LEARNING IT THE HARD WAY.

 

Assalamualaikum everybody! I hope life is treating you well. When I was about 10-11 years old, my family and I went to London for a family vacation. It was probably one of the best trips to date; I even had the chance to stay in a town called Greenwich. I’m sure some of you might be familiar with the name since it is where the GMT originated. Honestly that wasn’t the thing that I wanted to talk about. I wanted to use this trip as an analogy about how experience and learning goes simultaneously.

You see, when I was there, I went to the Buckingham Palace with my family by train. We assumed that there was a public toilet at the park before heading to the Palace, but unfortunately, they were all going through somewhat a renovation, and I could not use the loo. When we were at the Buckingham Palace, right outside the gate, everybody was just taking pictures and sitting near the fountain. I was confused, you know, because all I wanted to do at that moment was to pee. So, I went to my mum and asked why weren’t we going in, and mum said that we can’t go in because the Queen was inside. I was really not a bright 10 years old because I only know a little thing or two about the UK; winter and snow, so I was like, “Hasn’t the Queen passed away?” because in my head, there was only one Queen and that was like waaaay waay back in the 60s, but then mum told me that there’s this line of succession that follow through and it goes way back all the way up until right now. A decade has passed, and this has been a story that I would always tell my friends and we would all laugh.

With this, I think the same gist assimilates well with education and religion. Sometimes, things aren’t just black and white. We shouldn’t just keep on continuing the norms by teaching our younger generations that religion = fear (i.e.: “if you don’t pray, you go to Hell” or “if you don’t read the Quran, you’ll be sad”). I have had a fair share of that, and I’m honestly appalled by the practice because they seem to forget to include during the time when I was in KAFA; that as humans, we are all far from perfect, everybody sins and that it’s okay. They fail to teach us that Allah is forgiving and loves people who continuously repent and ask for forgiveness. They fail to educate us on how our God is the most Merciful and the most Compassionate. As a child, I was always told to do good sincerely but how could I if I’m always clouded with fear?

Classes from Junior Al-Hafiz at iLuvQuran!

This is how iLuvQuran is different from the rest. We try to provide your children with an environment to have a pleasing experience while we prepare them with knowledges to be the rightful Caliphs in the real world. In line with Islam's message of forgiveness, mercy, and compassion, iLuvQuran acknowledges that all people are imperfect, and we are bound to commit mistakes. We are also a firm believer that learning from mistakes might be one of the best teachers in the realm of teaching as it is also an important part of child and adolescent development. We would like to dissociate religion with fear and rather highlight that you can be forgiven with love, and you can learn from your mistakes. We promote our students to experience, as long as they are with the correct guidance to learn from any mistakes they have done, guidance that we can provide at iLuvQuran.

Classes from Seedlings at iLuvQuran!

I guess what I’m trying to say is that historically, educators had made an environment for learning that do not encourage errors. It is time for us to take a chance in the changing eras and strive for a better future for our children. I will end this blog with a quote from a renowned psychologist, Henry C. Link would say, “While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.”