Viewing archives for Places of Worship

Key Stage 4

For teachers of Islam at GCSE. This resource takes classic topics, such as the mosque or prayer, and sets them in  wider context, allowing students to engage in the diversity and richness of Islam in the world today.

Created by Lynn Revell and Kate Christopher as part of their Canterbury Christ Church University grant funded project Teaching Islam as a Worldview. Funding provided by  Culham St Gabriel’s Trust. You can find further resources which were created as part of this project in the RE:ONLINE resource Islam as a Worldview

 

This lesson offers some historical information about the first Bat Mitzvah, the welcoming of a young Jewish woman to adulthood. Jews had for centuries celebrated a boy’s entry to adulthood with a Bar Mitzvah, meaning, ‘son of the commandments’. In 1922 Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan, a member of the Orthodox Jewish community in New York, performed the first Bat Mitzvah, for his daughter, Judith. This means ‘daughter of the commandments’. As we shall see, not everyone welcomed the move. We will explore historical information as well as information about Jewish belief, practice and community.

Lesson Outline

1. Search online for an image of Judith Kaplan at the 70th anniversary of the first Bat Mitzvah. The image is housed in the Jewish Women’s Archive, there are several versions online. You could also search for other images of Judith and her father Mordechai Kaplan, there are a few.
Give groups 3 minutes to come up with 3 questions about the image.

2) Cut the information below into cards and give a set to each group: (In the download at the end of this page there are ready made cards you can cut out.)

Judith’s father was a rabbi, and he performed her Bat Mitzvah

Bar Mitzvah is when a boy comes of age in Judaism

Judith Kaplan’s Bat Mitzvah was conducted in New York in 1922

No one had conducted a Bat Mitzvah before Judith Kaplan’s.

The young person reads from the Torah in front of the congregation

The first public Bat Mitzvah involved 13-year old Judith Kaplan

There are 316 commandments in then Torah (Jewish holy book)

Bat means ‘daughter’ in Hebrew

Bar Mitzvah means ‘son of the commandments’.

Ask groups to find answers to these questions, using the cards:
– What is a Bat Mitzvah?
– What is a Bar Mitzvah?
– why is the first Bat Mitzvah is significant in Jewish history?

3. Ask groups to predict how this was received in the Orthodox community. Do they think it was welcomed as a positive change, or resisted as an unwelcome change?

4. In fact not all New York Jews supported Judith’s Bat Mitzvah. Write the 4 statements below into 4 speech bubbles and display. Ask groups to identify TWO reasons why Judith’s Bat Mitzvah was seen as a bad idea, and TWO reasons why it was seen as a good idea.

A woman’s sphere of influence is the home, so it is right and fitting that a young woman should be welcomed into adulthood in the home.

Religions need to change with the times. Traditions adapt without destroying the religion. The belief has not changed, just the way of showing it has changed.

Women have more of a role in public life in modern times so it is correct for women to be more involved in public religious ceremonies.

Jewish women and girls have always been ‘daughters of the commandments’. A new ceremony is not necessary.

5. Introduce the idea that religion can be understood as a combination of beliefs, practices and community or tradition; how groups see the world, what they do, and who they do it with. Show a diagram like this. You could give examples of beliefs, practices and community traditions, which pupils have to match to each element to make this point.

three intersecting circles explaining what religion is. In 1 is what people do (practices). In the 2nd is who they do it with (community) and in the 3rd is what people think (beliefs)

6) Using the information squares below, answer the question; ‘Was Rabbi Kaplan seen as challenging religious beliefs, practices or traditions with the first Bat Mitzvah?’

The Torah is the first part of the Jewish bible, consisting of 5 books.

The 613 commandments cover all aspects of community & religion.

The Torah teaches about the Jewish prophets and early Jewish history.

Traditionally only men read from the Torah.

‘Torah’ means ‘teachings’ (Hebrew).

The Torah begins with God creating the universe.

The Bar Mitzvah ceremony is not mentioned in the Torah, or the Talmud (books that interpret the Torah).

The first mention of the Bar Mitzvah ceremony is in the Middle Ages, not the time of the Torah.

Traditionally, only men would read from the Torah in public. Women had no roles of authority in public; in business or religion.

The Jewish bible contains elements of the Bar Mitzvah ceremony. For example, adult Jews fast on the Day of Atonement, and children would begin their fast at 13.

At a Bar Mitzvah ceremony, the 13-year old boy reads a portion of the Torah to the congregation at the synagogue. This is the first time he has read from the Torah in public.

The Mishnah (part of the Talmud) states, ‘”At five years old one should study the Scriptures, at ten years for the Mishnah, at 13 for the commandments…’ (Mishnah Pirkei Avot 5:21)

In this BBC video we meet Me-Me, a Jewish girl, preparing for her Bat Mitzvah. Me-Me will read the Torah in front of the synagogue congregation to become a ‘Daughter of the Commandments’.

What does a worldviews approach look like in the classroom? Dr Kate Christopher and Professor Lynn Revell have been exploring this question through a project called ‘Islam as a Worldview’. The project considers worldviews thinking through practical resources for the classroom, focusing on the teaching of Islam.

Through thinking practically, and with all ages of pupils in mind, the team present two working principles:

  1. Worldviews starts with people
  2. Pupils need to engage with different types of knowledge

These clear, simple principles form the basis of the teaching materials produced. The teaching materials are free and available for all.

Have a look at these teaching materials and see how you can bring in a wide and rich sense of history, context and lived diversity in Islam, through starting with people, and their time and place. Don’t be limited to your own Key Stage, you can pick up all sorts of ideas you can adapt from the resources.

Key Stage 3

Explore the life of a North London mosque through snapshots reflecting contemporary religious and ethical questions.

Created by Lynn Revell and Kate Christopher as part of their Canterbury Christ Church University grant funded project Teaching Islam as a Worldview. Funding provided by  Culham St Gabriel’s Trust. You can find further resources which were created as part of this project in the RE:ONLINE resource Islam as a Worldview

This resource was written by Luthaneal Adams, Pagan representative for Email a Believer. Luthaneal explains what constitutes an active, sacred site for modern Pagans. It includes a classroom activity to design a personal altar space.

 

I’m currently enjoying a visit to Rome and am taking the time to see some of the sights.  I’ve always had an interest in both Roman history and the ancient Roman religion, so being here also tingles my Pagan senses.

While visiting the Colosseum, my guide was speaking about how at one time the great arches on the outside housed statues of the Gods and important figures.  It made me a little sad to think about what must have happened to all those statues, either torn down for materials or destroyed as a part of a newer religion exerting its authority.

That’s very much the case for so many Pagan sacred sites of the ancient world.  The old temples were either destroyed, built over or converted into churches.  Those that were not are, in the majority, ruins and all of them are now either tourist attractions or archaeological sites (barring maybe a few scattered exceptions).

Modern Paganism is very much a religion of reclamation.  Bringing new life back to old religious ways.  But as much as we may like the idea of being able to use these old sacred sites as part of that spirit of reclamation, trying to do so is either impractical (due to masses of tourists or the decimation of the site) or outright disallowed by the authorities.

So, what constitutes an active, sacred site for modern Pagans?

Well, Paganism today is very much a personal religion and the majority of its practices are done in private.  It’s a religion based in the home.  Though the home itself isn’t a sacred site, it is very common for Pagans to set up altars and shrines in their homes, as focal points for their religious observations.

Outside of the home, it’s not unusual for Pagans to practice their religion out in nature.  Perhaps a clearing in a woodland, somewhere, or a nice field where there is space to enact a ritual without being disturbed.  Of course, that not being disturbed part doesn’t always go according to plan.  Many a time have I been involved in such a ritual with people and been stumbled upon by a rogue dog-walker or become a temporary spectacle for passing ramblers.

But the point is that being as nature is generally seen as sacred to many Pagans, a sacred site can be ‘set-up’ out in nature.

But the desire for a connection to the Pagan past is still strong and so it is quite common for some Pagans to visit old Pagan sites, not merely as a matter of interest, but also with a recognition that the site is still sacred and has meaning.  It still has the energy and ambiance of the way it was used by our ancestors and so going to a site like that also stems from a desire to connect with that sense of the past and any energies that may linger there.

In the UK, a lot of Pagans visit the many stone circles and earthworks that are scattered across our countryside.  While there, we may just seek to connect with the place, or we may perform rituals.  We know that the religion of the people who built the stone circles was not the same as ours and that we may never really know what their beliefs and practices were, but the site is still sacred to us because we recognise that these people probably had beliefs that were at least similar to ours, honouring spirits of the land and nature, so there is still a kind of kinship there.  By being in these places and performing our own rituals, we’re a part of the spiritual tradition of the site, and though we may do things a little differently and use different words, we are still giving the same reverence to the site and the spirits that reside there.

For larger, more public events, we have no buildings of worship and gathering ‘en masse’ in the great outdoors, isn’t feasible most of the time – especially not for city dwellers.  But there are Pagan organisations and groups who rent spaces, like halls or meeting rooms, where public gatherings can take place.  These rented spaces are not sacred sites, but in most instances when we are using the space to perform rituals, as a part of those rituals an act is performed (like casting a ritual circle, cleansing the space, or in some way spiritually anointing the area we are using) that temporarily sets the space aside as sacred.  So, in this way, we create sacred space even if we are lacking a sacred site.

At a few places, most notably dotted around Europe and North America, there are some groups who have started to build new temples and permanent Pagan places of worship.  These are currently few and far between, but perhaps, maybe, in the future there may be more.

Classroom Activity

Design A Personal Altar Space

Pagans often set up small altars or shrines in their houses, where they keep religious objects and representations of things that are sacred to them.  This could be a small table, a dresser or even a window ledge.

Ask the students to think about what an altar would look like if it had on it all the things that were important to them.  This doesn’t have to be religious items, just an attractive arrangement of things that they feel are important in their life.

Have the students write down what would be on their personal altar and explain why they included each of those things.  Then ask them to draw a picture of their altar.

Example: A student could have a small table with a photograph of their family on it, a trinket from their best friend, a piece of jewellery from a relative who has passed away, a vase with their favourite flowers in it, their diary, and a football.

Learning Objectives

  • To get students thinking about what is important to them in their lives.
  • To consider how objects and images are used to represent important things.
  • To understand how sacred space is used to create a focal point for the objects and beliefs that we consider special, important or sacred

 

This resource was written by Luthaneal Adams, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team.

Origins

The Shema may be seen as the beginning and end of Judaism. It is a Jewish prayer extracted from three places from the Torah and composed into a sequence of paragraphs. It does not appear in its entirety at the beginning of the Torah, rather it is found in Deuteronomy 6.4-9; 11.13-21 and Numbers 15.37-41. The Shema derives its name from the Hebrew word sema, meaning ‘to hear’, which is the initial word of the first verse, which states, ‘Hear O Israel’. Thereby, instructing Jews to listen. It is believed that they were received by Moses on Mount Sinai.

Significance

The Shema is included as part of every weekday synagogue service. Its significance is inferred by the fact that its centrality is recognised in all Jewish traditions, in various ways. The recitation of the passage is taken as a commandment to be fulfilled by Jewish adult men twice daily, morning and evening. It is also a core text in other prayer books.

The Shema is taught for the love of God, loyalty to the Jewish tradition and it encourages the Jewish community to study the Torah. It is reported that Jacob’s sons read it to him and therefore adults recite it to children so that they remain within their tradition. The Shema might be the first thing that some Jewish children learn in a Jewish primary schools and at home to express belonging.

Meaning

The Shema sets out what Jews believe and how they should demonstrate their dedication to God through daily actions.

It represents their belief that they have made a Covenant with God: an agreement that they will love God and follow His laws and in return God will take care of them. Thus, as an artefact, the Shema is a way for Jewish people to remind themselves of their promises to God. This is why families have a responsibility to teach their faith to the next generation.

Practice

Unsurprisingly, the Shema has acquired a pivotal position in the collective and personal life of Jewish communities. Communally, adults recite it in the morning and evening and in the afternoon at the synagogue to fulfil the commandment and remember God.

 Individually, some Jews recite it before bed and after waking up, as it is the most holy thing to say during these times. It is also a way of thanking God for waking them up from sleep and to ask God for good sleep. Thus, it is a prayer which covers all activities of the day and night.

As a family, in some homes, mothers regularly recite the Shema with their children whilst putting them to bed. Some children memorise it and others prefer to look at the text when reciting it.

At happy events, such as moving into a new home, the mezuzah, which contains the Shema, is fixed to the doorpost and is followed by a religious service.

During festival days and especially on Shabbat, a double reading honours the Shema: at the time the Torah scroll is bought out from the Ark the opening verse of the Shema is recited collectively, and again, individually by the reader prior to reading the Torah.

There are some physical gestures adopted by Jews during various prayers and worship. On the Day of Atonement whilst reciting the opening verse of the Shema, the eyes are covered to remove distractions.

As death approaches, those gathered recite some passages from the Torah and end with the opening words of the Shema. In this way the dying person is helped to affirm their faith in the oneness of God. It is worth noting that the Shema may be recited in Hebrew and in other languages too.

Structure

The Shema has three paragraphs. The English translation is provided with an explanation of what it might mean to some Jews, how they might put it into practice and what they could learn from it.

Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One (Deuteronomy, 6.4)

From this, Jews learn to be attentive to the Torah so that God’s commands are with them. It also means their religion is monotheistic. Moreover, a closer examination reveals God as addressing Israel rather than Israel addressing God, thus Jews make claims of a reciprocal relationship because God chose them, and consequently, they believe God cannot ignore them.

Blessed is His name, whose glorious kingdom is forever and ever

This phrase does not appear in the Torah and is attributed to Jacob. Since he had whispered it, Jews whisper it as well. It tells the Jewish community to praise God. They know, through this, that God’s kingdom is everlasting. They recognise the holiness and greatness of God. It gives them hope too.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your might (Deuteronomy, 6.5)

The demand from God is unequivocal in this phrase: total obedience and wholehearted devotion and to remember God’s word. It implies that Jews be prepared to sacrifice everything. They are to love God with their might, heart and soul. God loves them; therefore, they too should have unflinching love for Him.

These words that I command you today shall be upon your heart (Deuteronomy, 6.6)

Jews learn to affirm these as laws and learn them orally. But there is also an emotional attachment. The heart is mentioned so that it can act as a guide following the dictum ‘in doing right follow your heart’, and in the heart should be the Torah.

Repeat them to your children, and talk about them when you sit in your home, and when you walk in the street; when you lie down, and when you rise up (Deuteronomy, 6.7)

This phrase gives adults the responsibility to pass on their faith to children, and this can take place in formal and informal settings. The key message is to keep it alive at all times. Literally, it means Jews should recite it every evening and morning.

Hold fast to them as a sign upon your hand, and let them be as reminders before your eyes (Deuteronomy, 6.8)

Literally, this means to hold fast onto the Shema and the Torah by wearing the verses on the hand and upon the forehead between the eyes. This is how the practice of wearing phylacteries (tefillin) became established. The tefillin consists of four small joined-up boxes containing the first two passages of the Shema (Deuteronomy, 6.4-9 and Deuteronomy, 11.13-21) and two other Exodus phrases of the Torah. These are handwritten on a parchment and worn on the stronger hand as this is what is used by individuals or on the left arm so that it is directed to the heart. It is a constant visual reminder for Jews that God is there, whatever they do.

Write them on the doorposts of your home and at your gates (Deuteronomy, 6.9)

The final instruction is to handwrite a parchment and fix it to the doorpost of the home and gates. In practice, to preserve the sanctity of the text, a rectangular elongated box with a slight opening, called a mezuzah, is made to house this kosher parchment, which contains the first two of the three paragraphs of the Shema (Deuteronomy, 6.4-9 and Deuteronomy, 11.13-21) and at the back, the word Shaddai (Almighty). The mezuzah is affixed on the right hand doorframe, with a little slant upwards in the direction of the room, at about shoulder height, in individual dwellings and collective compounds. In doing so, most Jews express their obedience, and, when they come into and go out of their homes, they are reminded to renew their covenant daily. The mezuzah is fixed on every door (except the lavatory and bathroom), so the whole house is covered in holiness and purity as a gift of God. Some Jews kiss the mezuzah to show their adherence to the Torah in everything they do, including daily actions like entering and leaving the home.

Mezuzah literally means ‘doorpost’, but over time came to refer to the doorpost and what is attached to it. Interestingly, a sukkah does not need a mezuzah as it is not permanent dwelling.

Deuteronomy 11.13-21

This section is an exhortation to obey, love and serve God alone with everything. In return God promises the Jewish community abundance in material well-being. Should they turn to serve other gods, the anger of God awaits them (Deuteronomy, 11. 13-17).

The next phrases (Deut. 11.18-21) repeat the instructions given above in (Deut. 6-9). Thereafter, God promises that should these be fulfilled then God will keep His promise of the land for them (Deut. 11. 21).

Numbers 15.37-41

This verse establishes the custom of Jews adorning clothes with tzitzit (fringes). Tzitzit are tassels made of several threads tied together to symbolise the numerical value of the name of God. The Shema says that when people look at the tassels they will remember their promise to keep God’s laws. Some Jews follow this rule all the time and wear a vest with tassels on four corners, called a tallit katan. At the synagogue, some also wear a special prayer shawl called a tallit gadol when praying in the morning.

To summarise, the Shema is a prayer in the first instance and a belief statement thereafter. It has a golden principle for the Jewish community in stressing that learning is initiated at home and establishes the duty to educate their children in the faith. The Shema establishes the practice of learning the three paragraphs contained within it, and of wearing the tefillin and affixing the mezuzah. These actions remind Jewish people of the promises made to and by God, their belief about unity of God and the One to be worshipped.

Learning about the Shema in RE

Here are some examples of what primary pupils might be able to do as a result of their learning about the Shema.

They can:

-use the right names for things that are special to Jews, e.g. when shown a picture, say: ‘That is a mezuzah’

-talk about what they find interesting or puzzling, e.g. talk about how interesting it was to hear that Jewish people put a prayer in a small box and fix it to their doorposts

-talk about some things that are similar for different religious people, e.g. say that Muslims, Christians and Jews all says prayers to God

-talk about some things in stories that make people ask questions, e.g. say, ‘It was mysterious when God spoke to Moses’

-describe things that are similar and different for religious people, e.g. record or say how Jews recite the Shema, but that they may say it in different languages

-ask important questions about life and compare their ideas with those of other people, e.g. ask why Jews think the Shemais such an important prayer and give their own ideas about important prayers and wishes

-use the right religious words to describe and compare what practices and experiences may be involved in belonging to different religious groups, e.g., say how different Jewish communities might have different ways of remembering God’s laws – through recitation of the Shema, through wearing of the tallit and tefillin, though doing good deeds and so on

-ask questions about the meaning and purpose of life, and suggest a range of answers which might be given by them as well as members of different religious groups or individuals, e.g. asking questions about the importance of the Shema in Jewish life and suggesting answers that might be given by a Jewish visitor to the classroom, or with reference to answers given in authoritative texts or websites.

Some common discussion questions:

  • What do you think it means when the Shema says: “These words […] shall be upon your heart”?
  • In the Shema, where does it say that Jews should talk about God’s laws?
  • Why do you think the Shema says that Jewish people should repeat the words to their children?
  • What could you use or do to help you to remember promises that you have made?

Further reading

Cohn-Sherbok, D. (2003) Judaism: History, Belief and Practice, London: Routledge.

Hoffman, C. M. (2010) Judaism: An Introduction, London: Hodder Education.

Written by Imran Mogra

An investigation into the purposes and practice of prayer for Muslims.

For 5-8 year olds. Originally written by Fiona Moss. Updated in April 2019.

Key words and concepts

Five pillars: The basic precepts of Sunni Islam including belief in One God and his prophet Muhammad, prayer, giving of charity, fasting and pilgrimage to Mecca. Shi’a Muslims observe the 5 Pillars plus additional obligatory acts.

Salah: Communication with, and worship of, Allah, performed under specific conditions, in the manner taught by the Prophet Muhammad and recited in Arabic. The five daily times of salah are fixed by Allah.

Shahadah: Declaration of faith, which consists of the statement, ‘There is no god except Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’.

Minaret: high tower on the Mosque which is traditionally the place that the call to prayer is shouted from.

Adhan: the words that call Muslims to pray 5 times a day.

Allahu Akbar (four times) – God is most great

Ashhadu an la ilaha illa- Allah (once) – I witness that there is no god except God

Ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasula- Allah (once) – I witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God

Hayya ala-s-salah (twice) – Come to prayer

Hayya ala-l-falah (twice) – Come to salvation

Allalhu Akbar(twice) – God is most great

La ilaha-illa-Allah (once) – There is no god except God

  • Muezzin or Mu’adhin: person who recites the call to prayer, the Adhan.

 

Belief: a confidence that something is true that is not easily proved and is something that others will have different views and opinions about. The term often refers to people’s faith or religious convictions.

Prayer: a way of communicating with the divine. It can take the form of worshipping the divine, asking the divine to intercede on earth or for support or guidance.

Commitment: showing dedication to something that is important to you perhaps a particular belief, activity or cause, even if that commitment means forgoing other things.

Learning activities

Ask the children what their favourite sound is. Is it the theme tune for a TV programme, the sound of the key in the door when Mum comes in from work, the chimes of the ice cream van or their best friend’s voice? What it is that they like about that sound? Does it suggest a particular thing is going to happen or is to do with the people associated with the sound?

Use a Persona doll to introduce the religious material for this question. Create a doll with an Islamic persona. He could be called Ahmed. for clothing he should wear a Topi but the rest of his clothes might match your school uniform or clothes that the children in your community might wear. Construct the doll’s persona, the following is an example. you will need some appropriate connections to your children and perhaps some local place names:

Ahmed is 7 and lives near the park, on his way home from school with Mum he always goes down the slide. He has one younger sister and a younger brother. He lives in a big house because one of his grandmothers lives there too. He likes that because there is always someone to talk to. His favourite food is cheese and tomato pizza and ice cream.

He helps look after the wildlife garden at school. He particularly likes looking for frogs in the pond. He is also a new member of the school chess club. In the summer he brings his cricket bat and at lunchtime he and his friends play cricket on the school field.

Every school night at 4:40 p.m. he goes with his younger brother to the Madrassa or Mosque school. They both carry a copy of the Qur’an in a bag under their arm. At Madrassa he learns how to read the Qur’an and be a good Muslim. Recently he did really well in his exams at the Madrassa.

Once the children have been introduced to Ahmed and know a bit about his life you should ask what the children think Ahmed’s favourite sound is. Take suggestions from the children.

Ahmed should then share from his bag a picture of a mosque with a minaret and show the teacher how to play the children his favourite sound. This is the call to prayer, or adhan. Find a clip of it being played on YouTube. There are many. Find one you would like to explore with the class.

 

Explain that this is a really important sound for Ahmed. After the children have heard the sound ask Ahmed to explain its importance to him. He should explain that this sound, called the Adhan, is called out five times a day from his local Mosque.

Ask the children to predict why the Adhan might be shouted from the Mosque five times a day.

Ahmed should explain that in some Mosques it is shouted from the top of a tall tower – a minaret, in others it is said into a microphone.

Ask the children to imagine why a tall tower or a microphone is used; Why do the children think Ahmed has chosen this sound? Is this sound like a sound that is used in any other religious building in their town?

Explain that the words that they heard are calling Muslims to pray either at the mosque, at home, at school or whether they are. Muslim people try to pray 5 times every People who belong to the Sunni family of Muslims will try to pray 5 separate times, and people who belong to the Shi’a family contract 5 separate prayers into 3 times of the day. However it is not always possible and Muslims can make up their prayers when they get home if they have missed some.

Ask the children to build somewhere that would be suitable for a Muslim to shout out the call to prayer. Construction equipment in the classroom can be used for this.

Ask the children to write or record into a talking button what a Muslim might shout if they want people to stop and come to pray.

Ask the children to draw a series of picture of themselves stopping what they are doing and going to do something important because something or someone has called them.

Ask the children to write or record into a talking button what they would like to shout from the highest part of the school to the rest of the people in the school. What is it important for everyone in school to know or believe or do? Show a photo of the highest point in your community ask children to write or record what they would shout out to the community. Is it a belief or an instruction or a piece of advice? How are the things that you would shout in your school and your community similar or different to what a Muslim shouts as the call to prayer?

Introduce the children to the enquiry question, in this example we have suggested the question, ‘Why do Muslims stop and pray?’ Or ‘Why is the call to prayer important to Muslims?’

Share the words of the Adhan with the children. Explain that they are written in Arabic as this is the language that the Prophet Muhammad spoke.

Allahu Akbar (four times) – God is most great

Ashhadu an la ilaha illa- Allah (once) – I witness that there is no god except God

Ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasula- Allah (once) – I witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God

Hayya ala-s-salah (twice) – Come to prayer

Hayya ala-l-falah (twice) – Come to salvation

Allalhu Akbar(twice) – God is most great

La ilaha-illa-Allah (once) – There is no god except God

Share the story of Bilal with the children in an imaginative way. Ahmed could have a version of the story in his bag. There are various story books that you can use to share this story with the children or there are versions of the story online. Bilal was the first person Muhammad asked to shout the call to prayer.

Take care to tell the story in a way that involves the children in the story telling and helps them to understand why the story is still significant to Muslims today. Ask the children such questions as:

  • What sort of person do you think Bilal is?
  • Do you think it is fair that Ummayah is making Bilal pray in the same way as him?
  • Should you ever disobey someone?
  • Do you think you should be allowed to believe in God?
  • Why do you think that Bilal was chosen to be the first Muezzin (person who does the call to prayer in the Mosque)?
  • Does everyone pray?
  • What do people pray about?
  • How do people pray in different religions? Who do different people pray to? Do they pray for the same things do you think?

As a further way of engaging the children in the story you could have a series of items used in the story and ask children to go around the classroom finding them before you tell the story. This will help the children to engage in the story as they listen out for their props. You could use a rock, a broom, some money, some sand, a picture of a mosque with a minaret. Emphasise to the children that Muslims don’t draw pictures of people that are important in their religion or of God which is why you haven’t drawn a picture of Bilal.

Ask the children to do the following activities in turn (carousel arrangement):

  1. Work in a group to find a way of retelling the story to older or younger children to make it memorable. They could make a jigsaw like the one shown in the film. They could make a story map of the plot of the story – how can they do this without drawing people?
  2. Work in a group to create mood pictures of the different feelings of Bilal in the story. Write a description of his moods at different times and as a group use these to retell the story of Bilal.
  3. Draw a picture showing a time when you stood up for something that was important. Why did you stick up for what you think? Why was your belief or idea so important?

Go back to the enquiry question and ask children to share why they think the call to prayer, the Adhan, is important to Ahmed. Ask all the children to then prepare a series of questions which Ahmed can answer about the call to prayer and its significance in his life and the life of his family such as what happens when it is prayer time in your house? How do you know it is prayer time? Can you hear the call to prayer from your house? Why do Muslim people pray? Why do Muslim people try and pray five times a day?

Ask the children to draw a picture of Ahmed either at home or near the Mosque with a speech bubble expressing why the call to prayer is important. Ask them to make a speech bubble for themselves too. Pre-print the speech bubbles with a sentence starters such as:

  • The call to prayer is important to me ..
  • The call to prayer is important to my family ..
  • I like to stop what I’m doing and pray ..
  • I like to stop what I am doing ..
  • Prayer is not important to me ..