How is the artist using the figure of the angel of death in the animation?
  • Which people did you recognise in the animation? [It might be worth identifying the section from the appearance of the British onwards as the important one for the discussion of human rights.]
  • The animation uses stereotypes to make a point. Which stereotypes did you recognise?
  • The animation is both shocking funny. Why do you think Nina Paley has used humour to make a serious point?

Activity 3a: What is human in ‘Human Rights’?

(adapted from the Human Rights Resource Centre)

Write the words ‘HUMAN’ and ‘RIGHTS’ at the top of chart on a Smartboard. Below the word ‘human’ draw a circle or the outline of a human being. Ask pupils to suggest what qualities define a human being and write the words inside the outline. For example, ‘intelligence,’ ‘sympathy.’

Next ask pupils what they think is needed in order to protect, enhance, and fully develop these qualities of a human being. List their answers outside the circle.

and ask participants to explain them. For example, ‘education,’ ‘friendship,’ ‘loving family.’ [Note: save this list for use in Activity 3b.]

Explain that everything inside the circle relates to human dignity, the wholeness of being Everything written around the outline represents what is necessary to human dignity. Human rights are based on these necessities.

Explain that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) sets the standard for how human beings should behave towards one another so that everyone’s human dignity is respected. Display these two sentences from the UDHR and ask pupils to read and reflect on them for a few minutes:

…recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of the freedom, justice, and peace in the world…

Preamble, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 

Activity 3b: What do we mean by rights?

Ask pupils to suggest different meanings the word ‘right’ can have (e.g., ‘correct’, ‘opposite of left’, ‘just’.) Ask them to consider common expressions like ‘We’re within our rights’ or ‘You have no right to say that’. Record these different meanings on the board. What is the meaning of ‘right’ when we speak of a human right?

In small groups, ask pupils to suggest a definition for human rights: write these possibilities on the board. Negotiate a definition that gains class consensus and write it on a chart sheet by itself.

Write on the whiteboard this definition of human rights:

Human rights belong to all people regardless of their sex, race, colour, language, national origin, age, class, religion, or political beliefs. They are universal, inalienable, indivisible, and interdependent.

Ask the pupils what they think is meant by: ‘universal’, ‘inalienable’, ‘indivisible’, ‘interdependent’? and then to look up these terms in a dictionary and to write down their meaning.

Write ‘SURVIVAL/SUBSISTENCE,’ ‘HUMAN DIGNITY,’ and ‘CONVENIENCES AND LUXURIES’ on another part of the whiteboard. Discuss the meaning of these terms, then remind pupils of the list of things needed in order to protect, enhance, and fully develop the qualities of a human being that they created in Activity 3a. Ask them to place each item under one of the headings. For example, is education necessary to survival? To human dignity? Is education a convenience or a luxury?

Activity 4: Ranking rights

Provide pupils with a simplified version of nine of the articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are:

  • No one should be held in slavery.
  • No one should be tortured.
  • Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression of that opinion in any way they wish.
  • All human beings are born free and equal and should treat all people as if they are brothers.
  • Everyone has the right to a standard of living that allows for good health.
  • Everyone has the right to be taken care of if they are unemployed, sick, disabled, widowed, old or unable to look after themselves.
  • Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
  • Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
  • Everyone has the right to education.

Using the Think-Pair-Share strategy, encourage pupils to decide on what they think is the most important human right from the list provided. As a pair they then rank the others. A good approach to the second part of this would be to do it as a Diamond Nine activity. Where does freedom of thought, conscience and religion figure in their ranking?

Activity 5: What Is a Universal Right?

Show pupils the comments of Eleanor Roosevelt, Chair of the UN commission that drafted the UDHR, on the importance of universal human rights standards:

Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.

Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.

Eleanor Roosevelt: The Great Question

 

Engage pupils in some reflection on Eleanor Roosevelt’s words.

Ask them then to suggest examples of how someone’ s human rights might be infringed on a local level and to identify which article in the UDHR is being infringed.

Encourage pupils to work in small groups to develop and role-play a scene in which they show the infringement of the right. Techniques such as marking the moment and thoughts aloud can be employed to explore the significance of the moment and the thoughts of those involved. Who does the person appeal to in order to redress the wrong? Are they taken seriously?

Activity 6: Religion and human rights

Explain that in order to gain a full picture of human rights they will now have the opportunity to investigate teachings from Judaism, Islam and Christianity about the importance of social justice, our responsibilities for others, particularly looking after the most vulnerable in society and to compare the teachings with the Declaration of Human They will be making decisions about which article best matches the religious teaching.

Provide pupils with the following quotations and give them time to read and reflect:

Islam

It is righteous to …spend of your substance out of love for [Allah], for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves (Surah 2:177).

And of his signs is this: he created you of dust and you are now human beings dispersed everywhere (ar-Rum 30:20).

You who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in your devotion to God, bearing witness to the truth in all equity; and never let hatred of any one lead you into the sin of deviating from justice. Be just: this is closest to being God-conscious. (Surah 5:8).

Judaism

[The Lord]… secures justice for those who are wronged and gives food to the hungry (Psalm 146:7).

Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ (Genesis 1:26).

If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: (Leviticus 25:39).

Christianity

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me (Matthew 25: 35-36).

Human life is precious (Luke 12: 6-7).

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

Explain that the three religions here do have much more to say about rights and responsibilities, but that these verses are a focus for the current investigation.

Ask pupils to decide in pairs which articles of the UDHR may be linked to different quotations and to offer some analysis of how religious teachings such as these, which predate the UDHR by hundreds of years, may have been influential in the formation of the Declaration.

Encourage them to make some notes on the similarities and difference they have noticed in the statements.

Activity 7: Comparing Simone Weil’s idea of needs and obligations with human rights via the parable of the Good Samaritan

Explain to pupils that they will have the opportunity now to gain some real depth in their understanding of the possible relationship between religion and human rights through a ‘triangular activity’ in which they compare versions of two texts through the medium of a third:

The two texts are extracts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Draft For A Statement of Human Obligations by Simone Weil

Mediating text: Luke 10: 25-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Introduce pupils to Simone Weil’s work in the context of human rights and the period in which she was writing and provide them with copies of (a) the UDHR.

Remind pupils of the Parable of the Good Samaritan by reading Luke 10:25-37 and encourage them in twos or threes to read through the UDHR and Simone Weil’s essay, picking out features that could be related to the Parable. Ask them to share their connections in a brief class feedback session.

Ask the pupils to then imagine that following a human catastrophe that has wiped out most of humanity, they have been tasked with providing guidance in the setting up of a new human community. Working in two groups or in larger groups that are then split into two, ask one group to draw up a set of ten fundamental rights, and the other to draw up a set of ten fundamental needs and corresponding obligations, with justifying wording in the appropriate language. Encourage each group to then decide on recommendations for ensuring the guidelines can and will be met, how they are to be kept under review and a mechanism for revising them.

Provide an opportunity for the groups to relate their proposals, e.g., as posters displayed on the walls, or as a digital presentation, and ask the class to work out how they will decide on which set of proposals would be the most effective.

Set pupils an evaluation questions, such as, ‘How far do you think some Jewish, Christian and Muslim teachings are consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?’

 

Why is the Prophet Muhammad inspirational to Muslims?

Why is the Prophet Muhammad inspirational to Muslims?

An investigation into the importance of Muhammad (pbuh) for pupils with special needs.

For pupils with special needs. Originally written by Anne Krisman. Updated in April 2019.

Key words and concepts

Hadith: a report of what the prophet Muhammad said or did. Used as guidance by Muslims.

Nasheed: a form of unaccompanied Islamic devotional music. Sometimes a drum is used.

Qur’an: meaning ‘recitations’. God’s words revealed through the prophet Muhammad in Muslim belief.

Inspirational: influencing people to lead their lives in a special way.

This resource uses the idea of ‘burning core ideas’ to express the key knowledge to communicate to pupils:

  • Muhammad is special to Muslims;
  • Islam is the name of the Muslim religion;
  • Muslims believe in one God called Allah;
  • Muslims cannot see their God;
  • Muslims do not make pictures of Allah or Muhammad as people;
  • Muslims’ holy book is called the Qur’an.

 

Further key ideas and knowledge:

  • Muhammad was  trusted  by people – they called him Al-Amin (the one you can trust);
  • Muhammad believed in  one God  called Allah;
  • Muslims call him a  messenger  and prophet of Islam (rasul);
  • Muslims say ‘Peace be Upon Him’ after the name of Muhammad, sometimes written as ‘pbuh’;
  • Muslims believe an  angel  appeared to Muhammad in a cave on a mountain (Mount Hira);
  • Muslims believe the angel, called Jibril, revealed the words of the  Qur’an;
  • Muslims try to lead their lives from the  example  of Muhammad.

Learning activities

The following activities follow the ‘Five Keys Into RE’ approach (Anne Krisman)

1 Connection – How can we link our theme with pupils’ lives?

Share these thoughts with the pupils:

  • We all have special unique qualities.
  • We like to help others.
  • We have special places where we can be calm.
  • We care about

Let pupils know that Muhammad was known as ‘The Friend’ and ‘The Helper’ and that they are going to look at things that connect them with the life of Muhammad. This will begin by looking at their special unique qualities.

Share or gather the special qualities of each child in the class. This can be done by sharing ideas in the classroom, by going around the school and asking people who know them well, or by asking parents and carers to respond. Words such as helpful, kind, peaceful will be gathered.

Make the names and qualities into a class performance: names can be signed, clapped, drummed or chanted for each child, e.g., Joshua the Peaceful, Hannah the Friend.

Make a display with pupils’ pictures, their new values name and where appropriate, comments about why this name is right for them.

Paint either a) the pupil’s first name or b) their values name onto the fold of an A3 or larger piece of paper. Fold the paper to create a symmetrical design. Ask the pupils to then decorate and beautify their name.

An additional idea is to write the pupil’s values name in PVA glue and to encourage children to throw different coloured sand onto it. If you wish to highlight Muhammad’s special colour during this theme, use green sand.

While working you could play different nasheeds about Muhammad, you will find many on you Tube, such as:

  • Ya Muhammad
  • Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him)
  • 99 Names for Muhammad
  • 99 Names of Muhammad (translated)

2 Knowledge – How can we communicate burning core knowledge within the theme to our pupils?

Share these examples of burning core knowledge with the pupils:

  • Muhammad was trusted by people (Al-Amin);
  • Muhammad believed in one God called Allah;
  • Muslims call him a prophet and messenger of God (rasul);
  • Muslims believe an angel appeared to him in a cave and revealed to him the words of the Qur’an.

Let pupils know that Muhammad was valued by people and called Al-Amin – The Trustworthy. Muslims believe he was a messenger of God and that they are going to learn more about his life.

To highlight the importance of Muhammad’s name of Al-Amin – The Trustworthy – trust the pupils to take a special gold wrapped package to another class. Arrange for the member of staff who receives the package to affirm the trust placed in the pupils and to pass on something special from their room for the pupils to take back to their class.

Ask pupils to carry a message in an envelope or sign that Muslims believe there is only one God and tell this to others in the class or around the school. Anyone who hears the message can take a gold star and add it to a picture of the Arabic calligraphy for Allah, to show that the message has been heard.

Let pupils know that Muhammad believed in one God called Allah.

Listen and watch popular nasheeds which mention Allah, for example Yusuf Islam: A is for Allah, Zain Bhikha: Mountain of Mecca.

Encourage pupils to sign the letter A and the number one while responding to the music.

Islamic plaques with Muslim prayers and the raised names of Allah and Muhammad can be touched – these can be obtained from shops in areas with a Muslim population and through artefact catalogues.

Print out lots of small pictures of the word Allah in Arabic calligraphy. Ask pupils to carefully stick the words on to gold paper, trying to put them on the right way up and showing care in placing them, to reflect how Muslims respond to the name of God. [This can also be repeated with the name of Muhammad, this time sticking the names on green paper and keeping the same rules of respect and care. These two pieces of work can be stuck together and a beautiful border made around them, to link them, with glitter.]

Let pupils know that, Muslims believe that an angel appeared to Muhammad in a cave and revealed to him the words of the Qur’an

Show images of Mount Hira while listening to Zain Bhikha’s Mountain of Mecca.

Ask pupils to create a collage made from brown ripped paper, of the cave at Mount Hira. Then, without creating a human image, add the feeling of the angel Jibril, using glitter, holographic paper, cellophane etc.

Make a peaceful cave area in the classroom by putting together prayer mats, cushions and glittery material. Add light changing resources to show the presence of an angel.

Introduce pupils to the first of four stories of Muhammad and use the sensory story guide to help pupils know about the revelation that Muslims believe Muhammad received on Mount Hira.

Share the sensory story together, allow time for the stimuli to be experienced by each pupil.

Ask pupils to reflect on the story and, where appropriate, to ask questions about it.

Where appropriate, choose a question to focus on, for example, ‘Why did the angel say, “Read!”?’ and share possible answers. Adults can also ask questions and respond.

If time, share the story once more.

3 Senses – Which sensory elements are in the theme?

The following sensory activities can help pupils experience something of the life of Muhammad and the importance of Islam to Muslims:

Recitation of the Qur’an and Call to Prayer (adhan);

Islamic nasheeds (unaccompanied devotional music, sometimes using drums);

Prayer mat and topi (prayer cap).

Play a version of the Call to Prayer (adhan) to pupils while they use red, orange, purple and yellow crayons or sponge paint to create a sunset sky. Versions to be used could include those from Turkey, Bosnia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well as British muezzins.

Afterwards, encourage pupils to add a black paper cut-out of a dome and minaret, to give a scene of a mosque at sunset.

Engage pupils in the experience of wearing or touching a Muslim prayer cap (topi) for boys and headscarf for girls, while turning the pages of a Qur’an on the whiteboard, a resource called ‘Baybar’s Magnificent Qur’an’.

Encourage them to touch some Muslim prayer mats and then look at how Muslims pray, such as by looking at video clips or animation online.

Help pupils make a prayer mat out of sensory materials, such as textured wallpaper. The prayer mat could include arches, a picture of the Ka’bah at Mecca, and a hanging lamp to stick on.

4 Symbols – Which symbols are the most accessible in the theme?

Share these examples of Muslim symbols with the pupils:

  • Moon and star;
  • Arabic name of Muhammad and Allah;
  • Salaam (peace) – Muslims say ‘peace be upon him’ when talking about Muhammad;
  • Islamic art symmetrical designs.

Crescent Moon and Star

Invite pupils to recognise the moon and stars in a slideshow of pictures and to sort a selection of pictures of crescent moons and stars.

Encourage pupils to use Makaton signing for star and moon while listening to a song about wonder in the universe, for example There is Only One God by Zain Bhikha.

Encourage pupils to make collage pictures of the Muslim symbol – the crescent moon and star, or rub over a moon and star stencil and decorate.

Salaam – Peace

Ask pupils to identify what makes them feel peaceful out of a choice of different pictures, such as listening to music, going on the computer, lying down, praying, etc.

Help them practise writing the word Salaam in paint while listening to peaceful chill out music.

Ask pupils to make a dove of peace – there are many templates online. Add cut-outs of the name of Muhammad, with crescent moon and star symbols, to show that Muslims say ‘peace be upon him’ when talking about him.

Islamic art symmetrical designs

Explain that Muslims believe only Allah is the creator and so natural designs are shown in a non-realistic but beautiful way, with unexpected colours being used. Repetition of designs shows that God goes on for ever. An example can be found in Iznik pottery from the 16th century Ottoman Empire, although its designs are still being used for ceramics in Turkey.

Show images of Iznik art from the Turkish tradition. Ask pupils to look for the colours of blue, red and white and for flowers.

Prepare four pieces of black, blue, red and white paper and make concertina folds. The black will be used for the background. Ask pupils to draw simple flower designs and leaves shapes on the three pieces of paper and to cut these up. They should then lay out the three elements of the flower design on the concertina folded black paper, trying to repeat the pattern.

Create an Iznik Art gallery from the pictures, displayed with images of Iznik art pottery.

5 Values – Which values in the theme speak to our pupils?

Share these examples of Muslim values with the pupils:

  • Following a straight path
  • Helping poor people
  • Caring for animals
  • Forgiveness

Explain to pupils that they are going to learn about three more stories about Muhammad (Muslims say peace be upon him) that will help them understand how inspirational he is for all Muslims and how he set an example for all Muslims to follow.

Share the sensory story of Muhammad and Crying Camel allowing time for the stimuli to be delivered in a caring manner to each pupil.

Ask pupils to reflect on the story and, where appropriate, to comment and ask questions about it.

Where appropriate, choose questions to focus on, for example, ‘How do we look when we are sad?’ ‘How can we be kind to animals?’ and share possible answers. Adults can also ask questions and respond.

If time, share the story once more.

In follow up lessons, use Muhammad and the Old Woman, as a call and response poem, and Muhammad and the Sleeping Kitten, with the associated activities, to show how inspirational Muhammad is for Muslims. Can pupils identify the parts of each story that show that Muhammad was helpful, kind, compassionate, loving, generous, following a straight path, brave, forgiving?

Theologies of Reading – New perspectives on pupil engagement with texts

Theologies of Reading – New perspectives on pupil engagement with texts

This resource will:

  • explore this question of how reading relates to questions of truth and meaning
  • equip teachers with an awareness of a range of reading practices
  • invite teachers to consider how these different reading practices, or ‘theologies of reading’ can be applied in the classroom context

A paper by Dr Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft, David Thompson Research Fellow, Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge and Dr Kathryn Wright, CEO, Culham St Gabriel’s Trust.

Published January 2020.

Theologies of Reading

Resource Spotlight: Theologies of Reading

November 2021

This month we present a resource by Jen Jenkins, RE Facilitator for Coventry and Warwick, exploring ‘Theologies of Reading’. Jen explains how holy texts are read in a variety of ways in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. You will find the whole resource interesting with practical uses in the classroom.

This is a resource for Primary pupils, but there is much Secondary-age pupils can gain.

Whole resource

Islam Section

The Lived Worldviews of Tower Hamlets

Resource spotlight: The Lived Worldviews of Tower Hamlets

Ruth Marx was awarded a 10th anniversary grant from Culham St Gabriel’s to research and create resources into core- Religion and Worldviews for Key Stage 5. This suite of resources is the result of this research and explores the worldviews of 13 individuals who live or work in Tower Hamlets interviewed about their worldviews. The worldviews discussed are from a range of religious and non-religious traditions and the interviewees are expressing their own opinions and not representing any organisation as a whole. Each video is accompanied by an editable power point with activities to embed and extend the learning and an overview document shows the worldview(s), themes discussed and cross curricular links which can be explored with this resource. Whilst created with core 16-19 Religion and Worldviews in mind these resources may be of use for younger age groups and for teacher CPD.

  • Could you create a suite of resources like this for your area?
  • Could you share one of these resources and compare it to a case study of a person in your area?
  • Do let us know how you use these resources?

All the resources are available in The Lived Worldviews of Tower Hamlets Padlet

A taster video is available below:

Subject Knowledge for Teachers – Islam

 

Resource Spotlight: Subject Knowledge for Teachers – Islam

January 2023

We are delighted to kick off 2023 with a new book by popular author, teacher and adviser Dr Chris Hewer. For years Chris has researched, written and taught around the idea of ‘Christian-Muslim relations’, and the theological interaction between Islam and Christianity. Chris has gained a rich expertise in understanding Islam which makes him a valuable source of subject knowledge for teachers.

Whatever the teacher’s own background and worldview, for the majority of the time in the Religion and Worldviews classroom, we will be teaching a tradition, belief or way of life that we do not follow ourselves. We need accurate and reliable subject knowledge to provide the basis for lessons.

Chris’s new book is of great benefit for teachers of Islam, especially at GCSE. The GCSE specification requires a knowledge of the differences between Sunni and Shi’a practices and subtle differences in belief, as well as an understanding of how these differences developed. However these distinctions are important for teachers of Islam of all age groups.
Main website: https://chrishewer.org/
GCSE guidance: https://chrishewer.org/g-c-s-e/

The book details the events leading up to a seismic moment in Islamic history; the martyrdom of Hussain. Find out about the influential figures and concerns at the time, as the Islamic community was expanding rapidly, and finding its feet as a powerful new arrival on the world stage. Encounter big themes such as justice, equality and sacrifice which will help you bring the story to life for your students.

The section on Chris’s website is called ‘Hussain and Justice’. Here you will find additional material for study, including a map, timeline and who’s who, as well as a PDF of the complete book.

Find everything you need here: https://chrishewer.org/hussain-and-justice-study/

RE-searchers Approach

RE-searchers Approach

A team from Exeter University and the Learning Institute has developed a new approach to Religious Education in Primary Schools. It is called ‘the RE-searchers approach’. It encourages pupils to think about the significance and effectiveness of different methodologies and methods of enquiry in Religious Education. To make these accessible to young children, they have personified some of them as cartoon characters. Individually these characters are called Debate-it-all Derek, Ask-it-all Ava, Have-a-go Hugo, and See-the-story Suzie, but collectively they’re known as the ‘RE-searchers’. Each character holds different assumptions about religion(s) and advocates different research methods (e.g. questioning and arguing, interviewing and empathizing, participating and experiencing, and narrating and exploring interpretations). Once acquainted with our characters and their respective characteristics as researchers, pupils can undertake learning activities associated with each of them in pursuit of different understandings of religion(s).