Sitting in a classroom trying to defend your deen is not the easiest. Many students who attend non-muslim schools, even if the school is in a muslim country, can find it a challenge to explain their deen to their peers, and sometimes even teachers.

What makes it even more difficult, is when there are muslims within the school, who do the opposite of Islam. At one point in life I attended an international non-muslim school, though in a muslim country. Previously I had always attended muslim schools. When I arrived I was shocked. There were muslims who wore mini-skirts. Muslims who attended parties. Muslims who had boyfriends and girlfriends, and weren’t ashamed to hide it. Muslims who drank alcohol. Muslims who engaged in all these sins and more, and what’s worse, they considered it ‘good’ and sometimes their parents promoted such a lifestyle. To top it off, these muslims were almost against talking about Islam, they didn’t want to hear it. Or sometimes they would be the one to question islam instead of the non-muslim. They painted images of islam, that were far from the truth. Nevertheless, may Allah guide them.

So, I took it upon my shoulders to give some da’wah, whilst I attended this school. Here is a few of my experiences.

“God is like a father to us all.” I barely just caught what my religious studies teacher said. I looked up, suddenly interested in what he was saying. Why is god like a father? How can He be so? That made no sense! The teacher carried on explaining the concept of god in Christianity, then said, “even in Islam, god is like a father,” he looked towards the muslim students who made up more than half of the classroom population. I immediately interrupted, “No sir! In Islam, god is god, He is not our father.” “No, but, he is a father,” he replied. I recited the translation of Surah Ikhlas, making it clear, that Allah is not our father, “He begets not nor is He begotten,” as He, Himself says in the Qur’an,” I replied with a smile. I had proof! The teacher looked at me bewildered. “What does beget mean?” He asked. Not for his benefit, but rather for the class’. Thankfully, I do not memorise without understanding, and quickly replied, “have children. God doesn’t have children and neither is He is born.” The teacher, was amazed, though I daresay he was a little red. Well, someone had to correct him about what we muslims believe, right?

“We all come from apes; our great, great, great, great….grandfathers were apes.” Are you serious? Do you really want to insult your ancestors like that? This time, I was in biology class. I put my hand up, “Sir, why then are we not continually evolving? Why have we stopped at humans?” “We are evolving, you don’t see it because it takes thousands of years,” he replied confidently. “Ok, but we have been humans in the same form for thousands of years now, so shouldn’t we evolve further?” I decided that this time logic would work best. As a muslim, I know my roots, and it goes back to Adam (peace be upon him), whom Allah created with His own hands, out of clay. I didn’t think the teacher would believe the story of Adam, so I didn’t use it, I don’t think he even believed in religion. Why would I reduce myself to an animal? The teacher replied with another excuse defending the theory of evolution. “Sir, all those skeletons they supposedly found of evolving monkeys into humans, you know, they were all fakes, right? They don’t really exist.” As it happened, I had recently watched a documentary about the fake skeletons, and had learnt a good amount to sustain my argument. The teacher continued to try to reason with me to believe that we were all descended from apes. Nope, I’m not swallowing that pill! The teacher began losing patience. Oops! I quickly tried another approach. “Sir, in the Qur’an, God tells us that He created us in the best form, so why should we reduce ourselves?! If God is telling us that, I mean shouldn’t it be worth something?!” I was of course referring to Surah Teen, in which Allah tells us that He created us in the best of forms. I don’t think the teacher was too happy with me that day, nevertheless, I gave him something to think about. Maybe he went home and questioned his beliefs. Alhamdulilah for me, the bell went off signifying the end of lesson.

Sitting in art class, someone asked, “are you bald under there?” I was taken by surprise. I most certainly am not bold under my hijab! “Can’t you see the shape of her hair!” someone else exclaimed. This was not going well. How do you explain hijab to a bunch of teenagers who seem intent on finding fault with it? “Maybe her hair is grey then?” Ya Rabb! What was up with these kids? “No,” I carefully replied, “I’m not bald and my hair is not grey.” Somehow I get the feeling they were teasing, rather than genuinely asking. Nevertheless, I tried to explain the hijab. After two sentences they found another topic to talk about and left me and my hijab alone. Except it was brought up again, on another hot summer day. “Don’t you get hot with your scarf?” This time, it was outdoor on the playing field. The sun was at its peak, just after lunch. I was sweating to say the least. But I calmly replied, “Isn’t hell hotter?” The person was so confused, which meant I had more hijab explaining to do!  (not my proudest da’wah moment I admit.)

Nevertheless, before I left the school, I gave each teacher some Qur’an to listen to with the English translation of course. Perhaps one day Allah may open their heart.

Giving da’wah in a classroom can be challenging to say the least. School kids are inquisitive, and don’t usually understand that principles are to be upheld, and rules are not to be broken. Or sometimes they are unable to grasp certain concepts, or because of their limited intellectual abilities find things funny. Teachers on the other hand are adamant that their perspective or knowledge is correct. We have to equip the younger generation, with firm knowledge of their deen so that they are able to deal with both. We have to educate them on the founding principles and the more complex ones too. We shouldn’t just teach them to memorise Qur’an, then recite it devoid of understanding. Rather we should explain to them the meanings of the verses that they have memorised, and narrate to them the stories found within its pages.  We should impart to them a love of their deen, so that they can champion it. Moreover, we have to instil in them confidence, so that they stand up for the truth, and not be afraid of opposition.