A Man’s Perspective

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds; and Peace and Blessing upon the pinnacle of creation, Mohammed Bin AbdAllah, his Family and his Companions. I witness that there is no deity but Allah and Mohammed is His servant and Messenger.

Many people, Muslim or not, think that home education is mostly the domain of the Woman and a Man’s role is just supportive, if anything. The reality is most Women who consider home schooling or even tutoring at home face some opposition from their husbands and that without the Man’s support it is almost impossible for them to do it successfully.

I am not fully aware of all the reasons, Men who oppose the concept of home education do so, but I might make it a little easier to understand them by presenting my former opposition.

First of all the most obvious and strongest worry that people, in general, have with home education is socialization. Men being mostly involved in issues outside the home and being aware of how important it is to be sociable in all aspects of life there, are immediately aware of this point when they hear Home Schooling. They tend to oppose it on grounds that the child or children will be introverted and unsocialized therefore being incapable of forming proper relations with others.

Here is what eliminated this point from my opposition list. This part of the world’s educational system, asides from being Kaffir based (which by itself should eliminate it as an option) concerns itself with socialization more than actual academic subjects. A principal or teacher is more apt to call the parents about ‘Strange Behaviour’ or absences than in regards to poor marks in academics. This stems from the ideals located in their societal basis, their economic system, which is based on ‘Class Conflict’ (Which is basically the poor working hard to be middle class and the middle class working hard to become part of the upper class and each using the one below it for profit and excluding them to secure their own position.) I had first hand knowledge of this I went to a good academic Secondary School because my parents saw this reality in the schools in our neighbourhood which was a lower class area. They had lower expectations for their students than did the schools in my Grandmother’s neighbouhood which was an upper-middle area.

I received a decent academic education at a school in my Grandmother’s area but at the cost of my Deen and my self confidence. This was a result of their method of socialization. For me to list examples of this opinion would require a booklet by itself. The school was almost all Upper Middle Class youth, and they had no problems about making this known to everybody who wasn’t. The Academics was geared to their social level and it was better than even the ‘enriched’ classes in a secondary school just a couple of blocks away. Many a student transferred to that school’s enriched courses only to receive better marks with less work.

The students and teachers created a certain cliquish environment that almost choked whoever was not involved or a member of any of them. Once an outsider, you are almost assured that position for the rest of your years there. Add that to the fact of being a visible minority in a place where there were very few to begin with and you are never going to fit in no matter what you do.

It wasn’t very hard to get beyond this objection of socialization to Home Schooling; but what really drove it home to me are two very important facts.

The first and obviously most important point is the fact that as Muslims we must not entrust Kaffirs with ourselves and definitely our children or their future. If they do not abuse them, they will spoil them and if not that than the environment they create for them will damage their Deen or their confidence or countless other possibilities.

"Let not the believers take for friends or helpers unbelievers rather than believers; if any do that will never be helped by Allah in any way; except if you indeed fear a danger from them. And Allah warns you against (His punishment) Himself, and to Allah’s the final Return." Qur’an (3-28)

Narrated Sumara bin Jundub: Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) said, "Anybody (any Muslim) who meets, gathers together, lives, and stays with a Mushrik and agrees to his ways, opinions etc. and enjoys his living with him then he is like him." (Abu Da’ud –The book of Jihad.)

The second reason, as if I need convincing after that, is the kaffir’s own statistics and information about their own inefficiencies in relation to their educational system. There is ample facts in this paper about it, so I won’t repeat them. However one very disturbing reality is that many ‘Islamic schools’, although they are not required to, still insist on using the government’s curriculums and only add on an extra subject or two for rudimentary Qur’an and Arabic.

I would still prefer to have my wife to myself (after losing her attention and time to the children) and the children attending a proper Islamic educational institute but so far in Canada I have not found a suitable option and am not willing to surrender my children’s future in favor of Hell-Fire.

[ Written by Abu Badr . Whatever I have written that is correct then it is from Allah and whatever I have written that is wrong then it is from me and I ask for His forgiveness]