The Public School and the Muslim Child

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By Sister Umm Muhammad

Allah said in the Holy Qur'an,

"It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman ,when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger, to have any option about their decision: If anyone disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong path."

(Qur'an 33:36)

I grew up in the public schools as the daughter non-Muslim parents. In school, I experienced violence against myself and against my friends. Harassment from students, teachers, and administrators alike. The individual attention, which I received, was greater than for most due to the advanced placement programs made available to me. Even though I had special classes, the individual attention became reduced with each passing year in the public school system. By the time I reached my final two years of high school, I was convinced that high school was more for babysitting rather than preparation for my future. Keep in mind that all of this happened in "small town USA" in a city of only 250,000 rather than Los Angeles with a population of millions.

My public school experience was almost twenty years ago. Now things area thousand times worse. Especially in L.A. County where gang members number in the 100,000 range with the youngest members at age 6 or 7years old. And, yes, they attend the public schools. They bring all of their trashy talk with them to school. Let me share with you what has

happened to young children in the public schools in our community since I have lived here this past 6 years.

1) A five year old girl was raped when she was sent to the bathroom by herself in a public elementary school.

2) A school janitor who was also a gang member murdered a 15-yr. old girl in the bathroom.

3) A high school football coach was fired and convicted of child abuse and statutory rape for having "intimate relations" with several high school girls.

4) A Muslim brother who was attending a public high school was beaten to death on the high school grounds during school hours right here in good old Los Angeles. Of course the stories are endless but not necessary.

The first time your five year old comes home with the "F" word coming from his

mouth ought to convince you that you have made a mistake by enrolling him in public school. Allah has made us responsible for those he has placed in our charge. He never said it would be easy. Jennah is not easy. Allah says in the Qur'an,

"Or do you think that you shall enter the Garden (of Bliss) without such trials as came to those who passed away before you?

They encountered suffering and adversity, and were so shaken in spirit that even the Messenger and those who have faith who were with him cried:" When (will come) the help of Allah". Ah! Verily, the help of Allah is always near!" Our Jihad in this life includes fighting to protect our family from everything from propaganda to physical threats. Yet, everyday, Muslim mothers and fathers send their children off to public school without thinking anything of it.

Let me tell you what I had to deal with and know that what your children are dealing with today is far worse. In Kindergarten, in the fall we get Thanksgiving and probably the favourite day of Iblis: Halloween! In the winter we are bombarded with Christmas, Christmas trees, worship of material things and the pressure of all your classmates asking," What did you get for Christmas? Oh, that’s too bad. Let me tell you what I got, blah, blah, blah.." Next comes New Years Day to celebrate the new year of the Christian Era which is full of months named after Greek or Roman gods. Then we go right into the all important St. Valentine's Day where everybody send hearts and flowers and cards to their ‘boyfriends’ or ‘girlfriends in February. Nothing like getting those Kaffir ideas started from an early age. Oh then in March, I being Irish, was sure to wear my green shirt so I wouldn’t get pinched on St. Patrick’s Day. Next comes expectations of and preparation for Easter. The whole thing...The Easter bunny." What did he bring you? I got..blah, blah, blah". Chocolate bunnies and jelly beans probably full of gelatine from pork. That took care of Spring. Then right into summer school and the indoctrination into the patriotic July 4^th celebration celebrating the all-important freedom from oppression from the British. Of course they failed to mention that they were in full blown slaughter of the American Indians by then. I learned that later. Yes, and all this took place in half a day of school in Kindergarten. Imagine what can be accomplished by this Kafir school system in twelve years?! Allah warns us in the Qur'an,"...Tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter. Nor will they cease fighting you until they turn you back from your faith if they can..." then Allah warns that any who do die in unbelief will be companions of the fire. Putting your children into the public school with all of its prohibited things is, in my opinion, a form of oppression on your children and I believe it is at least tumultuous for them. In addition, sending your children to the public schools puts them in the hands of people who would go to great lengths to convince them to turn away from their religion.

Most of us would never think twice about our answer if someone asked, "Would you let a Kaffir baby-sit your child?" Most would answer with an emphatic," NO!" But, Muslims don’t think twice about sending their kids to the Kuffaar to provide them with their education (or

teachers are possibly bi- or homo-sexual, paedophiles, adulterers or adulteresses, atheists, Christian or Jew, or all of the above.

How is it that this can happen? What will we tell Allah when He asks us how we carried out the Trust which He has entrusted to us? What will be our excuse to Him. I know that I have heard a lot of excuses. One of my favourites is ,"It’s too DIFFICULT for me." Or I love this one especially for young kids," My ENGLISH isn’t too good." Obviously, these people have not looked around very much and are lazy or just want time for themselves away from the kids. How much do the young one’s need? ABC’s and 123’s and three letter words like "CAT" or "DOG". There are only about a million ways to learn English. Whatever your reason is, just remember that ultimately you’re going to have to answer with that flimsy

excuse to your Creator, Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta’ala, not to me or any other lowly human like me. I ask you , do you think Allah would accept any of the excuses that I have mentioned so far. My ALL-TIME favorite is I’m too BUSY!" Too busy FOR WHAT?!! Too busy for your kids?!! That is your job!! Your kids didn’t ask to be born! Your were well aware of the

result of your actions when you conceived them. You knew that YOU not that Kafir teacher was going to be responsible for them. I submit that someone who is too BUSY just has their priorities mixed up.

I don’t mean to sound harsh. But I do mean to warn you and remind myself. There is no place more DIFFICULT then the hell-fire and it doesn’t matter if your ENGLISH is good or not and you’ll probably still be pretty BUSY begging for Mercy and any little drop of water while your dipped up to your eyeballs in the burning flame.

Allah says in the Quran:

"O ye who believe! Take not for your friends and protectors those who take your religion for a mockery or a sport,-Whether among those who received the Scripture before you, or among those who reject Faith: But fear ye Allah if ye have Faith." Now I ask you, to whom are you sending your children to be protected and to make friends with? To those whom Allah has forbidden you to take as friends and protectors yourself! Allah says in the Qur'an: "Already has He sent you in the Book, that when ye hear the message of Allah held in defiance and ridicule, ye are not to sit with them unless they turn to a different theme: if ye did ye would be like them. For Allah will collect the hypocrites and those who defy faith - all in Hell" (Qur'an.4:140)

Yet , we send our children to those who mock Allah by teaching the kids about a jolly fat man in a red suit named Santa who "knows if you’ve been naughty or nice" and shares other attributes of Allah, A’oothoo billahi mina Shaitanirrajeem. This is only one of thousands of examples.

We send our kids to a place full of prohibited people, actions, and things for most of their waking hours then tell them to not be like them and not to make friends with them. What a great hypocrisy and what a great and unnecessary strain to place on a young Muslim.

"What do I do then?", you may ask. There are several Islamic schools available. But check them out to be sure that they are better than the public schools. Many will give grants to pay for part of the tuition if you can’t afford it.

There are many choices for Homeschooling and many sisters who currently homeschool that may be able to form a cooperative effort if you think that you can’t handle it on your own. Ultimately, we are all responsible for our own children which Allah has given us but we should not be afraid to ask for help when we feel unable to handle the task on our own.

Sheik Abdullah Azzam, may Allah reward him for his striving, was quoted as saying,

"Muslims cannot be defeated by others. We Muslims are not defeated by our enemies, instead, we are defeated by our own selves."

When our children grow up in the public school system and end up defying us and acting as their teachers acted, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. Or, if they grow up in the public school system as a good Muslim we have nobody to credit but Allah.

May Allah, guide us and protect us and make us and our children from among the righteous.

Reprinted from Risalat Al -Noor

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