Definitely, leaving our children with non-Muslims more hours a day than they spend with Muslims is potentially dangerous. However, non-Muslims are not all the same. Some may be very aggressive in their proselytizing and may find your child a prime candidate. Others may be very anti-religion or anti-Islamic. Most may not care about religion at all.

We as Muslim parents can do several things to try to insure that our children get the right kind of education from non-Muslims without getting the negative influences that we want to avoid.

In addition, we can share the message of Islam with our child's teacher, an excellent Dawa opportunity.

Here are some ways we can ensure our child is getting a good education while making Dawa to their teachers.

Also, by meeting your child's teachers, you will be able to connect with them on a personal level, which is important in ensuring positive, sustained contact throughout the school year. It's important to remember that your child's teacher may never have met a Muslim before. By observing good Muslim behavior on the part of parents and students, teachers will have a more positive picture of Islam than what is usually presented in the mainstream media.

o Show appreciation if your children's non-Muslim teachers show concern for the needs of Muslim children.

o Always be kind and considerate when talking with your children's teachers.

o Let the teachers know about the problems your children will face with non-Islamic holidays, the Pledge of Allegiance, and gym classes.

Perhaps the teacher will find a way to make your child more comfortable during these times. In an article I recently read in The Message International, Aasia Ali, a young Muslim girl, recounted how she informed her gym teacher that she was not allowed to wear shorts, but found the gym teacher uninterested. When the young girl told her father about her problem, he talked with the principal and explained the situation. The principal then excused her from wearing shorts in gym. She then had another problem: the gym locker rooms where the girls changed clothes were not private. She told her father, and he again spoke to the principal. The principal again took care of the problem (Feb. 1990, 35).

Council on Islamic Education
PO Box 20186
9300 Gardenia St., #B-3
Fountain Valley, CA 92728-0186
Phone: 714-839-2929
Fax: 714-839-2714
E-mail: info@cie.org

Let your children's teachers know that you can provide Muslim guest speakers to come to the school and make a presentation about Islam and Muslims.

Make sure to respect the teacher's authority though. He or she will be less cooperative if they see you are trying to impose a curriculum or anything else on their students. By being as cooperative and respectful as possible, you will get the job done while forging a good relationship with your child's teacher.

It's better to go alone the first time so as not to appear
confrontational. If this doesn't help, enlist the support of other Muslim families and Muslim organizations. Don't just ignore it. To report discrimination, you should contact CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations) at www.cair-net.org.

Teachers are more likely to treat Muslim children better and be more sensitive to their issues if they know that Muslim parents are watching and are concerned about their children. By getting involved in your children's education, you will not only be helping your children, but all the Muslim children in the school.

In addition, you will be doing important Dawa when you cooperate with your child's teachers for the benefit of all students and for the school's benefit. By maintaining Islamic principles and behavior, you will send a powerful message about the beauty of Islam that most non-Muslims do not see on a regular basis.