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THE JIHAD IN ME. A REFLECTIVE JOURNEY ON THE ROLE OFISLAMIC
EPISTEMOLOGY A SA GIRDING FRAMEWORK FOR STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
AND TEACHER RESISTANCE IN A POST SEPTEMBER 11™ WORLD
JEEWAN CHANICKA
A thesis submitted to the Faculty o f Graduate Studies

in partial fulfilment o f the requirements
for the degree o f
Master o f Education
Graduate Program in Education

York University
Toronto, Ontario
December 2006
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THE JIHAD IN M E: A REFLECTIVE JOURNEY ON THE
ROLE OF ISLAMIC EPISTEMOLOGY AS A GUIDING
FRAM EW ORK FOR STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND
TEACHER RESISTANCE IN A POST SEPTEMBER 11™
WORLD
by Jcewan Chanicka
By virtue o f submitting this document, electronically, the author

certifies that this is a true electronic equivalent o f the copy o f the
dissertation approved by York University for the award o f the
degree. No alteration o f the content has occurred and if there are
any minor variations in formatting, they are as a result o f the
conversion to Adobe Acrobat format (or similar software
application).
Examination Committee members:

1. Carl James
2. Stephen Gaetz
3. Alison Griffith
4. Narda Razack
iii
Abstract
The events o f September 11th led to questions amongst Muslims and non-Muslims about
the beliefs and place o f Muslims in secular North America. Could Muslims who reject
the dichotomy o f sacred-as-individual and secular-as-public live in a secular society? The
Jihad in Me is a reflective account that explores the need for a multi-centric approach to
public education. It investigates the role Islamic epistemology and explores how this can
allow the development o f a social justice based, inclusive pedagogy. Understanding o f
Islam’s central tenet o f law hid Oneness, the sacred implications o f teaching and
learning ihn knowledge and the understanding o f teacher as Mu 'allim giver o f knowledge
and Murabhi mentor can provide a framework for Muslim teachers to create learning
spaces within public education where the lived experiences that exist within our global
village can be accounted for without the need to re-frame values and beliefs within the
language o f the dominant hegemonic discourse.
iv
Acknowledgements:
I would like to first express my gratitude to Allah, Who has blessed me with the
opportunity to be engaged in such a meaningful form o f worship. I would also like to
thank all those who have assisted me along this journey, especially my wife Sharon and
children: Muadh and Ayub who sacrificed a great deal for me to fulfil my masters degree
requirements. I should also mention the following people: my mother- Vidya Shridat,
Sharon Moss, Natasa Vujanovic, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, Salman Rana, Muzzammal
Nawaz, Alison Gaymes, Ramon San Vincente, Lisa Thom, Colleen MacDonnell, Sultan
Rana, Memona Hossain, Elizabete Peterson, professors Carl James, Stephen Gaetz, Joy
Mannette, Jasmin Zine and Sonia James-Wilson and to all o f my students who continue
to teach and inspire me to both dream and work towards a better future. There have been
many others who have assisted, influenced and/or inspired me along this passage who
may not be mentioned by name but to whom I am deeply grateful.
It is my sincere hope and prayer that this research will be a meaningful
contribution to both the academy and society and that it leads to more critical learning,
de/reconstructions and understanding that can lead to enlightenment and a better society
in which all voices are heard, recognized, included and valued.
Finally and most importantly, as is customary in the Islamic tradition, I would like
to note that any good that comes from this, is through the mercy o f God, the Most
Compassionate and any mistakes are my own - for which I apologize to readers and ask
the forgiveness o f God.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 1
Methodology.....................................................................................9
2. Epistemologv
A Literature Review.................................................................... 19
Epistemology as informed by Tawhid...................................... 32
Epistemology guided by the Islamic concept o f Tarbiya...... 37
Epistemology guided by personal social location...................39
Epistemological construction o f knowledge
Knowledge in Islam..................................................................... 44
Knowledge and its role in creating an inclusive system 47
3. Teacher as Mu ’allim ........................................................................... 54
4 Teacher as Murabbi............................................................................ 72
5 Creative Resistance - Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil........ 92
Conclusion................................................................................................. 122
References..................................................................................................130
Appendix
A: Participatory Democracy in the classroom:

Project Helping Hands March 15th
B: A Teacher’s Philosophy
C: Participatory Democracy Workshop Description
D: Importance o f Character Education
E: TRIBES Trainer Application Letter
F: Course paper utlizing autoethnography
vi
G: Helping Hands Project Report: History
H: Unpublished article: Disengagement in the school system
Glossary o f terms....................................................................................... 158
vii
Chapter 1
Introduction
The post-September 11th climate has led to many questions and inquiries about
Islam and Muslims especially regarding what Muslims believe and how their beliefs
guide their daily lives. Muslims now form a large minority in North America.
Furthermore, according to the website www.religioustolerance.org current trends indicate
that Islam is poised to become the most popular religion in the middle o f the 21st century
(Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 2006). This has huge implications for
Boards o f Education in North America in terms o f how they seek to develop schooling to
engage and include the lived realities o f Muslim teachers and students.
September 11® 2001 was the first time in our collective history that so many
innocent people paid the price for the roles played overseas by our governments and
forced North Americans to explore our hegemonic culture which Giroux terms the
“hyper-individualised market-based relations o f capitalism and the retrograde appeal to
jingoistic patriotism” (Giroux, 2002, p.1139). Regardless, that day has been burnt into my
memory forever. It changed my life, the lives o f my family members, and those o f Arabs
and South Asians in North America and for Muslims worldwide. It also collectively
pushed the Muslim communities in North America to delve into the meta-narratives o f
their lives; to understand their place in society and to understand the way that they - as a
group o f people - had come to be understood and how that was connected to the way
they understood their texts, culture and lives in their current context.
My intention is to introduce a personal, reflective narrative into the wider
dominant discourse in education about the intersection o f critical teacher pedagogy and
religiously guided epistemology. As teachers, we are encouraged to engage in a reflective
practice to ensure that we are continually improving our teaching and engaging our
students in an enriched and meaningful manner. As a Muslim teacher within the current
geo-political climate, it is important for me to explore my practice and to highlight and
illustrate the manner in which Islam guides my classroom practice. It is equally important
to do this while being cognizant o f the fact that Islam is not a monolith and so I must be
mindful o f the way that my own personal location influences my teaching practice. My
research and exploration is situated as a reflective approach to understanding the way
Islamic epistemology (way o f knowing and understanding the world) has influenced my
practice. It does not claim to speak for all Muslims and acknowledges that experiences
and expressions o f Islam may vary across time, space and cultures.
North America generally treats religion as being an individual choice and one that
should be kept within the privacy o f the home and/or limited to the individual. While it
may be present in interactions between people and embedded or encoded within the
actions o f individuals, many times it is not overt. However, for Muslims who adhere to
Islam and adopt an Islamic epistemology, the separation o f religion from daily life
becomes problematic as Islam, as in other religions, is considered to be a holistic code for
life.
Normative Islam refutes any attempt to compartmentalize life into the secular and
sacred. Its approach seeks to connect the body and the spirit and its implications suggest
2
v: ^connection or one irom tne otner is not acceDtaoie in tne sisnt o f God. The
ir'-aons 01 tms are oven ana present in a vanetv o f wavs such as dietarv restrictions,
gender interaction, need for daily prayer and ritual ablution and decisions around
interactions with individuals and colleagues in situations in which they feel that religious
requirements are being violated.
As the following narration o f Prophet Muhammad (the last recognized prophet in
Islam) suggests, the following are the foundations o f Islamic belief from which all other
aspects emanate: “Islam has been built upon five things - on testifying that there is no god
save Allah, and that Muhammad is His Messenger; on performing salah; on giving the
zakah; on Hajj to the House; and on fasting during Ramadhan” (Kulliyyah o f ICT, 2002).
These 5 principles guide the practice o f the majority o f Muslims worldwide and are
generally accepted across sectarian differences although their application may differ.
Islam also governs the way Muslims interact with others, what they eat, what they wear,
and what they do with their money. It contains economic and social guidelines and clear
injunctions about the obligation to assist marginalized groups, and to try and change
society to ensure oppression o f individuals by other groups o f individuals does not occur.
Oh you who believe, stand firmly for justice as witnesses for

God, even if it means testifying against yourselves, or vour
parents or your kin, or whether it is against the rich or poor,
because God prevails upon all. Follow not the lusts o f your
heart lest you swerve, and if you distort justice or decline to do
justice, verily God knows what you do [Qur’an 4: 135]
Islam also seeks to connect the actions o f an individual to the larger Ummah
(global Muslim community) and places responsibility on the individual for the progress
o f both the Ummah and for humanity as a whole. Thus to adopt Islam in its entirety
requires an individual to live according to its codes. Islamic epistemology therefore acts
as the impetus for an individual to adopt not only ritual worship but to accept societal
norms when it is deemed to be fair or just and to engage in transformati ve change in
order to champion issues o f social justice.
September 1l mnot only created fear in the general North American population, it
demonized Islam and Muslims and cast it as the new “other”. The trepidation and tear
that resulted arose in part due to people’s unfamiliarity with Islam and Muslims.
However the fear was also a result o f the insular nature o f the Muslim community who
thought that openness would result in a loss o f cherished Islamic values and norms.
Members o f the Muslim community spoke out against this internal “ghettoization”
(Ramadan, 2006) that was occurring because o f this.
Increasingly, the lived experience o f Muslims is one surrounded by a culture o f
fear and hatred, and this continues to be perpetuated as Muslims are characterized
negatively in the media (Sharif, 2001). There has been little mention within popular
media o f the growing trend amongst North American Muslims who are becoming
meaningful contributors to society while adhering to their faith. This has not only created
fear but also a sense o f distrust between and among colleagues, neighbours and co
workers who do not have an understanding o f Islamic epistemology and how it guides the
meta-narrative o f a Muslim’s life.
As more Muslim teachers enter the teaching profession, especially those who
personally identify with Islam as their guiding way o f knowing and understanding the
4
world, it becomes increasingly important to understand what guides the actions o f
Muslims as teachers; how they interact within the system; how they engage their students
and what they will support and/or resist, and why? I hope that by engaging my own voice
and experiences, the process o f demystifying Muslim teachers and by extension Muslim
students can begin to occur.
A public system should ensure that the values o f the public are honoured and
included. Thus public schooling should not be devoid o f spirit and/or religion. Instead it
should be inclusive enough to truly represent the global society. Schooling should not be
viewed as a space for “conversion” to any belief system - religious, spiritual or secular.
However, schooling should be seen as an opportunity to expose students to the variety
and differences that exist in the world, which they will inevitably come into contact with
in today’s global village. Understanding the Islamic paradigm and the role it plays in the
lives o f Muslim teachers will not only promote a better understanding o f Muslims, but
perhaps alleviate the latter’s stress, give them equal access to opportunities, and allow
them to concentrate on excellent teaching pedagogy and practice rather than the need to
continually navigate the dichotomy o f their religious needs (e.g. spaces and time for
prayer, rules o f gender interaction, issues around social events with alcohol etc.) versus
system needs. This then allows Muslim teachers to situate themselves as effective
members o f the public schooling system and minimize feelings o f “otherness” that may
exist.
It will also serve to de-colonize the mechanisms and opportunities by which some
groups have gained privilege and upward mobility and open doors to a new group o f
5
people. It can further provide a useful lens by which the education system may be able to
better understand the concerns o f a large segment o f the global community, their values
and cultures and potentially alleviate concerns and fears before they become new issues.
This can only assist with building stronger learning communities and by extension boost
student success.
As a Muslim teacher, I continue to explore the complexities o f my identity: race,
class, age and religion. However the overriding identifier for me is based on my faith -
Islam. Islam is a comprehensive code for life. It is a lens through which I negotiate my
race, class, age and every other classification that forms my identity. It forms the
epistemological foundation, which informs my teaching.
Question
The specific question I intend to explore is “How does Islamic epistemology act
as a guide for Muslim teachers and influence their teaching, student engagement and
resistance/compliance within the school system?” For the purposes o f this thesis,
epistemology is used in reference to the ways o f knowing and the beliefs that guide our
decisions, understanding o f and actions in this earthly world.
This question was generated as a result o f my own reflective praxis through which
my growth as an educator has been, and continues to be, sustained. Much o f the research
on Islam and Muslims that I have come across has been introduced to the academy
through a prevalent orientalist lens in the guise o f “outsider” objectivity. This has led to
Islam and Muslims being further polarized both in education and society. Eber Hampton
when discussing the damage done to First Nations peoples’ education as defined by
6
others termed it “destructive” (Hampton, 1995, p.49). Giroux also raised this as a concern
when he mentioned that “dominant classes exert their power by defining what counts as
meaning and in doing so, they disguise this “cultural arbitrariness” in the name o f a
neutrality that masks its ideological grounding” (Giroux 1983b, p.89).
Research around Muslim students and teachers within the education system has
focussed on a variety o f areas including the disconnect female, immigrant students may
experience between secular and religious nationalism and how education impacts them
(Timmerman, 2000); the impact o f critiques based upon culturally and gender based
stereotypes on Muslims in Canadian schools (Rezai-Rashti, 1999); how strong affiliations
to Muslim identity enable success for Muslim girls in the public education system (Zine,
2001). Others have looked at the need for Islamization o f the educational curriculum
(Hashim, 2002); the need to develop a balanced curriculum that fulfils the needs o f the
public education system and the need to maintain Islamic beliefs and practice specifically
within the context o f private Islamic schools (Tauhidi, 2001; Uddin, 2001); and the
challenges in developing a balanced Islamic studies curriculum (Alwani, 2006).
However, within the scope o f research I have done in the academy, there is a
noticeable absence o f research about Islamic epistemology and a lack o f understanding as
to how this can contribute to knowledge o f Muslims - teachers and/or students - and
their experiences in public education, especially from those who are located within the
Muslim community and choose to adhere to the normative daily requirements encoded
within the religion. Additionally, there has also been very little focus on Islamic
epistemology, how it can serve to enrich the fabric o f public education, and its role in the
7
lives o f Muslim educators. I believe that research in this area is integral to the effective
integration o f Muslim educators within public education. It can also enrich public
education by furthering understanding o f how Muslim teachers contextualize and
operationalize their roles and jobs and its impact on creating effective, inclusive practices
in a pluralistic society. This can further serve to de-mystify Muslims and re-cast the
negative stereotypes and images often portrayed in the media in a post-September 11th
climate (Sharif, 2001).
Recently, Muslims have initiated a new current within the west. It seeks to re-
contextualize Islam within the current socio-political, global milieu and calls for Muslims
to understand and deconstruct the prevalent Islamic hegemonies that are historically
located (Rahman, 1982). Such attempts are not intended to modernize or change the
tenets o f the faith. Instead, these Muslims are trying to re-claim the practice o f Islam
within its authentic form and understand the normative versus the historical (Rahman,
1982). Our current context requires now more than ever, that w e seek to understand some
o f these issues in order to demystify the myths/truths about Muslims in our education
system. The demystification o f Muslims as ‘other’ will assist in developing a more
inclusive framework through which Muslims can be meaningfully included within the
fabric o f the public education system. Because o f this, I believe that the insertion o f my
voice is critical to exploring this question.
Such a discussion will introduce the academy to an alternative, insider perspective
that will hopefully expand the boundaries o f knowing and understanding Islam and its
adherents. Though potentially problematic, exploration as an insider can be just as
valuable as that o f the “objective” outsider, if not more so,
The methodology, although influenced by auto-ethnography, is based on a
reflective approach to understanding my experiences as an educator. This is explored
through a Literature review; my epistemology as informed by Tawhid, Tarbiya and as it
has been influenced by my personal social location. It is expanded upon by introducing
an understanding o f the Epistemological construction o f knowledge and the role o f
knowledge in Islam and its role in creating an inclusive system. The constructs o f
Teacher as Mu ’allim and Teacher as Murabbi are explored and followed by a discussion
on creative resistance - enjoining good and forbidding evil.
Methodology
The framework for this research will engage reflection, especially since teachers
are often encouraged to engage in reflective praxis (Dewey 1933, Schon, 19B3; Hopkins
& Antes, 1990). Reflection, as a tool, is commonly used and promoted amongst teachers
to enable them to understand the basis o f their actions and to determine and articulate
clear goals and next steps to develop a more effective or critical teaching pedagogy.
Whether the reflection is “in action” or “on action” (Schon, 1983) or descriptive,
dialogic and/or critical (Hatton and Smith, 1995), it can be useful in creating a more
informed teaching practice and furthermore move teachers to developing praxis which
cannot occur without reflection. For teachers seeking to re-shape hegemonic practices
shaped by a largely, white, Euro-eentric curriculum reflection and praxis not only
desirable, it is necessary.
Zimmerman (2006), cites Greene (1978) in explaining praxis and it’s
connection to reflection:
praxis is a shared experience which requires a transformative

element. [P]raxis involves critical reflection— and action
upon— a situation to some degree shared by persons with
common interests and common needs. O f equal moment is the
fact that praxis involves a transformation o f the situation to the
end o f overcoming oppressiveness and domination.
(p. 100)
Critical reflection to me, means that I must not only reflect but to question and create a
transformative space through which interlocking foims o f oppression can be challenged.
My reflections are focused on “a liberatory future freed from internal and external
mechanisms and dispositions o f oppression” (Writer and Chavez, 2001, p.l). It is a
commitment to a more equitable and inclusive public education system.
Furthermore, in a post-September 11th world life for Muslims, especially in the
west, has become increasingly difficult and something that I reflected on in an earlier
piece I wrote about my coming to and acceptance o f Islam.
At the time, it was not an easy choice as I feared my family's

reaction. They would have accepted a lot from me, but not
Islam... As many parents worry today, my mother was scared
that I would become some type o f militant who would kill
people in the name o f Allah. It took seven years o f silent
struggle to eventually let them know I had made this choice. It
was a hard pill for them to swallow, but they eventually did.
As I reflect on it now, I realize that it is more difficult to be a
Muslim today, it has become worse: Being a Muslim today is
like wearing a label that says “enemy.” But every time I stop to
think about why I made this choice, it only allows me to
10
become stronger and more convinced that I have truly
understood why I was created and what my purpose is. It has
strengthened my resolve to “live and die” for the sake o f God—
Allah. (Chanicka, 2004)
My mother was worried about the “jihad” that was sensationalized in the media today -
one o f militancy and war. However, the greaterjihad or struggle that I have faced living
in North America has been the navigation o f my religious ideals along with personal civic
participation and integration within my professions and in society in general. Within the
context o f education, my own reflections and resulting actions are a part o f this jihad and
assist in the creation o f a space where transformation can occur (Freire, 1970).
This thesis arose as a part o f my own reflective practice and opens up a space to
understand my context as a Muslim within public education. It is an exploration o f my
reflections about the way I have negotiated my identity within this context and how that
has shaped my praxis. It also reflects my commitment to not only developing my
personal self but highlights my commitment to an inclusive public education system.
Reflection is consistent with both effective teacher practices and the Islamic
concept o f Muhasaba (self-accounting) in which Muslims are encouraged to take
themselves to account before they are taken to account (on the Day o f Judgement by God
in the next life). When it comes to the rights o f people and just dealings with them,
Muslims have a strong sense o f accountability to God. Teachers, as will be explained
later on, are accountable to students, parents and ultimately God, for what they teach and
how they mould the lives o f those in their trust.
11
Although reflection and insertion-of-voice o f have traditionally not been held in
high-esteem within the academy;, it is important to give currency to a personal voice- in this
case my own -within such research, This is also because my voice represents the lived
experiences o f one individual and 1 do not intend to generalize or essenf iaiizo Islam or the
entire Muslim community, I hope to present a voice - one lived experience, to challenge the
dominant discourse and change the focus o f the discussion from my being defined as an
object to defining m yself as a participant in this research.
By doing so, 1 am able to create a counter-story and name instances o f
marginalization within public education and some o f the transformative mechanisms i have
utilized to resist such oppressive practices. 1 .his is a sentiment echoed by Writer anti
Chavez (2001) when they noted the importance o f their own Tetro-reflections.”
Our purpose here is to create a counter story via our retro-

reflective dialog centered on our existence as culturally ethnic,
racialized, and gendered beings. We hope to communicate with
the greater multicultural teacher education community by
* 1 practices we percefo'' v " cM
have been to us-as •fo a* ..........., ■ ,1
o f Color-transformative, (p. 1)
Debar in discussing the anthology This Bridge.Called My Back, remarks that the
Chicana editors/writers challenged ‘‘the monolithic views o f identity in the United States,
asserted the multiplicity o f American cultures and deconstructed various orientalisms,
challenging the assumption that the anthropologist was the sole purveyor o f efirmographic
truth” (Bchar, 1996, p.27), By engaging my own voice I am situating myself within the
context o f a diverse Muslim community but defining a lived experience guided by an
i-n
l z,
Is'iamicaiiy based epistemology. I ails also challenging the objectification ofM uslim s and
the assumptions made about their lived experiences.
References made to Islam throughout this paper are based on my understanding o f
Islam and its «..>w ...... and fluency with a social-justice approach to education, i am not
claiming to represent ail Muslims nor do I believe that Islam is monolithic. There are
multiple readings and representations o f Islam worldwide. If I am claiming to represent
anything/one, it would be k> those who read/understand Isiam in a similar manner which I
discuss later as “Critical Islam.” This thesis represents how Islam is meaningful to me and
how I personally translate that meaning into my classroom..
John Wisom (as quoted by fa z iu r Rahman, 19881 argues, "tne ow ner o f an
experience has privileged access to his or her experience, which cannot be shared by any
other person” (p. 191). In discussing ‘meaning” and the “meaningful” Rahman argues, for
meaning ro b e fully understood, it has to be meaningful to someone (Rahman, >985). My
hope is that this research presents one lived example o f a Muslim teacher the
education system who is influenced by Islam as an overall epistemology and has chosen to
resist, comply, and engage with the system at varying points in his career. 'My teaching and
actions have been based on my faith and understanding o f my role as a Muslim. In this
context, it is my experience o f Islamic epistemology, which can be understood by others,
because o f its meaningfulness to me, R ahm an (1985) argues,
vivJ tw latl i l i vi . <vi CiOV-itijvi iviOi/I,V' 11titi ii.c kind GL

■‘ j « •** "■ ■ . is a sort o f
x k u r f i 'v).owML,t It iiot a lebgim k experience, but a
quasi-scientific (intellectual) knowledge o f a reuymus
experience, where normativeness or authority <.1 ;.c experience
13
vanishes, , lirect effect upon the
experiencing subject (including the fetter's report o f it) can be
preserved and made accessible to others. The experience as a
jiving and integral whole, therefore, cannot be conveyed by a
historian or a social scientist; such scholars nonetheless can
appreciate it intellectually and convey it so that: it becomes a
part o f "’scientific knowledge.” (p. i 93 )
Reflection is subjective nature; however all social knowledge is subjective in nature
(Behar 1996, p.25). She underscores this fact by using Patricia Williams’ example:
bothers critics is the insertion of personal stones into what

ve been taught to think o f as the analysis o f impersonal
facts. “The reigning s have traditionally called for
distance, objectivity and ction. <" But if y o u ’re an African
American legal scholar wi it b% about the history o f contract law
anu -.on discover, as Patricia Williams recounts in the Alchemy
of rid Rights, the deed o f sale o f your own great
grandmother to a white lawyer that bitter knowledge certainly
fortts” antrtb-cT tvrist c f ”W'C"'‘' r it
< ' •'* -j notion o f l .. -to u - . . . . j
fo” "'* dort**".Crt rfe gent__ir<_ 11 c tb,; (h;i e he "as -,d to

f " *- fo b '' b fo * ; “ f* !
13)
The role o f Islamic epistemology in informing the meta-narratives of Muslim life
produces subjective and individual responses.
Ultimately, hum an beings are story-telling beings who live both individually and
socially stoned lives (Connelly and Clandinin, 1990). The tendency o f the academy has
been to generalize groups o f people without taking into account that a researcher's topic
often arises from the researcher’s personal story (Bogdan and Biklen, 1992). Therefore, it
is consistent with fair research methodology that my personal social location and attem pts
to create a critical pedagogy be interwoven throughout this paper v>0 as not to generalize
all M uslim teachers.

14
It Will also provide a historical narrative that is accountable to didefences among
individuals which communitarian approaches often ignore (Brodkey, 1996), The
imperative is that this will not only inform. the dominant discourse but also assist in its
transformation. Tanon, 11963) eloquent!)' states the colonized man w ho writes tor Ins
people ought to use the past with the intention o f opening the future, as an invitation to
action and a basis for hope’'’ (pg. 232), Kirk (1986) as cited by Ovens (2002) outlines,
critical pedagogy is .one in which teachers act a ; intelligent practitioners capable o f
reflective thought and reconstructive action, who arc able to take responsibility for their
own professional developm ent, and who can contribute significantly to the creation o f an
emancipatory educational process through schooling'''' (p. 136). Perhaps b\ sharing my
own stories, it can make a difference to those who will follow me, to other Muslim
le a c h e rso rto c h a iig e th e w a y iu v .il ■ , , ,w the system.
Reflection then, becomes not only a legitimate lO i a i O i knowledge but integral iu
understanding life and know ledge from a different, non-traditional, epistemologicai lens.
Sharing such reflections convey the importance o f meaning as an insider to an experience
for those who cannot share the same experiences or do not understand the world through
the same lens and hold the same beliefs.
To move away from solely using memory and to incorporate a more “scientific”
approach traditionally used within the academy, I will utilize a journal wnere r wouiu
intermittently record my reflections on a variety o f issues as they arose in my career. I also
have collected approxim ately 300 pages o f emails that 1 sent which i can use as data. I wifi
also employ various pieces o f work I have written over the past four years, which were
Is
done to share with colleagues o r be used for workshops. Tfos wifi add a textual eoniponc
to the analysis and support the use o f a reflective account as a valid framework for
knowledge production and deconstruetion within the academy.
16
C h ap ter 2
Islam ic Epistemology
A Literature R eview
There is a need to not only understand Islamic epistcmology but also a
willingness to depart from traditional constructions o f knowledge and ways o f knowing
within the academy. Without essenfiaiitdng religion, this requires a f . <><•, * , ' ,,, <<i
accept/understand that the religion-as-private/public-as-secular binary o f a secular society
may be oppositional to the paradigm o f Muslims who identify themselves as adhering to
Islamic principles/beliefs. Man}-' Muslims arc informed, know and/or negotiate their
understanding o f the world through their understanding o f Islam.
Consistent reflection on my teaching practice, led me to question the role that my
own Islamic epistemoiogy has played in my teaching practice and experience. "Does Islam
actually impact on my day-to-day work? Or must I, as a teacher in public education, walk
through the doors o f my school each morning devoid o f the one thing that guides all other
facets o f my life0 Simply put, I must ask myself, A fl can put my faith aside and live a
secular life at school?’ This is a daily struggle for nic as iucUiy tiiucs, i Gncu encounter
situations that require me to navigate systemic acceptance and mobility versus my
episieiiioiogical values and needs as a Muslim,
in my experience, I have not seen much literature on this topic. As such sources
had to he gathered through the dissection o f this theme into several areas: teacher
resistance, resistance and transformation, Islamic practice and hciieis, auto-ethnographic
study and reflection. I have also used some Islamic sources as a pan o f my methodology
17
to unpack: my understanding o f the world. It allows me to build upon ./line's (2004 j
research, which clearly constructs an argument for using religion and spirituality (as
developed through faith) as a way to know the world and to honour it as a form o f
knowledge.
Islamic scholars retrain from referring to Islam as a religion, preferring to refer
to it as a "deen" (an entire w ay o f organizing one's life). B efore entering the discussion,
there arc certain points that need to be made that may lend greater clarity to the rest o f the
paper. Muslims live according to two primary sources:
T h e Q uran: M uslims universally accept this as the word of

Allah or “God” dictated to Prophet Muhammad through Angel
G abriel Iris . - to 114 units each called a surah. The
Quran is the fr.-w-w :...;hority for information on Islam.
Sm m ak: refers to the words, actions and confirmations of

Prophet M uhammad. M uslims believe that M uhamm ad is the
last o i , t . - line o f messengers ana piupnet s descending from
Adam A . lam, M oses and Jesus, t ; y believe that he is the
final piopLe: and that his actions are "A form o f revelation... but
not verbatim as in the case with the Quran, As such authentic
Simnah is the second primary source o f Islamic « - s after
the Q uran...Disregard or ignorant«• o f the Simnah can lead to
serious errors o f interpretation." 1° • 1995)
According to Badawi (1995). interpretations o f primary’ sources should also consider:
1. he context of any statement or commatKiment m Hie Quran, and SHunah.

.1
2. i ne occasion oj revelation i.e. toe historical reasons underlying a

revelation o f the Quran or a statement o f Prophet Muhammad.
3. Rem embering the role o f the Simnah in Islam. (Badawi(a), 1995, p.2)
As apart o f accountability in Islam, Muslims have a guiding epistemological
foundation that dictates ethics: good and bad; right and wrong; and a belief in heaven and
hell. AH actions in this "earthly" life therefore should conform within the param eters o f
iu
the Quran and Sunuah if one is to be successfii! in i, , .
life. Any deeds that go against these principles are a source ot personal concern to
Muslims. It is fundamental to note that this drives the internal conscience o f a Muslim
because of the belief that actions are judged by intentions and that God sees all tilings so
regardless o f what people see, think or appreciate the most important concern should he
what/how Allah views our deeds.
Finally and most importantly, Islam ic scholars stress the

im portance o f distinguishing between the normative teachings
o f Islam a..d .M diversity o f cultural practices prevalent among
its adhere may or may not be consistent with those
teachings. . iwi(a),1995, p. 1)
Jn Islamic lav
prohibited In the Qur'an and Sumah. In the case o f a Muslim ffiinoi tty wittiin a nou-
Muslim majority population, it also requires people to follow the law o f the land. Within
a pluralistic society such as ours, this means that there are some jobs according to
Shariah law in which Muslims should not be occupied, such as jobs involving sex and
alcohol.
Regarding education in Islam, teachers are held in high esteem. A teacher is seen
as one o f the architects o f a nation, and knowledge Is seen as a key to a good earthly life
and an opportunity for Paradise. Seeking knowledge is considered to be one o f the
noblest pursuits In which a person can engage.
Zinc’s work on a critical faith-centred epistcmology developed as a result o f her
attempt to find a singular framework that would engage religion and spirituality as valid
forms o f knowing (Zine, 2004), This provides a basis by which faith can be explored as a
valid way ot knowing luc world. Her framework was developed to encom pass the various
sects that comprise the Muslim community and in fact aii faiths.
As I explore the role that Islam plays in my life, I situate m yself among those who
witn what M andaville descnoed as '‘critical isiam ' tMaoucivill.e, euoo, p.4). lie ucscnoeci
the new generations o f European Muslims who were holding to the text o f the Our 'an and
Hadith but seeking to re-interpret them so that they would be relevant to the current time
and context. In so doing, these Muslims arc seeking to connect to an eternal core o f within
the religion with the social and political realities o f the day. This focus fits within the wider
focus o f her critical faith-centred epistemology. It also fits with the approach o f my
teaching practice as being guided by an Islamic lens but situated in the current realities o f
trie day.
The academy has traditionally situated itself as an institution that not only creates
knowledge but presents the most valid and objective knowledge and information. It has
often presented its largely secuiar nature as a foundation to prove this. However, for the
most part, the academy has largely delegitimized religious ways o f knowing (Giroux,
J 9X8: Zinc, 2U04), in presenting a critical faith-centrea epistemology, Zine (2L«J4f
argues that the forlticality” from this perspective relates to the way people o f faith can
identify, c o u n te r and resist racism and other forms o f oppression from a spiritually
centred space,"
I have often had to rely on the wisdom, which I have learnt in Islam for courage to
resist/stand up to issues that I felt were oppressive; to develop patience in frying
circumstances; ana to hold on to hope in difficult situations that God would eventually
bring success to m yself or students; and to continual}}/ remind m yself o f the greater
benefit to students, parents and other teachers w ho may be able to benefit from my
resistance and it’s potential to effect transformative change (Giroux, 1983b, p. 108). At
times when I would fcei overwhelm ed, I would remind m yself to da my duty to Aik,I? and
continue my worship. In this case, my worship is my job and doing wnat i mi me is oest
for my students. In the end, I cannot become complacent or give up because ultimately, 1
am accountable to Allah. The em otions I have identified are common with some o f the
anchors identified by Zinc as being a part o f Islamic epistemology. In her guiding
philosophy she identifies I) peace 2) social and environmental justice 3) unity and 4)
accountability as four
eonstRfY'f’t 'Moments o f Islamic emstemninov / that* transcend

vai'iou . » w,.». w ices... .these A <_
concept i»i tjn, 'Jiin knowledge and piovjJc ihe • I mound
i a. f vpon ’which ♦*' *’ foies of the
. 1 ..eu ep-s.miology have been constructed. (Zine,
2004, p.7!)
My ow n struggle with identity became particularly ■
2 001.1 rem em ber as Tlooked at the Worid Trade Center being hit by commercial
airliners. '"Lord PI,EASE, PLEA SE don’t let it be Muslims” w ere my initial thoughts.... I
remember, “Lord anything that happens, please d o n 't let if be M uslims- if will be the
beginning o f the end tor us”. I woke up my w ife right away, prodding her to look at what
was going on. My cousin (not Muslim) w ho was visiting sat on the floor and w e looked
on and a? times we cried as the entire tragedy unfolded. Almost instantaneously, wc
started hearing the w ords “Muslims, Arabs, terrorists, fundamentalists, Islamic
2!
extremists", all the "experts” were on television . eir
“two-ccnts” w orth on what was taking place. I just sat there in horror thinking o f a
multiplicity o f things. H ere I w as a minoritized voice, in what Pratt (1991), described as
the “contact zone51 ■■social space w here cultures meat, d a sh and grapple with each other,
often in highly asymmetrical relations o f power. M uslim s were quickly being demonized;
many were going to be arrested. It w as a part o f the history o f the contact zone and so 1
had to prepare m yself mentally for the worst.
One o f my first thoughts was o f the Okalahoma bombing several years before. I
remember almost instantaneously we heard similar words. I rem em ber crying as I saw the
bodies o f the dead children being pulled out o f the nibble, again praying the same prayer
“ Lord, please don’i let it oe M uslim s...we are always vilified in the media, please don’t
let some fool play into the hype.” I remember the sense o f vindication I felt when they
found out that the terrorist was a home grown, militant, Caucasian male who was
dissatisfied with the status quo. But I also remembered how the media did not make
connections between M cVeigh’s race to “white terrorists, Christian fundamentalists,
Bible (humping extrem ists'’', lie was simply a militia member. He was one man, Timothy
McVeigh; he did not represent his religion, race, group or culture. He was an aberration
and somehow did not represent those who held a monopoly on the power relations in
society.
As w e continued to contend with liiv' images on September 1 f", I. started TO DctVC
images and thoughts conjure up in my head. “Lord, what is going to happen to my
children? My wife? Am i going to be arrested? Are there going to be internment camps

//
set up? it: sounds almost fatalistic, but I had already situated myselfon a place that could
lead me to being cast as some sort o f 'extremist” .
I was a speaker in the Muslim com m unity to r the past 6-7 years prior to Sept 1l l1’.
Many o f my talks were rooted in notions o f social justice and equity principles
emphasized in the Qur'an, in addition to this, I spent a lot o f time organising, leading,
speaking, mobilising protests on various social justice issues. I also travelled to Saudi
Arabia, England, and Germany and studied in Egypt Mr a year, aii countries that were on
the not list” at the time.
Then a call came. My supervisor at the tim e M arccla Duran, guru of'equity and
an educator par ex ce lle n ce - called to say that 1 should not come to w ork the next day.
“Stay home and make sure that your family is safe and expect that it will only get worse
before it can improve.'" tie r words w ere chiding and struck to my very cure. .1 began to
reflect on my identity. W h o was I? W hy w as I here? ‘Id en tity oilers coherence and
completion to relationships between the subject and the w orld ” (Yon, 2000, p. 13) As I
struggled with all these questions, I came back to the same answers, ‘1 am M uslim, i am
Canadian.” I love Canada and I resented that I was being made accountable for the
actions o f terrorists. To rue, terrorism has no race or religion -■ its religion is extremism. I
stalled to reflect on our (Canadian) history w ith the Japanese, the internment
camps. ..didn’t we learn anything? W hatever 'happened to the “friendly Canadians, love,
tolerance and respect?”
“Oh Allah {fitid), prepare us for «m<,( is about to co n ic/1 I looked at the faces o f
my sons, at the time, 5 and the other was just a few months old. What was going to
23
happen9 Only time would tell. My grandfather was supposed to fly back that same day
into Toronto. lie was not Muslim, but he had a beard and his skin was brown. What
would happen to him? l i f e seemed to spiral into the depths of’confusion. 1 remember
praying “Lord, don’t let it be Muslims.”
Whatever the case, I reminded myself o f my heritage, and o f this religion that 1
reverted to at the age o f i i w ithout my parents’ knowledge, t reminded m yself o f the
ayah s (verses) of the Qur'an and the hadith (sayings/traditions o f the Prophet
Muhammad). I reminded myself that one o f the reasons 1 became Muslim was because
Islam was a space tro.ni which I could resist oppression (Zinc, 2004) In all o f its forms.
Our (Muslims) epistemology is guided by these two main, parameters (Our ’an and.
the Simnah - practices o f Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him). It is how we seek to
understand ourselves and negotiate our relations in which we engage with h u m a n i t y as a
whole. I reflected on the trials o f the many prophets, Jacob, Jesus, Moses and Muhammad
among many, (upon all o f them be peace). If they had to endure suffering and torture
because o f (heir beliefs, then who was 1 io complain? in tact, from ail ! learnt and ail t
had come to know In Islam, I realised that this was going to be one o f the greatest o f my
Jihads tor my community and me. Jihad in Islam means struggle - not holy war as
depicted in the media. The greatest jihad is one, which au iudi „ t. , <■ i.diy to
develop self-discipline and a healthy positive character as defined in the Qnr 'an and
exemplified by Muhammad (peace be upon him). We had to struggle with ourselves to
continue t< what we believed both as 'Muslims and as Canadians, even in the
face of danger. I remember thinking of Summaya, the first Muslim - a woman who lost
24
her life standing up for her identity and faith. She w as tortured and asked to recant her
faith, but she held a firm resolve and eventually lost her life standing up for what she
believed. I did not know what was going to happen; all I knew was that I had to be
prepared. 1 fus was the backdrop by which i entered into the teaching profession. My
■personal jih a d would be framed by the patience I needed to face whatever forms o f
societal oppression I would encounter, and to engage in positive action that could make a
positive im pact on society. I understood whal it was like to he marginalized, a feeling that
I never wanted anyone else to experience - Muslim or not.
In Muslim circles, teaching may hold greater prestige than other vocations. Rather
than viewing it as merely another profession, roan it a divine calling. This is
because it is a chance to develop future leaders, and is considered to be a good deed that
will continue past the person's earthly life because the skills and knowledge that have
been im parted will continu f the
chief ways to do something good in this life that will also have positive implications in
the hereafter. As such, teaching for many Muslims is viewed through an entirely different
lens - it is a divine calling, with an accountability that surpasses system requirements.
The final accountability o f teachers about their profession Is not to humans but to God.
As such the interaction between Muslim teachers and the system may have different
Implications if/when there is the belief that the system is being unfair to students/parents.
Discussions o f structure and agency have sometimes characterized teachers as
passive.members and/or perpetuators who reproduce the status quo leading to resistance
25
by students. H owever Kohl suggest* that some teachers resist for the sake oifim>moting
student success and that those who resist arc driven by m ore than a handful o f individual
strategies. Instead, they actively seek creative ways o f meeting student needs w ithin a
system that is not sufficiently fluid to engage them. "Creative M aladjustm ent" is the term
given by Kohl to these purposeful acts o f resistance (Kohl 1994, p. 1.27),
Such teachers are driven by a commitment to public education and often embody
and operate from the base o f a w ell-developed and rooted pedagogy, furtherm ore, these
teachers are driven by a desire to help ah students find their places wiihio the sphere of
public education. Their commitment to their students reflects Giroux’s belief that teachers
can be, "transform ative intellectuals” actively w orking towards achieving a critical
democracy (Giroux, 19S8).
In order to understand what effective teachers do to help their students succeed both
in ancl out ot scnool, we must first uucjerstaiiU olfactive teaching, disociivc tcacncrs arc
those teachers who engage students and help them negotiate their way through the school
system, in a manner that preserves and understands their need to resist and gives them
opportunities to maximize the benefit o f schooling. Llfeetive teaching guides and
empowers students to be successful within that same system. It means that teachers assist
students to preserve assets and values but also help them to learn how to successfully
navigate the system to which they arc held accountable. Viewing teachers through this ices
makes it difficult to cast them as a monolith o f oppression,
Islam provides an additional leas by which Muslim teachers may choose to
understand, explore, adapt and/or resist to a/th. tfrs requirements especially if they
perceive its requirem ents as not being in th e best interest of their students. Its basis Is
founded upon a creed o f Tawhid ~ the belief that there "is no God but God” ~ and all o f its
implications. And w hile there is no one educational pedagogy sanctioned in Islam .,
" la rb iyd ' is the (educational) methodology used by Prophet M uhammad (peace be upon
him), to operationalize Tawhid and to teach and empower the young students around him.
Muslims are taught that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is uswaiun hasana or the most
perfect example, and that his example is the best to follow. Therefore M uslim teachers mas
seek to incorporate such practices into their daily teaching.
An exam ination o f teachers and their practices dem onstrates that they actively resist
inequities found within the school system and are committed to the empowerment o f their
students. This resistance does not indicate a rejection o f public education (Kohl, 1994); in
fact, it is a commitment to its possibilities and potential towards personal upiiftment and
societal change. Teachers play a vital rote in the lives o f their students and can invariably
affect the lives o f their students. McMillan’s 1976 review o f 124 dissertation abstracts, as
cited in Smith, illustrates that teacher behaviour as opposed to instructional techniques is
more significant in creating positive student attitudes (Smith 1997, p. 24).
There are teachers w ho resist the confin.es o f the system and in fact advocate tor
their students in order to create the type of environment that 'would foster student success.
These teachers understand the systemic barriers (e.g. zero tolerance policy), how it affects
their students and actively resist themselves bv advocating for change (Friesen, Krentz and
Finney, 1999). Kohl discussed the culture o f resistance o f such i ' i > . ia
rationale for their resistance to the system. The author himself talked about being
27
ifijjUiHiX* ii.ItCJ 1 i ,.. . {! i } f t h e K V K tC iu i i u i t i'fiO^T - *si f’ '
teachers praet-ce a** tt*e ... Creative maladjusimepr

consists o f breaking social patterns that are morally
reprehensible, taking conscious control o f one's place in she
environm ent and readjusting the w orld one lives in based on
personal integrity and honesty.(Kohl, 1994, p. 128-130)
To take conscious control o f an environm ent that a teacher finds to be '‘morally
> r e . -i » ii > i <, s. H !i .>■ 1.1 * t . t 'a fTiorai co>iifjiiss or centre trorn winch u i c
operate. T his guides their approach to teaching and the w ay they interact w ith then
students. Teachers who are more comfortable with themselves and view what they are
dornc as worttivvhitfi teno m nc more accentmm w ann, lair a no minwudacmcitial with their
students (Smith, 1997).
A M uslim ’s moral com pass is dictated by the tw o central tenets previously outlined
and forms the centre o fth e meta-narrative of his/her life.
Our lord is He who gave into everything its .<aiuic a,id

md then guided i t . • ’ y 1.
- -. A „ this Qur’anic verse, um L o d ha., everything
its inner structure, equipped it with, its means o f attaimne
" tion, and then guided it towa' <. goa v .< is an
open question whether an explicit .and systematically worked out
Islamic epistsmology exists, it is undeniable that various
cpistemoiogical issues have been discussed in the Quran and
explicated by Muslim pml-*<i,-»nhc» ^ with an orientation different
from that of Western ‘ " ire being
made to understand me l u w w , sin o lo g ic a l issues in term s o f
that orientation. This «*, „ . u L d b effort that deserves our
I.tit'' * * i1- ~ *. i*. 1L v i K * i I ., vl V. \ v* \C ( u l i il o * * 'V *!
the f t- ■- a ■*» ! g ;i'v - tivu' m w kepi ul\ or*. <~kve auemion
t o ' . i , . . . ^ uv-riumions o f the various concepts invoivea.
(Ahmad)
These epistemological attitudes influences and shapes ail elements o f a Muslim' s fife and
has direct and critical implications for teachers who adhere to it within the public school
28
Reproduced with permission o fth e copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Muhammad (peace be upon him), which are considered to be a form o f knowledge and
instruction for Muslims, We are taught that if we see something wrong, we should correct it
with our nan d r *t we can t no that w e snoiikt correct >t with our tongues and it we can r do
that it is recommended that we at least hate it in our hearts with the addition that the latter
i;i we VvCafi/St of lynn. c.uven tsus pnnciplci s uAisini'i teiicner may cmgave u w r students or
resist systemic barriers 'in a variety o f ways.
My resistance lias unfolded in the way I bring meaning into my classroom to both
t.ud cuniCtdum and school cujnifo fA'irons- lyrcm}, Aduny tviijsuni tciicticrs, os many onicrs
with other worldviews, have tried to open up the curriculum 10 make it accessible and
representative o f divergent worldviews present within the classroom perhaps because o f
trims’ own lived experiUuin ot exciuSHUi imynwiAu hi isianim teachnUf traml'ionx, M usnni
teachers see themselves as impacting the wider society through their work with individual
students. Dei similarly pushes educators and encourages them to see themselves as
community development workers and to remove the “artificial 'boundaries''’' that exist
between schools, ofF-school sites, communities and families (Sefa-Dei, James-Wilson,
Karumancliery, Zine, 2000). This approach begins to view schooling in tight o fth e African
proverb "It takes a village to raise a child." This idea of schooling fits directly into the
concept o f schooling in Islamic culture since there are no perceived ''boundaries1' between
home and (Islamic) school as the education in school is considered to he an extension of
tnc Islamic viewpoint ot the worap caki incrc is usually an unDlicii trust aiui sorncurncs a.
reverence that teachers will do their best to fulfil this purpose. In North America however,
29
in some eases., Muslim parents may fear what/how re f- Z-- -::~=-av v-.l.il
ri J "
> 9 1V’*-i--i---- --■aW*5;"h '■.’■r 9-
t-
lS,,<2 v-'S i 1.5 1011 ‘v M i J l . 1, < rt M i
opposite may occur where non-Muslim parents may become anxious about how Muslim
teachers will influence their children. Teaching in Islam builds on the concept of
niouierPooo, which is viirwiuereft to be tore or, it not fae most minorm'nt ion in a society
The reason for this is epitomized by the proverb “the lap o fth e mother is the first school o f
the ummaf-r. In the same way, teachers are considered to be the architects o fth e nation
who carry ixfto a great rcsponsioinry anti honour.
The Islamic paradigm includes a belief that there are four phases to life. The first is
in. the womb o fth e mother; the second is in this earthly realm; the third is in the world o f
the fiOive; I he rourfn is in tne afterlife, which may comprise euner ! leaven or I leii. I r»e
only time a person can work to achieve the best o fth e afterlife is by doing weii in this life
because after death there is nothing that can assist him/her anymore. In one narration o f
fviiiuai■imsd. {pence Oc upon h i m f i e Siiici i.fiat noining wifi oenCiii a person after dcsfn
except the following: charity (given while aiive) that continues to benefit people or society,
a righteous child who continues to pray for the deceased parent and knowledge which was
Ia u g h t«naf (ionfinii.es t.o ne s§wxh and nrinyc onnpTu. to Athens i vnakui ftUOl ,1.
Muslims who choose to adhere to such prescriptions in their faith fu&y DC bound by
a code that they believe to be divinely revealed, and a constitution, which should guide the
existence oi iheir cH-firmy him s ms not oruy sets a. specific nmm cikic in piece for (isjjy
prayer and other rituals o f worship but expands the notion o f worship to include all
elements o f life such as what we do at home, our jobs and the way we interact with
individuals. Because teaching directly im pacts on others and has the potential to outlive trie
teachers themselves, if is net only sect- as a profession but an opportunity for satin g the
foundations for a good life in this world and the next. In contrast, a teacher who abuses this
trust will also have consequences in this life and the next. As such understanding the
motives o f fviuslim teachers and their eoitcerituaJigatiori o f doiim right. by the students in
their daily care is o f paramount importance.
It is im portant at this juncture to note that the role o fth e teacher in the public
school system is not evangelical in nature. In an Islamic school system, religious and
academic knowledge would theoretically be integrated. The Qnr 'an is very explicit about
the fact that the job o f any Muslim is to simply pass on a message to others (which, can be
Through both words and/or actions) how ever'There is no compulsion in religion''' UJnr'an
2:156) and it is not up to individuals to force anyone to accept Islam or to judge others.
Within the boundaries o f public education, a Muslim teacher is not required to impart
rciigious knowledge u.< students. insxearf as vanguaros oj incrr cnnmoncsMiitcrus, tJicy
should ensure that students have equal access to opportunities and freedom to practice
their ow n faith. Critical Islam as proposed by Mandaville (2005) would dictate that a
n teacher, as an extension of their faith, be required to ensure that no oppression o f
any kind is happening to his/her students and that their students are in-turn not oppressing
others. This can start in basic, individual contexts such as bullying to a broader scope
sueu as SiSSiSsing/tiu.aitiny ror soiociits ayyiiiist. sinttur pracuccs wixbin toe scfutoi mus/or
community. While this is similar to the re-conceptualisation o f teachers as community
development workers which Dei el at. (2000) calls for, the difference here is that this is
tons.tdered to be an elem ent o f worship: a divine duty and something for which the
31
teacher will be oeia accountantc tor by if tfto
accountable form o f altruism distinguishes secular humanism and critical Islam. This
ethic was reflected during the Golden civilisation o f Islamic Spain. Many Christians and
.lews fled to the safety of' Islamic Spain in order to better study, Seam and understand the!
own religions.
As a Muslim teacher who identifies strongly with Islam, I situate myself within
this context. I want flic ocsi for my efficients anci i>cncvc tnat i am working to uphold a.
responsibility o f promoting good and advocating for equity for my students and I
understand that my actions in this life have implications in. the divine realm (Ramadan,
i *)9*)Y
nology lOsoniscfl fly /c/aW/tf
The conviction and basis o f Islam can be summed up in one statement - La iJJaha
ilia A fii.m ■ l i i c i r c i s n o s. 0 1 0 H w r o o f t IS o p e n i r n x s O K c r n c n r t f i s f d i e c o u r c r e l i g i o n o f
Islam is built and it is the lens through which a Muslim understands life. Muslims believe
that this understanding o f Oneness o f God and the relationship o f humanity directly with
God k the basis of freedom for alt people - freedom from serving others, from being
oppressed by others and includes freedom from serving personal whims and desires by
keeping in mind the wider needs o fth e society and ultimately the impact o f their own
persona! relationship and rhcar accoi.iiilfiDiJny wclo Goo i luoiifei This Tfamevvorfc.
Muslims believe that peace can prevail in society because people are not only motivated
by or concerned about societal laws or personal affairs but understand that the basis of all
tn cif ac tio n s arc c o n iic c tc a k? axKl iiTipacr fucir rcitoionsryp w ifli a D iv i n e D c i n g —r iikI
Ultimately, a just civilisation can develop when peoples' actions are guided by this
principle.
I he personal c o n n e c t io n befvveef! CokS and e a c n ifidrvidijas s u p e r se d e s aJi Drier
relationships. It is a spiritual connection that supersedes all other connections,
philosophies, dogmas or relationships. It promotes personal transformation as a route to
stren g th en in g a M u si in i's relationship with th e D i v i n e and its rela tio nship in evitably
impacts upon the well being o f society.
Unity is a state o f being within ourselves that enables us to live

nith iwiadox, to reconcile opposites, to respect differences, to
a complementarity. It must be first and foremost a
spiritual condition. ‘Verily, never will Allah change the
condition o f people 'anti! f,“" tKo”’"'',vos ck,w ‘w what is In their
souls' [Qur’an 13: 11], to-, -> ^ _ . b a s ’.to*, >.spiritual
perspective and the striv en fo) t0 master the lower self
Wiild- !?I•1H? fixlit; ' dQ!y DlMUHbHflMiUfef
political view, to r the relationship with Gori is the core o f what
it Is to be a M uslim, „ D I m, i. at. a J ~ .v ..' o f any religious
taitn. < to *
Within this worldview, life is viewed as temporary - a passage to another life- and there
is accountability after death to God for all earthly actions. Action is considered to be
Moncticis! u it. t i t s w i i n i r i t n o r c a t m o f D o D i v i n e h a w s rui n o i i s o b o n t h e i n f C ' n n o n o f D c
individual (Kulliyyah oflC T , 2002). Tawhid extends through the entire life o f a Muslim
because all earthly actions during the course o f their life are seen as a form o f worship.
I n i s i n c D d o s nil f e y e i s ot m e , n i d i y i d ' u r u . svicicfHi, pi)ii!ncvi], D o n o i r i s c a n d i n i e r . n D i o n a t
Because worship is not confined to specific forms o f ritual worship and contains laws that
govern all o f these elements, M uslim s consider Islam to be m ore than a religion but a
33
deen or com prehensive way o f living. This understanding becomes qiail.o relevant in
exploring how Islamic epistemoiogy may influence a Muslim teacher within the public
education system.
The concept of oneness or unity is considered to he divine and present throughout
all o f creation. Ismail Faruqi in the Cultural Atlas o f Islam notes. ' Tawhid is a general
view o f reality, o f truth, o f the world, o f spac-e and time, o f human history” (al Faruqi &
a! Faruqi, 1980, p .74) This idea o f oneness o f G od leads to an understanding o f the
oneness o f His creation. Because God is One, it is a natural consequence that His
message to humanity is one message. In the Qur ’an it is explained that ‘‘God sent
messengers to ail peonies” with a sim dar message «ai immni ha w m o iaq icxo, p V*-’), and
this message culminated with the revelation o f Islam.
While original messages may have changed over time, it is believed that due to
this Oneness cd Creator, 01 creciii'sn unit piir|x>se, today wc sria-re many consnion universal
truiiis and values (al Faruqi Sc ai Faruqi, 19S6, p. 79). These would include values such as
compassion, truth, justice, sincerity, empathy and forgiveness that encompasses ail ways
Of u ts ana ratf 001 trKcnisiva to with a spirouiH nnctaTTtnnfinin ot tfm \vorki. omT in
fact extends to most o f humanity. So although the rituals may have changed, this oneness
or essence has remained the same.
As a Muslim tcacncr, set upon s. loiuidalion of iiiitici'sranoins tiiei mere is no
compulsion in religion” [Qur ’an 2 :156] I feel that I am well situated to be a good role
model to all students regardless o f their personal beliefs. My belief that God is one, truth
being one and that most world philosophies share similar guiding principles- because we
3 ,Ji
S h s f C G l l C 6KKC0CC™ b l i S m i 0 1 V £ ( I 1T1C t.O b iJ I t t O i O O p C l l EG i l l V C r p C I H WEiVS O t t u l f l K i u g W X t
knowing the world. I understand such differences to be a manifestation o f a larger divine
plan (al Faruqi & al Faruqi, 1986, p.79). This has been reinforced by the Qnr’anic verse “
Oft ym? who believe, we have created hiimarniv in different nations and tribes so that voa
may know one another” [Qur 'an 49; 13],
Furthermore, in the Qur ’em, Muslims are taught that all o f humanity was created
for a purpose -individuaiiy as well as cofiecbrvdy [Qur 'an 5 I ; bftj. This means that we all
have a role to play and a fundamental duty in life to change not only ourselves but also
the conditions o f those around us. As a teacher, one o f my duties based on this belief
system is to facilitate this sense ofpurpo.se among my srmients I assist my students to
develop a philosophy to life. This helps them to not only understand what they believe
about themselves and life, but also assists them in establishing or solidifying a foundation
from which their identities arc located.
This openness and respect for other worldviews were in fact modelled by Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him) and were clearly evident when lie established the
constitution ot the first vinstirn city Madina. In the csmsfimfioig it guaranteed the rights
o f religion, religious institutions and freedom o f practice to different groups o f people
who lived in Medina at the time (al Faruqi & al Faruqi, 1986, p.85)
Given this understanding., a major element of my epistemology allows me not
only the freedom to be Muslim but it encourages me to facilitate the freedom o f others to
make the choices they see fit for themselves. Islam is constructed as a “middle path”
between all forms o f extremism and its episternology provides a guiding framework for
35
my job to convert students to either my religion or my way o f knowing and
understanding the world. My role is to create critical thinkers who are open to a variety of
ways of knowing and exposed to m ultiple truths that form the world so that rltey are
empowered to make informed decisions about their lives and choices, whether they agree
with me or not. Tawhid informs the way 1 make sense o f the world around me and
Uij.UUi -S ia m ! W y H OC OS a l\S I.ir i|r n . 110 CGUUaXOr riftO a c i u z c n . I t H iIO W S o t c t o llW K ;r S ta i1 u
that all elements o f life, law or otherwise emanate from this central principle.
A middle way rooted in Tawhid and "deriving its elements from

transcendental sources, provides a stable integral core which
serves in itself as a point o f departure and a referent for defining
and qualifying other positions, and not the reverse. In this way,
it constitutes an intrinsic core and provides a vertical axis, or a
spinal component, round which the diverse elements and modes
o f knowledge in the circle o f consciousness cohere." (Abu Fad!
as mmfeu by rlenzell-Thomas, 2
As a teacher, this operational paradigm guides my praxis. To be the best teacher I can be,
I must firs!: he the best Miishra I care keeping first and foremost in my m ind my
relationship with God and the accountability I share for those in my trust (Rahman,
1980), I utilize this lens to understand the world around me and then consider the way
other elements of my personal social location may Inform a response n li.ul.her affords
me an opportunity to empathize with and advocate for other groups who may be
minoritized or under-represented within the leadership o f public education and allows me
an opportunity to construct a balanced response taking into consideration the multiplicity
o f identities, truths and ethno-cultural groups present in public education.
36
/, . raising and enabling something to
education. We often use the w ords
l a hm anci Larbiytl n e u t e r . Education is imparting
information. knowledge and skills: hut Tarhivah is the
■' •• -v 'i, h *rd moral character,
.. ■( ■ - V a -At „ its. ,.:n ft:-. the proper use o f
knowledge that is required. From a young age children should
be raised on high moral values, (Siddiqi, 2004)
Twhiya in Islam is the mefoouulogy by which Muslims explm e and undei eland
the way that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught those around him, Tarbiya
is concerned not only with the passing oiAnowiedge/irdbmiaiior! to students but it. is also
concerned with the well-rounded development ofthe students as well, especially in terms
o f character. In Islam, a teacher is considered to be responsible for the whole individual.
achieve their best potential (Hashing 2002). Without good character and a strong sense of
purpose, knowledge, which is supposed to be a form o f liberation and enlightenment, can
be useless or even dangerous. Knowledge when used properly can also enable its
possessor to discern right from wrong and to act justly in all circumstances.
The one who engages in teaching knowledge is called a Mu ’allim in Arabic and
the one who engages in T a rh iy , is called a Murabbi, A teacher however, encornrewses
both o f these -M u'allim and Murabbi,
concerned not oniy witn tne instruction and training o fth e inind
and the transmission o f knowledge (ta‘ inly DuI also with the
education ofth e whole being o f men and r
The teacher is therefore not only a muallim, a ’transmitter o f
knowledge1but also a Murabbi, a ’trainer o f souls and
37
personalities5. "The Islamic educational system never divorced
die training o fth e mind from that o fth e soul." Islam ic
w cl.i j,1
!i .} vul i v < .*
«..»
.i!> t »
L./ ».r r ivlv/ n *r
.»i I» *.\.rt, Uiv i \ ' i Ctl n i.i
DdUificcd deveionnient of cvcrv student in cvcrv svhcic ot
learning - spiritual, moral, imaginative, intellectual, cultural,
aesthetic, emotionai and physical - directing ail these aspects
tow ards the attain-u-. ■. >f a conscio . > i with God, the
ultimate purpose or man's life on earth iTIcn/cii-Thomas,
2002).
Within the public education system, teachers have a great responsibility to focus
on the balanced development, o f their students because o fth e amount o f time they spend
with them when they are away from their homes. This means that as teachers we are
entrusted with the holistic care o f our students in trying to develop well-rounded
individuals. I
majority o f public schools. However this may be perceived as difficult for many teachers
because o f time constraints and the amount o f work consistently downloaded to them. For
a
VJjhs-.iii fr i-t.rs. i t ;ia-; -v
surw G vyi.
-irW
*±
. s im
, s." ? *: 5 .‘1 < .-"5«-<«•'• ?
•*
. ?
? * :• *t ?c.-s a ; s v *._■ i :•> >.u > v i : n
■*
. - s S<
■V-r
i?\- a ; i i - t j i
-.■'.rxis-*$• *
= y. i a 1.11 / s t
-
< 1" l-v3 *1
- vv i?.u v s i r i t tx m i
b) the understanding that developing character is a divine responsibility. Two key
elements o f Tarbiya are the notions o f “drawing out latent potential” and its “nurturi ng”
com ponent (i ienzeii- f h o m a s , 2002).
This was a key factor for my desire to work with students labelled "at-risk”.
These were the students who were often “pushed out” o f school (Sefa-Dei, Mazzuca,
M clssac, /.m e, 100/} or nmoic to tcci mctrmpcfcut oy tlic cuucanon sysi.cm. 5"or three
years o f my work as an educator, I worked to develop a program that was curriculum
based, holistic (focusing on both character and academics), and student centred which
built on student assets and empowered them to advocate for themselves.
Furtherm ore, my passion is driven by the understanding that teachers arc
responsible not only to their students and their parents but also to society and most
importantly-God, to ensure that they have maintained the trust given to them to build the
tiitnre of society (Iiasfmiy 11)02) (Jo the Day of Judgement a student can stand before
God and ask for justice if they feel that they were wronged by their teachers, treated
unfairly or not taught properly. Because God is most Just, Muslims believe that on the
Day o f ii
recompense given to those who were wronged. Educaiors bear direct responsibility for
those whom they influence and educate (Rahman, 1980), Educators must keep this in
arc til a nnvaic religious jcno-g ovctoni o r a'ic ininnc
system because they are ultimately accountable to God tor their actions or inactions with
regards to their students’ needs and rights.
Dpisiernoiogy Chisded by Personal Social Location
Locating my own voice within the education system has been difficult. First o f
ail, identity is complex and layered. The implications o f this complexity translates when
w c engage -:i ocgcibonic systcni to resist or comply oy unbeing n variety 01 Jncsc ictiscs
If I were to answer the question 'Who am I T the answers would be numerous because o f
the variety o f labels that could be applied to me. Some o f these identifiers would include:
fat hex, brother, son, grandson, male, activist, teacheiy fouler, motivatoiy friend, youth
diplomat, advocate, human being, Muslim, speaker, catalyst, life-long learner, student,
Islamic worker, black, brown, person o f colour and the list goes on.
39
I becam e M u s lim w h e n I w as i { years o ld c o m in g fro m a h a ii -1 lin d u /h a ll-
Chrisiian family. It was a personal choice based on personal questions and reflections.
I remember actively surveying the world around me and desperately trying

to understand why the world was the way it was; why people believed
what they did, and what made them do the things that they did. I started
my search from within, and slowly began to explore the answers o f those
around m e... As I continued to observe people's words and actions, my
overwhelming contusion about people propelled me to embark upon a
spiritual journey at a very young age. I was ten at the time, and my quest
!“; f ‘to * h w d .
* ,,i. to ‘js .1 •A/ii from a single source? I believe so, but when it
w •. e f. .t tU r people, a cause, a feeling, it may not always last. Take
< »■ <>i 'v mi» person who invests in a cause because or a loved one, or
----------or because o f a need to feel good, or because o f
something they see. 'Purpose then, can be relative, and can waiver with
circumstances and environmental factors, changing feelings, or even upon
being challenged by others. However, 1 have found that purpose drawn
from a divine source, within clearly defined parameters and with a dear
understanding o f personal accountability to the Creator outlasts the lives
ofthe very people themselves.
Having been brought up in a Hindu-Christian family, I was exposed to
more ways o f seeing the world than the average child. I went to a Hindu
oiemetoT-v cChnni 'md Catholic secondary school. As I navigated the
, IL foc and ... ".ays of looking at the world, I felt
A., s.v '-wl- \ • 1ey, an u-iswei one that showed me why 1 was
here on this earth, while providing me with the necessary energy and a
framework to fulfil my purpose. The framcvvork explained that the aspects
o f my daily life were worship, and it was all based on an independent
relationship with God. The framework was one that called for personal
accountability, o f know mg that God wanted us to be leaders, o f knowing
that anything done other than for the sake o f God would be useless to us.
Acts aone tor same, recognition, or even to feel good, would never really
last. They may bring benefits to us in this life, but would have no worth in
the next. Instead, as I understood it, God was calling us to elevate
ourselves, t o w *hat o u t actions w ould bo w *<•"! ” - s-- m...
by our intuium s, r:d that even when people to 1 < , >'
At the age o f 1 1 ,1 became a Muslim. (ChanicKa, z u w i
think that my social location effectively enables me in conduct
several reasons, especially because I am both a bom Canadian and someone who
40
accepted. Islam originally from another faith background. I identify myself as a Muslim
Canadian and understand my life and the world around me through the lens o f Islam. 1
also identify strongly with being Canadian and believe that there is no contradiction in
being both Muslim and Canadian. Although 1. have only been a teacher f o r . :eiy
four years, I have also worked and volunteered at varying levels within the education
system for over 10 years. After high school, I volunteered as an advocate for
multicultural and antiracist education with the then Scarborough Board of Education and
received an award from The Canadian Centre o f Multicultural and Intercultural
Education, I also sat on one o fth e focus groups that worked to design the Religious
Accommodations Policy, which was eventually implemented across the Greater Toronto
Area. Later, 1 went on to work with the South Asian community and specifically explored
the issue of student streaming with Guidance Counsellors. 1 continued my work as a
Program Counsellor for the Change Your Future Program where I worked with
approximately 60 academically at-risk students in three different inner-schools. 1 began
my teaching career in the 'York Region District School Board and subsequently moved on
to working in the International school system as a Gr.7 IIomeroom/EngIish/1 lumanities
teacher. My journey to education was purposeful and it upon reflection seems like it was
the perfect destination for me,
I continued to look at other prophets of Islam— Jesus, Moses,

Abraham— and a significant number o f people spoken o f with
high regard o f the Qur'an. I looked at Asiya (wife o f Pharaoh),
Mary (mother o f Jesus), and then I looked at contemporary
leaders from whom I draw inspiration— Malcolm X, Martin
Luther King, Gandhi, Zaynab al-Ghazali, and many others.
Looking at their lives, I understood that they were a!! special
41
individuals who understood something about living. It was not
simply about service, but rather it was about change. It was
about transforming the world that they lived in. Each person
stood up for the truth. They held the reigns o f peace in troubled
waters and they worked to achieve a moral victory in the world.
I spent many years thereafter, struggling to understand what I
was supposed to do with my life.. .1 tried my best to fulfill this
purpose by being involved in my surrounding community; I
became actively involved in social services and youth work,
looking alter many o f the disenfranchised. I was sure that I
wanted to help people and I was not going to sit idly by and
allow anyone to hurt anyone else. I still very painfully
remembered the wounds o f the battles I faced, and 1 did not
want others to suffer a similar fate.
‘Then one day, after much thought and a few gentle pushes from
friends who saw in me more than I saw at the time, I realized
one o f the best ways to achieve my purpose. How could I enjoin
the right, forbid the wrong, be a beacon o f mercy, stand up for
truth and justice, push myself even more to make a change and
transform, our work!'? How could I leave my impact on the
world, like the stars that shine brightly? It was as if a veil had
been lifted. A new realization was born in my heart— I had to
become a teacher. It was a natural extension o f what I had
embraced as my purpose, and its Impact would be
immeasurable. In Islam it is called sadaqah jariyah — an act o f
charity that continues to bring you benefit after your death... As
I reflect on it now, I realize that it is more difficult to be a
Muslim Today, it has become worse: Being a Muslim today is
like wearing a label that says "enemy?5But every time I stop to
think about why I made this choice, it only allows me to
become stronger and more convinced that I have truly
understood why 1 was created and what my purpose is. It has
strengthened my resolve to “live and die” for the sake o f God • •
Allah.. .This would he the way I couid transform the world—
one Hie at a time. Each child that I taught would cany a flame
from my candle and use it to light torches elsewhere. As f
wolfeed this, I knew that ! did not want to ", ”*1' teaching just
jw i-ido I wanted to go to specific areas ami fttiget the kids
who did not have the same advantages as others, kids who were
seen as being “tough,” the children who would be labeled “at
risk?51 wanted them to know that despite all the obstacles that
Hie had meted out to them, there was someone in their corner. I
would be the one who could look past their images and
42
reputations and look into their eyes, see their hearts, and know
the true inner person- the one that exists beneath all the layers,
i was the one who would push them to be all that they could be
and the one who was willing to walk the extra mile to help them
see it in themselves. I wanted to give them the tools that would
empower them to be successful, by challenging them and
encouraging them to become critical thinkers and to learn how
to advocate for themselves. I committed myself to finding ways
to empower out children by creating an equitable and inclusive
environment.
On the last day o f my first practicum class, my students
surprised me by recording a version o f “Lean on Me,” a song
that 1 had been trying to teach them. The school was in one o f
the ‘tougher” neighborhoods o f Toronto, characterized by
poverty and crime. I had been teaching the song to illustrate
how music could be a form o f resistance and had talked about
the civil rights movement in North America. That day, they also
gave me a book o f poetry they had written for me. As we spent
our last minutes together, the tears flowed from my eyes and
from, theirs, and !.. knew that Lhad found my vocation. In my
heart, I knew it was my “calling,” this was my purpose as
defined by God, and it was set out within the framework o f
education. Knowing and understanding this was empowering. It
forced me to look back on my own education and reflect on
what made it beneficial—the teachers who cared, and what was
difficult—and on the times 1 felt marginalized from everyone
else. It forced me to continue to focus on equity and helping
students to see their lives reflected in the curriculum they were
study ing. Regardless o f their background and whatever their
belief system, they belonged, their voices mattered, and their
teacher cared. I continued to learn and studied the types o f
programming and strategies that would benefit such children.
(Chanicka, 2004)
As far as Islam and the Muslim community go, I am a speaker at various centres
across North America. I also write articles and answer questions on www.Ialamonliiie.net
which is currently one o f the largest Islamic websites in the world. It has been
increasingly used by various western media sources to understand issues from an
Islamic/Muslim perspective. Growing up in Canada and traversing both worlds (Muslim

43
and Non-Muslim) gives me a unique insight into the issue o f Islamic epistemology within
the framework o f public education. It also allows me to move from being objectified as
research by someone outside o f the Muslim community, and instead highlight a personal
narrative from within.
Education is my passion and as a teacher I have been involved in numerous ways
as a model teacher by doing a variety o f lessons/workshops to share my practices with
other educators and administrators. This is also a form o f charity because my sharing o f
knowledge can continue beneficial practices and th iS u a S societal and divinely positive
repercussions for both myself and students in the short and long terms,
Epistemological Construction o f Knowledge: Knowledge in Islam
“ ... are they equal, those who know and those who know not?” [|JiiF Mi
39:9}
Acquire knowledge because doing so is good. Seeking it is

worship. Reviewing it is glorifying God. Researching it is
Jihad. Teaching it to the ignorant is charity. Serving the
scholars is a way o f drawing near to God because knowledge is
the path o f ascension to the stations o f Paradise. It is a
companion in isolation and a comrade in distant lands. It speaks
to you in solitude. It is a guide to prosperity and a shield against
adversity. It beautifies one among friends and is a weapon
against enemies. With it God elevates people and makes them
guides and bellwethers o f good. The scholars are people whose
works are sought and whose actions are imitated. The angels
long for the scholars’ company and comfort them with their
wings. Everything, the fish o f the sea, the beasts o f the earth, the
predators o f the land and sea, and the cattle pray that blessings
come upon them. This is because knowledge enlivens the heart
against ignorance, illuminates the eyes against darkness, and
strengthens the body, (Muadh ibn Jabl as quoted in Shakir,
2001, p.37-38)
44
Iii Islam, knowledge is not separated between religious or non-religious instead it is
viewed holistically (Hashim, 2002). For Muslims, all knowledge is considered to be
important, useful and a means to attain closeness to God. To stress its importance, the
word knowledge and all o f its derivatives are mentioned 704 times in the Qur'an.
(Sayyid). Those who teach knowledge are considered to be blessed and those who seek
knowledge are considered to be on the path o f God (Prophet Muhammad as quoted by
Henzell-Thomas, 2002). Imam Ghazali, one o f the classical scholars o f Islam in his Book
o f Knowledge cites the following traditions from the companions o f Prophet .Muhammad,
“Ibn-Abbas said, “All things, even the whale in the sea will intercede for him/her who
teaches wo/men good.” One o f the learned scholars o f the past said, “The learned man
occupies the position o f an intermediary between Allah (God) and His creatures; let the
learned, therefore, be mindful how he occupies this position” (Paris, 2003). These ethics
share not only the divine nature o f knowledge but it reminds teachers o f their
accountability before God and the importance o f fulfilling their trust in teaching their
students.
In another tradition, Muslims are taught “Whoever learns, acts on his knowledge
and then teaches it to others is considered to have attained greatness in the heavenly
realm” (Shakir, 2001, p.43), The place o f knowledge in Islam is so huge that Islamic
scholars have written thousands o f books about this topic since Islam’s birth 1400 years
ago.
In the Islamic theory/ o f knowledge, the term used for

knowledge in Arabic is iim, which, as Rosenthal has justifiably
pointed out, has a much w ider connotation than its synonyms in
45
English and other Western languages. 'Knowledge' falls short o f
expressing ail the aspects o f ‘Um. Knowledge In the Western
world means information about something, divine or corporeal,
while ‘Urn is an all-embracing term covering theory, action and
education. Rosenthal, highlighting the importance o f this term
in Muslim civilization and Islam, says that it gives them a
distinctive shape. In fact there Is no concept that has been
operative as a determinant o f the Muslim civilization in all its
aspects to the same extent as ‘ilnr.
In the Islamic context, the knowledge-seeking mind lias not only
a conceptual-spiritual being, but also a social-material existence.
Islam has never allowed the speculative anti active lives to
become totally divorced from each other. Thought and reflection
have always been wedded to action. On the one hand, according
to a prophetic tradition, an hour of thoughtful reflection is better
than sixty years o f acts o f worship. But knowledge without
action has been described as a tree without fruit. Contemplative
thought (tafakkur) and reflection in Islamic spirituality
essentially provide a knowledge that relates the knower to higher
modes o f being. (Ahmad)
Knowledge and action are therefore inextricably linked and by extension, Muslim
teachers have a different lens through which they view their profession - something that
has divine implications, that raises their position both in the eyes o f people and God,
which has positive ramifications for their earthly life as well as life in the hereafter.
Teachers shoulder the position o f teaching those who are more vulnerable than they are
and developing not only the minds o f their students but their hearts anu souis as well. As
such, teachers must take the responsibility to find the way to a child’s heart that will open
them up to learning and assisting them in learning how to use that knowledge for the
benefit o f themselves and society.
46
Knowledge and its Role towards Creating an Inclusive Education System
Giroux suggests that the tools o f theory “emerge out o f the intersection o f the past
and the present; they respond to and are shaped by the conditions at hand” . In arguing
that North Americans, in a post-September 11“ world, need new theoretical tools, I too
had to focus on a source traditionally absent in academia as one o f those intersections-
Divine revelation- as a theoretical tool for educational pedagogy and as a way o f knowing
the world.
What has and continues to guide my existence now are my Islamic beliefs. Islam
Divine and me; with my family, neighbours, friends, students and community. More
importantly, Islam emphasizes the importance o f knowledge o f the inner and outer self
and the necessity’ to combine it with transformative action.
Knowledge must be embodied by its teacher and transmitted to the students not
only by their words but their actions as well. This provides students a practical example
o f the synthesis o f knowledge and action shaped by good character. This guides me as a
teacher; it has always guided me from as long as 1 can remember through to this day. it
shapes my interaction with my students, it guides me and helps me to understand the
world in which I live. Taie knowledge should create and facilitate what Giroux terms as
the “politics o f hope” because o f its transformative nature and the practical embodiment
which students witness in their teachers.
True knowledge opens the doors o f critical engagement and pushes the
boundaries by which societies have become transfixed. Giroux continues by saying,

47
Hope, in this instance, is a precondition for individual and social
struggle, the ongoing practice o f critical education in a wide
variety o f sites, the mark o f courage on the part o f intellectuals
in and out o f the academy who use the resources o f theory to
address pressing social problems...In doing so, it makes
concrete the possibility for transforming hope and politics into
an ethical space and public act that confronts the flow of
every-day experience and the weight o f social suffering with the
force o f individual and collective resistance and the unending
project o f democratic social transformation. (Giroux, 2002,
p. I I 57)
To me, this is what Islam empowers me to do; it is a canon for democratic social
transformation. It enjoins the pursuit o f knowledge on its adherents as a way to live
between the balance o f hope in the Mercy o f the Creator and fear o f Divine Justice that
escapes no individual and describes this pursuit as 'worship1. M y journey for social
change is a part o f this pursuit Individually, yet with collecti ve purpose. The implications
for me are not limited to the creation o f a just, democratic society based on equitable
standards and principles but more importantly, it is the fulfilment o f my purpose as a
Muslim to my Creator.
My understanding dictates that Islam is not satisfied with the attainment o f the
status-quo even if/when I emerge from the margins o f society, instead it pushes me to
turn theory into praxis, to challenge the limitations o f the status quo and to encourage
justice for all disenfranchised groups o f people. It is the way I respond to bell hooks’
(1992) challenge to encourage mainstream society to dare to see us differently. I can do
this by staying true to my faith and being the advocate it requires me to be. An informed
reading o f the Islamic text and understanding o f my epistemology provides me with a
framework that includes all students o f various world-views and belief systems. This is
where divine knowledge and hope intersects and becomes a Divine tool for liberation.
Knowledge is a journey o f knowing the self in order to know the Divine. It includes the
unearthing o f memories o f pain and accessing the hidden ghosts o f our lives in order to
become productive members o f society.
As Gordon contends, our hauntings must be dealt with in order to contribute and
even bring about change in our lives and communities. “Ghostly matters are a part o f
social life. If we want to study social life well, and in addition we want to contribute ...to
changing i t , we must learn how to identify haunting and reckon with ghosts, must learn
how to make contact with what is without doubt often painful, difficult and unsettling”
(Gordon, 1997, p.23). By actively engaging the absence o f my identity and/or dismissal
entirely from the system, I can begin to embark on the journey o f affecting social life.
As community development workers, teachers must work to remove the “artificial
boundaries” that exist between schools, off-school sites, communities and families (Sefa-
Dei et al., 2000) and to work towards building a more inclusive public education system.
While the predominantly secular education system claims inclusivity, it is o f paramount
importance that the boundaries o f public education be widened to include the global public
demographic. In order to be truly inclusive and objective, the multiplicity o f truths in the
public must be engaged within the school system through its students, curriculum and
teachers. Faith should not be marginalized but engaged. It is through this understanding
that we will begin to understand the process o f transformative change and the politics o f its
operationalization especially in terms Muslim teachers and how their epistemology drives
"heir praxis within the school system.

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Many advocates o f the separation o f the church and state in education, do this to
ensure that all groups are safeguarded and the rights o f all people are protected (Boston,
1993; Singer, 2000). If one religious group dominated, then other groups can be potentially
marginalized. A secular education system theoretically creates a space and allows multiple
views and ways o f knowing be present. However, just as a secular system should protect all
religions, it also should not completely exclude religion altogether. This has become
painfully clear with calls for and the eventual ban o f hijab (Muslim head-covering for
women that is considered to be a religious duty) in France (Economist, 2003) in order to
“protect” secular society. My experience has personally been that it has become almost
unacceptable to introduce any thing that has a religious lens into public school now in order
to maintain “neutrality”. The multicultural “heroes and holidays” approach has reduced
spiritual or religious ways o f knowing to mere celebrations and individuals who have
managed to gain acceptability within the dominant hegemonic society. Critical faith-based
approaches, religiously based epistemologies and spiritual ways o f knowing all have a
place within public education because it represents the reality o f lived experiences in a
rapidly shrinking global village. Within a secular framework, inclusive pedagogy would
adopt a “multi-centric education that acknowledges multiple ways o f knowing the world.”
(Sefa-Dei et al, 2000). A multi-centric approach to knowledge and learning de-emphasizes
the privileged centre o f the Euro-American approach to knowing the world. It also
emphasizes that there are other ways o f knowing and understanding the world. In this way,
the traditional Euro-American centre is not eliminated but situated amongst other ways o f
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knowing. If the public system is truly representative o f the public, these ways o f knowing
must be acknowledged and should represent all the clientele that it serves.
There needs to be mechanisms created within public education that will effectively
allow tor these ways o f knowing to be interwoven into the fabric o f teaching and learning
without intentionally polarizing or marginalizing other groups o f people. But the
assumption should not automatically be that anyone who introduces an alternative way o f
knowing into the classroom has an ulterior motive or is trying to co-opt public education to
serve their own needs. My experience has allowed me the benefit o f working with teachers
who have a myriad o f beliefs which when shared with children only serves to enrich them
and create stronger and more dynamic global citizens.
Furthermore, I was able to creatively use my epistemology in my teaching because I
was/have been able to couch it in the terms o f the dominant discourse and because it shares
a similar thread to social justice education. The challenge in this has been to find a
mechanism that would allow for this type o f sharing; for teachers/students to be able to
centre themselves in a manner appropriate to their own beliefs without having to negotiate
a system that empowers only one group o f people who reflect its particular belief system.
My epistemology has been a strong and effective guide to my practice as a teacher and has
allowed me to create a meaningful program for my students.
My unpacking o f Islamic epistemology, based on my knowledge and
understanding, as a guiding framework for teachers within the public education system, has
led me to construct the following points o f reference:
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1) Muslim teachers believe in a sense o f accountability to AHahiGod in fulfilling
their roles. While they may be accountable to students, parents, colleagues and the
system, all o f this is contextualized within a wider and higher sense o f purpose and
accountability to God. This accountability spans from their earthly life to the realm
o f the hereafter because actions in this life impacts what happens to them in the
next. Furthermore, because God is M ost Just, teachers will be held accountable (by
God) if they intentionally did not do their job property or to the best o f their ability
because teaching and caring for souls is a trust from God that must be fulfilled to
the best o f their abilities.
2) A teacher is someone who holds a distinguished or noble position in society and
for dedicating their time to teach others, they will be rewarded for this in both their
earthly life and the hereafter (Shakir, 2001).
3) There is no requirement or need for a Muslim teacher to feel compelled to force
Islam on any o f their students [Qur'an 2:156]. In fact the basis o f the Islamic faith
illustrates that Muslims believe that '‘universal values” shared by various
faiths/belief systems have arisen because God sent messengers through time with a
common message. Although some o f those messages may have changed over the
course o f time, the essence has been preserved. Muslims are compelled to work
with all people and to preserve and protect their rights as was demonstrated by the
prophet o f Islam Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the constitution o f Medina (al
Faruqi and al Famqi, 1986).
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4) The process known as Tarbiya is the methodology that has traditionally been
adopted by Muslim teachers to develop and engage their students. This framework
emphasizes the need for holistic education that focuses on all elements o f students’
lives, the need to foster the growth o f critical thinkers who develop an appreciation
and passion for life-long learning and understand that the role o f teacher is divided
into a) knowledge giver and b) mentor.
5) Knowledge is considered to be both a right and a responsibility. The purpose o f
knowledge is to transform society and in Islam knowledge is always linked to
action. Regarding praxis, Islamic epistemology is consistent with social-justice
based pedagogy and provides a framework for its operationalization.
6) A sense o f accountability to God and the Divine command to resist oppression
may lead a teacher to engage in both direct forms o f resistance and indirect forms o f
resistance or “creative maladjustment” (Kohl, 1.994) within the system to do what is
conceived to be best for their students. This may also occur if they believe their
personal rights are being eroded or ignored. Furthermore, these teachers will view
advocacy on behalf o f their students or any others whose rights are being denied
within the system, as a religious duty as well as a trust given to them by God.
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C h ap ter 3
Teacher as Mu ’allim
Here in Ontario, the primary job o f teachers is to teach a curriculum outlined by
the Ministry o f Education. As teachers we are expected to educate our students to
understand certain concepts, to think about those things critically and be able to prepare
them to be successful in the world. Teachers approach this in their own way. Some
follow textbooks that are set to meet curriculum expectations; others use a variety o f
textbooks and curriculum-based materials while others create their own materials. In my
own classroom, I embarked on a number o f different activities and use o f a variety of
different strategies and processes to inform my practice.
As a point o f departure, I looked at the power I held in my relationship with my
students as a basis for what would occur in the classroom. This was because o f my
Islamically grounded belief that teachers are ultimately responsible for the growth and
development o f the knowledge and character o f their students.
As a teacher in my first year, I wanted my practice to revolve

around the ideal o f participatory' democracy. This evolved
because I recognized the power I held in my classroom and as
the teacher. I wanted to allow students to see themselves as
democratic participants in classroom activities and in shaping
and guiding the curriculum that was used in daily instruction. It
was even more important for me to help them develop the ethic
o f being self-directed learners wit hin a larger learning
community and to understand the power and responsibility that
came with knowledge and education. (Appendix A)
As a Muslim teacher with strong beliefs about knowledge and its role, it was very
important that my students understood the importance o f being self-directed learners.
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Knowledge is considered to be a blessing and a right. When operationalized, it serves as a
tool for liberation from all types o f oppression. As such it is important that students
understand the importance o f knowledge in their lives as well as the power and
responsibility that comes by acting on what they know. As a teacher, it was a priority that
this was conveyed to them because it will facilitate social transformation.
As a teacher my pledge is to work to help my students love

learning; to harness their leadership skills; to realise the power
that comes through education; to reinforce the importance o f
literacy in their lives by helping them to enjoy literacy-based
activities and by integrating it into other curriculum strands; to
love themselves; to understand their place, power and position
in society; to strengthen their ability to think critically; to assist
them in realising their heritage and history within our
curriculum; to help them understand the holistic nature of
education by integrating curriculum and showing how each part
connects to the other; to show them that they are not just
students but teachers and I am not just a teacher but a student as
well; to motivate and inspire them; to let them know that I am
there and that I DO care.... (Appendix B)
The best way that I can do this, I believe is by foll owing the example o f the Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him) who is described in the Qur 'an as being the “perfect
example” [33:21], He always led by his own personal example. I always tried to show
and explain to my students how I pursued knowledge myself, and the way I continued to
use my own knowledge to tty and bring benefit to myself, them and the community
around us. In doing so, I always tried to be humble and to admit what I did not know
because in Islam, Muslims are taught that saying “1 don’t know” is half o f scholarship. I
always let my students know that in our class, there is collective knowledge that I learn
from them as much or more than they learn from me.
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I begin with me because not only am I the teacher but in my
classroom, I am an active learner as well. A teacher is not one
who focuses only on what they can teach their students in their
class but what they can learn as well. What I take away from my
class and students is equally as important to me as what I give
to them. My classroom is student- centred, they are the trees full
o f fruit and fragrant blossoms that we admire and I am the
ground upon which they stand. (Appendix B)
This serves to ensure that people do not become arrogant or try to assume knowledge that
they do or do not have. This is because the only real possessor o f all knowledge is God
and our role is to continue on the path o f acquiring knowledge from birth to death
(Prophet Muhammad as quoted by Henzell-Thomas, 2002).
This ethic has been a guiding tool for me in encouraging my students to transcend
system constructions and instead become more than students o f a particular grade, to
encourage them to think beyond their report cards and to become life-long learners. I
often spend time sharing the curriculum expectations with my students and/or
brainstorming why what we are learning is relevant to them and their lives. This provides
a context for learning beyond just the need to do “what the teacher tells them”. As we
continued sharing our year together, we talk about the importance o f being life-long
learners and the value o f education and the intangible power it gives them. Over the year,
what I begin to see is the transformation o f many o f my students as they begin to reflect
on the importance o f what we do in class beyond their marks. In written reflections, they
begin to talk about how they would utilize either what we have done in class or strategies
that they had learnt, which they would continue to use for their learning in both their
academic and personal lives. On our classroom website, it states this on the opening page,
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‘'Our goal this year was larger than getting good grades on our report cards, or even
impressing friends and families. It was about recognizing and learning the value o f
learning itself so that we can always be life-long learners!” (8C Armadale Public School,
2006).
In 2003/4 I tried to reinforce this ethic by building on a geography lesson when
we focused on material and non-material wealth. During this mini-unit, we explored the
differences between the two types o f wealth and looked at what was more important. All
students recognised that there was definitely a link between both types o f wealth and we
explored the differences and tried to determine which was more important. The following
are excerpts from some responses which were posted on our class website:
When people think about what they own, they will often think
about their computers, clothes, stereo systems and cell phones.
These objects are categorized as material wealth. Most people
also treasure their families, friends, education and ideas, which
are categorized as non-material wealth. Most o f us in North
America are lucky enough to have both material and non
material wealth but people often wonder which is more
important. I personally think that non-material wealth is more
important because they are things that people cannot take away
from me. Education and knowledge are things that I will always
remember and they can help me in my future. Without
education or knowledge, I won't be able to get a job, which will
help me earn money. I wouldn't be able to live without non-
material wealth because it is basically my life.
In another excerpt on the same site, another student states:
In one’s life, they have both material AND non-material wealth,

but personally I think that having knowledge, loved ones and
true happiness is more significant than having all the money in
the world. Material wealth comes and goes, but love, knowledge
and the bond between people is forever. (SC Ashton Meadows
Public School, 2004)
Initially when we began this exercise, some students were very adamant that
material wealth was more important. My personal hope was that students would
recognize the importance o f non-material wealth and begin to think o f that as being the
more important priority in their lives. Still, I had to be careful not to impose myself and
personal perspectives on them. At the end, there were still a handful o f students who
maintained their positions - some because they came from social locations where money
would have made a significant impact in improving their lives. However, there were
others who came from positions o f privilege and believed that it was the more important
priority. When I encounter such situations, I often remind myself that my responsibility
is to expose my students to a variety o f positions that exist and not to force a particular
perspective upon them. This, at times, can be difficult especially because o f my beliefs
about the negative implications and effects o f capitalist societies on people and the
world.
It was important to me that my students understood the importance o f the
knowledge and the impact it can have on their lives as well as to ensure that they
understood the value o f knowledge in a consumer based society'. It also underscored the
importance o f being or becoming life-long learners. Initially, all my students did not feel
this way. However upon further discussion and reflections the majority o f the class
reiterated the sentiments quoted above.
I approach education in a holistic manner. One that will allow students to
understand how each subject is a component o f a larger puzzle and each adds a
58
dimension o f importance. I also try to frame my year in this manner so that units are
connected to each other; so that it will take them to a larger understanding o f themselves,
their families and the world in which they live. In this way, it will reinforce the value and
importance o f knowledge and its necessity. In doing so, f try to show my students how
knowledge gives them the power to make a difference to themselves and the world
around them. In the Qur ’an, the word knowledge or ‘ilm is connected to amal or ‘work’
numerous times. It emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between knowledge and action.
The Qnr ’an is probably the only book in the world that has been memorized in its
entirety by millions o f people since its revelation. However the example o f the
companions o f Muhammad (peace be upon him) was that they would memorize a portion
o f the Qnr ’an and implement it in their lives first before memorizing again. I often
address this in my class by exploring the privileges that we have in North America to be
able to go to school and extend that into discussions about how it makes us responsible to
act based on what we learnt. This is also reflected on our classroom website, “Knowledge
= responsibility; we must act on what we know and use it to make the world a better
place. This means that we cannot just sit and criticize problems but we have to see how
we can be a part o f the solution ourselves” (8C Armadale Public School, 2006). I
continually ask my students “so what now ... now that you have this knowledge, that you
have discovered something new - what are you going to do about it?”
This adds the critical layer o f social justice praxis in my approach to education. It
is important that students see the basis o f such knowledge and action within the scope o f
their own lives and abilities to prepare themselves to be able to both understand the
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importance o f the knowledge they have or gained and how to use it in the world. This
must reflect each child’s individuality because each person is created for a purpose in the
world, even though our purposes may differ,
I try to engage these differences and facilitate students’ understanding o f their
purpose in the world by engaging them in a “philosophy” exercise, which they do three
times over the course o f one year. In this exercise, they have to explore and explain what
their core values are and what they believe about life and their attitudes towards it. In
doing so, some students feel more at ease in identifying themselves from a spiritual axis
whether it stems from Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism. Others however may
explore their beliefs outside o f the realm o f religion. Over the year, I make them re-visit
their philosophies based on what we have learnt and their own personal growth to see if
there are elements they would change and/or add. When I respond to their philosophies, I
ask them open-ended questions to push them in their thinking; to make them think more
deeply about why they understand the world the way they do or why they choose to adopt
certain approaches to the world. My purpose in doing this is to assist them in developing
a more comprehensive outlook on life, to keep them open to other ideas and thoughts
while strengthening the locus o f their identity.
Why do we believe in the things that we believe? Why do we

think the way we think? What is the actual meaning o f life?
What was the reason we were put onto this world? These are all
questions we as 8C, had to think about when we were writing
our philosophies. Mr. Chanicka assigned this assignment to us
because he felt that we should think deeper and more critically
about our beliefs and our way o f thinking. There should be a
reason behind everything and we should know the reason to
why we believe in and do certain things. You shouldn’t just do
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things because you have to or because others are, you ought to
have a proper reason. Writing our philosophies in our 8C
community encouraged us to know the meaning to life and how
we look at things from different points o f view s... After writing
our philosophies we figured out that it was self-discovery, but
on a greater scale. It looked at the bigger aspects o f our life
rather than, what religion w e are? Where did our family come
from? How come we are this colour? This isn’t what really
matters. These philosophies helped \ss to explore out thinking
even deeper. It looked at Reasons. Reasons to why we believe
in god and reasons to why family and friends are so important.
It explained to us in a way that there is a reason for all o f us
being here. (8C Armadale Public School, 2006)
Assisting my students solidity their identities from their own personal locations is
consistent with my beliefs as a Muslim. In public education my role is to assist my
students to find their place within the context o f their education, within society both
locally and globally. Point number eight on the 8C Class website states “We are not just
citizens o f our homes we are global citizens and enjoy certain privileges that others do
not have, as such we have a responsibility to share with those who are not as fortunate as
we are” (8C Armadale Public School, 2006). The philosophy activity is especially
important to me because in the Qnr ’an, Muslims are reminded that God will never
change the condition o f a people unless they change the condition o f their hearts first
[Q«r ’an 13:11], This means that before we can expect society to change, we have to
engage in personal reflection and transformation. On the second day o f class, I put the
following poem attributed by P. Landau to an Archbishop in Westminister Abbey, on the
board for my students to copy:
When young and free and my imagination had no limits, I

dreamed o f changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I
discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my
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sights and decided to change only my country. But it, too,
seemed immovable. As I grew into my twilight years, in one
last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family,
those closest to me; but alas, they would have none o f it. And
now, as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realise: If only I had
changed myself first, then by example I would have changed
my family. From their inspiration and encouragement, I would
then have been able to better my country, and who knows, I
might have changed even the world.
We use this as a basis to further our discussion on the importance o f knowledge and its
role in helping us fulfill our purposes in life and at the same time reflecting each child’s
individuality. To build on this, I also make my students do growth portfolios each year,
which is a huge endeavour. Students are expected to choose pieces o f work in which they
have done to varying degrees o f success and failure. They then have to engage in writing
personal reflections on why they did or did not do well; what mistakes they made and
why; strategies they used to help them be successful; strategies that did not work and
why; and next steps for continued success. In this way, they learn not to focus on their
mistakes but the learning that comes from those mistakes. The ethic that we promote in
class is “Everyone has the right to make mistakes- it is the foundation o f learning” (8C
Armadale Public School, 2006). This reflective attitude is consistent with and strongly
encouraged in Islam. Muslims are taught to hold themselves accountable before they are
taken to account by God. This ensures that we answer similar questions to ourselves on a
daily basis in order to learn from our own mistakes, seek forgiveness and try to do better
when we have another opportunity to do so. This ethic began to be shared by the
students in my class as well and is reflected in some work posted on one o f the class
websites,
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I also believe that you should make mistakes and learn from
them. We are all entitled to make mistakes, and when we use
one up we should be able to accept it, pay the consequences and
move on. Don’t be held up stuck in your past, learn from what
you did and move on! Be able to say yes I did do that and I am
not proud o f doing that but at least it is something that I
wouldn’t do again. (8C Armadale Public School, 2006)
Such critical thinking is encouraged in the Qur ’an and forms the basis o f Islamic
scholarship. The story o f Abraham in the Qur ’an is an example o f such critical thinking
when he tried to personally discover and understand God. Furthermore, the Qur 'an
continually uses examples o f different elements within nature and situations and adds to
these verses that they are signs “fo r those who reflect’. In my own classroom, I model the
use o f active listening and open-ended questions to build my students ability to think
critically. In 2 0 0 4 ,1 began to utilize a strategy in my class called “Six Thinking Hats”. It
was an instructional intelligence strategy used to help students engage the different
dimensions o f thinking. This strategy represents thinking in six differently coloured hats
and each represented a particular level o f thinking: Red- Emotion; White-Information;
Black-Caution; Green-Alternative views; Yellow - Optimistic; and Blue- Process control.
It was initially only used in one class o f gifted students in my board at the time. This
may be due to a variety o f reasons including the difficulty o f the strategy and the fact that
it was not a common strategy at the time.
I spent time studying the process to determine its utility and decided that I would
use it in my class o f 32 which was integrated with English as a Second Language
students, Special Education Students, behavioural students as well as students o f upper
and lower class families and who were at varying ends o f the learning continuum. At the
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time, I taught at a school that had a reputation for having behavioural students and a
variety o f incidents connected to “bad” behaviour. In fact, some supply teachers did not
even accept jobs at our school. At times, it was very stressful trying to cater to so many
competing needs all within the same space. When I would get frustrated, I would wish
that the children o f ministers and politicians had to sit in classes like my own. I often
experienced ‘class’ as a huge divider - one in which the children o f the wealthy went to
schools where all their needs were met and children o f the working class were not
afforded the same privileges- casualties o f a capitalist society. Still, I never agreed with
the negative reputation o f these students and neither did many o f the other teachers there.
While money does bring privileges and give students certain opportunities to have
meaningful learning experiences, I always believed (and still do) that students would rise
to the expectations placed upon them.
I believed that my students would be able to understand and implement the Six
Thinking Hats in their learning despite the many challenges we faced as a class. I decided
to showcase this to a group o f teachers and board administrators who were going to be
visiting our school as a part o f a “come on in” project. I was so confident in my students’
ability that I also asked my vice-principal to use this as the opportunity to do my second
year teacher evaluation. Prior to this, I had taught them the process and we used it a
couple times in class. However I did not rehearse this “showcase” lesson because I
wanted it to be as real as possible for the visitors and my evaluation. That day I wrote the
following statement on the board: “Homeless people are lazy and in order to solve the
problem o f homelessness, they just need to get jobs”. I did not know what would happen
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but I expected the best from them. In the end, the lesson worked beautifully. The visiting
teachers and administrators kept asking, “Where were the behavioural students?” and I
kept replying that they were all “here in the classroom”. Since then, I continue to use this
strategy in my classes as a tool to empower my students to become critical thinkers with a
clear understanding o f the layering o f the thought process. It has also been effective in
teaching students that the goals o f arguments and discussions are to arrive at a truth and
to think o f what is best for all and to not simply argue to prove that they are right. We
talked about this from the perspective o f the egocentric versus the socio-centric thought.
In one reflection written by some students on Six Thinking Hats, students elaborated on
this issue in a piece entitled ‘Ego vs. Performance’:
In arguments there are groups or individuals who debate over a

topic, problem or situation. The argument is usually won by a
certain group or individual, the six thinking hats allow the
argument to be won by both groups and individuals as they
settle to an agreement. If an argument is already won without
using the six thinking hats the ego o f the loser and winner will
collide, the loser will probably be too stubborn and the winner
will gloat. This will only result in delaying the issue and the
solution. Human beings tend to have pride which effects their
emotions, thoughts and actions. This pride which disrupts us
also helps us stand up for ourselves, but having too much is a
problem. When some one has too much pride, they can’t
swallow it and just accept the fact that their wrong. The pride
goes straight to the brain and it affects their ego. How do we
solve this? Instead o f trying to win the argument, try making the
argument more neutral and more o f a discussion, this is where
the six thinking hats come in. The six thinking hats focus on
emphasizing parallel thinking which means thinking together
and in the same direction. ‘Victory is a door that ego may not
pass.’ (8C Armadale Public School, 2006)
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This also assisted students in developing an academic approach to differences o f opinion.
One in which they could understand what angle someone was coming from; what the
considerations were that would shape their arguments and that in the end, they should be
trying to achieve a fair outcome for all concerned. This concern for fairness and justice is
based on universal values shared by all faith systems and is consistent with a Tawhidic
view o f the world. The focus that I try to develop is on intellectual rigour and searching
for the truth and more importantly to remove pride from the inquiry process. In this way
students focus on “what” is right as opposed to “who” is right.
Basically, I think that everything we came across and had to

complete this year had an impact on us as an individual.
Gradually w e were putting more and more knowledge into our
minds, and becoming a better person all at the same time. Now
as we leave grade 8, w e are walking into the world as critical
thinkers. We know who we are and we each know that we can
make a difference in the world. In 8C, we are all critical
thinkers ready to face what life has set for us.
(8C Armadale Public School, 2006)
One o f the techniques used by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) when
teaching his companions and students was to use examples that they would understand
from their own lives. Teachers are often taught to reflect the lives o f the students they
teach in the curriculum. This makes the curriculum more meaningful to them as they can
relate to it and adds to their reasons for learning. I often spend time learning about all my
students, their lives, backgrounds, places they have lived, their family structures, passions
in order to ensure that I create dynamic lessons which will reflect their lived experiences.
As our grade 8 year began, we started off with small

assignments such as the picture book for instance. The Picture
Book introduced us to the class and revealed something about
us. Then the Defining Me, Naming Ceremony, and Family Tree,
came along. N ow we were able to understand our selves better
and so did the rest o f our SC community... .During all this we
were working on the quotes and the seven habits o f highly
effective teens. These two things helped our attitude towards
tough situations we may have to come across. It helped us to
make the right choices and wise decisions in life. Basically, we
are improving on ourselves and how we live life. Then comes
the Six Thinking Hats, this helps us in all aspects of our life
also. We could use them everywhere we go and anywhere we
are because again, it helps us to be an enhanced
thinker... Basically, I think that everything we came across and
had to complete this year had an impact on us as an individual.
Gradually we were putting more and more knowledge into our
minds, and becoming a better person all at the same time. Now
as we leave grade 8, we are walking into the world as critical
thinkers. We know who we are and we each know that we can
make a difference in the world. In 8C, we are all critical
thinkers ready to face what life has set for us. (8C Armadale
Public School, 2006)
Whenever I have conducted workshops for teachers or administrators I always
emphasize the importance o f ensuring the curriculum reflects the lived experiences o f the
students and not only the teacher or the dominant hegemonic values o f society that often
ignore the minoritized and minority groups in society. In this case, students found value
in learning more about their personal identities, families and philosophies. It is important
because this allows students to develop an intimate connection with their learning and
understand the overall value o f what they do in the class.
One o f the first assignments I make my students do is to write a fact file on
themselves as well as choose a picture to add to it. I use these and put it up in the
classroom so that they can learn more about each other. This also allows me to do a
diagnostic o f their writing skills as well as their oral visual skills. One o f their first
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projects is to publish a book about themselves. They have to choose a moment in time
that represents something to them, from the comical to the magical and represent that
story in a book format. By leaving the format open, it is open to them to choose
something that is appropriate to them. It also means that there are no wrong answers in
terms o f what incident is chosen but they must follow the format given to produce the
book. There were numerous incidents in the life o f Muhammad (peace be upon him)
when different individuals would go to him to ask what they needed to do to attain
Paradise. He would usually give each person a specific answer. For example, one person
he told to serve his parents and to another he said to control his anger. It speaks to the
individuality o f each person and the need for them to pursue different, individually
appropriate areas to be successful. It also teaches me as a teacher that there is not one
answer for all students. Muslim teachers must examine each student’s skills and assets
and teach in a way that will help them be individually successful within a collective
context. Therefore I try to create lessons that allow the individuality o f my students to be
reflected.
With this knowledge, I have utilized other teaching techniques such as knowledge
o f Multiple Intelligences as well as Instructional Intelligence techniques to vary my
instruction and to teach my students to focus on their strengths and to build on their areas
for improvement, in terms o f their learning. As students get a better sense o f themselves
and as we progress during the year, I let them choose techniques that best works for them.
Our class was asked to complete a multiple intelligence booklet.

But at the time, we were unfamiliar with the importance o f the
booklet. For about 50 min, our class spent time together
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carefully answering each question. By the end o f the lesson, we
had learned the many categories o f intelligence and we all
became familiar with our strengths and weaknesses. This was a
key experience in our class because it has and will continue to
help our studies. I think that this test is great because everyone
ends up happy and always learns more about themselves. Even
the students who think they do not appear to be the brightest can
find where their potential and strengths lie. This test is also very
good because it is not possible to do poorly in it, and it helps to
boost everyone's confidence. After the students finished their
booklet, they learned more about themselves and others.
(Personally I never knew "Visual" was the best way I
learn.)Most students' in the 8C family where shocked to find out
the way they learn the best, some students strengths in learning
lied in visual/spatial, musical and bodily/kinesthetic. In the end
every student felt that they knew themselves better and felt
more confident. As the students in our class grow and change,
our ways o f learning will also change, only time will tell how
we will learn in the future. (8C Ashton Meadows Public School,
2004)
Sometimes within the classroom, I have multiple students using a variety o f
techniques that are specific to their own learning styles. As a teacher driven by a sacred
imperative to look after the needs o f my students, I always have to ensure that I am
placing their needs first and resist the urge to adopt one measure for the entire class
because it is easier for me. At times it is difficult because o f the system’s demands that
are downloaded to teachers. But ultimately, I am accountable to God, so regardless o f the
difficulties, I always remind myself that I have to find a way to do the best for all
involved and give them all the same opportunity to learn and realize their best potential.
A teacher is one who realises that no student is “bad” but each

student is different and that each child has the ability to change
and grow. Each student brings into my classroom a wealth o f
knowledge and experience, something I can learn from them.
My challenge as a teacher is to find strategies that reflect the
social and cultural identities o f my students and to allow them
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the chance to realise their own potential. To realise how special
and important they are. My challenge is to engage my students’
multiple intelligences and show them that they can ALL learn
and to use some o f the common ideas in brain research to
reinforce their learning and growth. EACH student in my class
is a leader and has the ability to learn. (Appendix B)
As I continued my practice, I began to look for ways to explain my philosophy to
other educators who were interested and tried to couch it in a language other than Islam.
My reason for doing this is because o f my religiously based philosophy but I did not want
teachers to assume I was trying to change students’ religions. In tact, many o f the things I
was doing were present in a variety o f excellent teaching styles, techniques, strategies
and philosophies. I found that my own epistemologically-based pedagogy came to life by
my own willingness to utilize and build upon those multiple good practices and processes
that already existed:
Participatory Democracy [P.D.] is a process o f teaching students

based on the value and necessity for student participation and
engagement that reflects the lives and values o f the student and
community population. Through this process, students are
exposed to a variety o f thought processes, realities and values
that may/may not run counter to their own ideals. It situates
students and parents as teachers and teachers as learners. P.D.
empowers students to locate themselves and positions vis-a-vis
the curriculum, to think critically, to become reflective thinkers
and advocates by making big-picture connections. It also
moves teachers from the need to “convert” students to accept
their perspective o f the world to accepting the reality that there
are a multiplicity o f truths in the world in which we live.
Participatory democracy is the intersection o f literacy, character
education and equity; a meeting point that allows teachers to be
creative, to get away from “add-on’s” and continue to focus on
the valuable work that needs to happen in the classroom -
changing the world by changing one life at a time. (Appendix
C)
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To me, the need to re-work my Islamic epistemology into the language o f the
dominant discourse represents the constant negotiation that people o f faith or non-secular
worldviews constantly have to engage within a secular education system. It is for this
reason that I believe that the public system is not as inclusive as it claims to be. Within
secular society, faith is viewed as something that is deeply individual and many times
within public education it is only discussed within the context o f cultural or ritualistic
practices. Many times, discussions o f the philosophical under-pinning o f belief systems
are rarely engaged in a meaningful manner. The implications o f this are not studied in
terms o f increasing the representation o f it’s adherents within the public school system. If
it does occur, it is facilitated by individual administrators and is not the directive o f the
system as a whole. A secular system should ensure that no group monopolizes power or
voice over others- secular, scientific or religious-and that the school system does not
become a breeding ground for any type o f extremism or promotion o f hate and
intolerance. My own experience illustrates both a commitment to the public system
which can include faith-centred ways o f knowing without marginalizing other groups o f
people.
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Chapter 4
Teacher as Murabbi
The methodology for the operationalization o f the Tawhidic worldview was
exemplified by Muhammad (peace be upon him). His example informs teachers o f their
other role o f being a mentor or role model in their daily interactions with their students.
In fact, according to my understanding o f Islam, character is seen as being more
important than knowledge itself. This is because good character is the guide for
knowledge and knowledge can be detrimental or even dangerous without good character.
This lens reflected one o f the major elements o f my teaching pedagogy.
Our fundamental role as teachers is to produce literate graduates

who are ready to embrace the challenges o f living in a global
village. In teaching my students to become critical thinkers and
change agents, I have found that the York Region District
School board’s Character Education initiatives have become a
cornerstone in my teaching to enable students to understand
how to approach the challenges they must face in a rapidly
changing environment. Our students are constantly bombarded
with images, which exploit their sense o f being and at the same
time being expected to adapt to the challenges of a shrinking
world. My entry into York Region District School Board
occurred at a time when Character Education was implemented
across the entire board and teachers were furnished with the
appropriate resources to help them integrate character education
into the curriculum. (Appendix D)
My priority with my students is usually to build a personal relationship with them
and focus on building their characters. Despite time constraints, I quickly realised the
need to maintain this element o f my epistemology and incorporate it into my pedagogy as
I began to teach. The following is an excerpt from a piece, which illustrates how I have
utilized Character Education in my class:
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As I started to grapple with meeting the curriculum expectations
and making the curriculum relevant to my students’ lives I also
started to reflect on how I could integrate character components
into the lives o f my students. While there was a concerted focus
on curriculum, many students especially those considered to be
at-risk were coming socially ill-equipped to deal with life. The
character initiatives provided a basis by which we could explore
the skills and characteristics necessary to negotiate their way
successfully through life. The more I came to know and
understand the Character Education philosophy, the quicker it
began to infuse its way through my classroom teaching.
Eventually, it formed the basis through which I would approach
the curriculum and develop a class o f life-long learners.
(Appendix D)
The reason why I could use the Character Matters traits promoted in our board was
because they were a part o f the universal character traits recognized and valued in
numerous cultures, philosophies and value systems world wide. It also reflected the
perennial view o f Oneness that I believe runs through time and space and reflects a
unified message that was sent to all o f humanity by God.
As I continued upon this journey, another challenge I faced was my need to do
this type o f education while still meeting the curriculum expectations. Many times
teachers see initiatives to teach character traits as useless, time consuming or as add-ons.
Because o f my epistemological framework, I viewed this as an indivisible component o f
educating the whole child. This meant that I had to become creative and find a way to
meet both the requirement to teach curriculum content as well as to mould characters. My
focus was two-fold in achieving this. It centred primarily on the individual development
o f the students in my classroom. The second step involved empowering my students to
access the knowledge that they were gaining in class and effecting their agency based on
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those character traits. This is because character is seen as the driving force behind
knowledge. Good character acts as a catalyst for positive actions and meaningful agency.
This was also important because Islamically speaking, good character combined with
knowledge should lead to social transformation and/or change. This led to the birth o f the
Helping Hands initiative that began with the support o f my administration and eventually
spread to over twenty-four schools in my Board.
One o f the fears that many teachers had was about Character
Education being an “add-on” to the curriculum and yet another
addition to the many things that teachers were expected to do in
the classroom. However I don’t believe it is an add-on, rather I
see it as a foundation on which we can mould responsible and
literate citizens. Through this lens, I have been able to utilize
the Character Education traits as the basis for developing the
Helping Hands program, which tied math, language and
geography curriculum expectations with several character traits
to assist the students in seeing themselves as active participants
in the global theatre. [Helping Hands] allowed students to
actively and personally participate in alleviating suffering o f
different groups o f people around the world through focussed
and well thought out action. Once teachers in other schools got
to know about the initiative, it gathered steam and after the
tsunamis that affected South East Asia in 2004, 24 schools
worked together and collected approximately $80 000.
(Appendix D)
Although grand endeavours such as Helping Hands are important, the focus on
the individual development o f each student in the classroom must be maintained. As
students, they have this right-on me as their teacher-and it is something for which I will
be accountable to God if I do not try to do to the best o f my ability. This is the only way
to affect and sustain long-term agency, which can have a transformative effect on society.
If done well, it is something that will bring spiritual benefit to me in this life and the next.
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A Murabbi is many things to their students including a mentor, nurturer and role model.
Expectations must be fair to all involved and must not be biased in favour o f the teacher.
In fact in Islam, the teacher is encouraged to teach through compassion and mercy in
order to positively impact the hearts o f his/her students. They should also focus on the
assets and unique character o f each individual in their classroom in order to focus on their
personal growth. It is not an easy job and one o f the reasons why it holds such a noble
spiritual state.
I always try to establish this relationship based on a platform o f mutual respect. In
doing so, I immediately establish that the classroom expectations equally apply to me as
their teacher, as well as to each o f them. An example o f this would be that they are
allowed to eat anything in class as long as it is not junk food. I cannot tell them that they
cannot eat junk food and then I sit in class and eat it myself. It forms a core part o f my
philosophy as a teacher.
EACH student in my class is a leader and has the ability to

learn.
As a teacher I can do this by fostering mutual respect, listening

attentively, celebrating success and by demonstrating genuine
care for each o f them. I can show my students respect by not
humiliating them, but correcting them through positive and
constructive criticism and I must be able to accept this from
them as well. I show them respect when the classroom
agreements apply to myself and to them and not solely to them.
I also show them respect when my classroom reflects them and
the world around us. When they see themselves reflected they
develop a positive relationship with what they are learning!
Creating a dynamic, caring and safe classroom community that
loves learning and one in which we share our knowledge is
important to me. (Appendix B)
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As we develop the working framework for our classroom, w e focus on the
importance o f ensuring that all people in our classroom feel included. I always refer to
my class as a ‘family’. Each year it has taken on the acronym “8C Family”. The number
represents the grade, the letter ‘C’ represents my name and family represents all o f us. In
2006, my class also decided that they wanted to be acknowledged as the “C- Unit” to
represent their focus on being one unit. The following are some o f the guiding
agreements that are on our website and represent our focus on respect and inclusion o f all
voices in our family:
1) We respect and care for each other regardless o f our

differences - whatever they are
2) All o f our voices count - individually as well as collectively
3) Everyone has the right to make mistakes- it is the foundation
o f learning
4) We are not only students in our class we are teachers as well
and our teacher is also a learner
5) We don’t have to agree with our teacher’s views but we must
be able to think critically and argue academically about what we
do believe
6) We have a right to advocate for ourselves individually as
well as collectively.
7) Knowledge = responsibility; w e must act on what we know
and use it to make the world a better place. This means that we
cannot just sit and criticize problems but we have to see how we
can be a part o f the solution ourselves
8) We are not just citizens o f our homes we are global citizens
and enjoy certain privileges that others do not have, as such we
have a responsibility to share with those who are not as
fortunate as we are
9) Every single person in our family is a FIRST class citizen -
there is no room for second-class treatment here
10) We use the TRIBES agreements as our guiding agreements
11) We have a right to see our lives and experiences reflected in
what we learn. The views and skills o f our community members
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and family members are equally as important as those o f our
teachers.
12) Equity and equality are not the same things - we do not
treat everyone equally but we treat them equitably
13) We must aspire to become the change we desire to see in
the world- change takes time and it can only happen if we
change ourselves first. This also means that true education also
helps us to improve our characters! (8C Armadale Public
School, 2006)
The final point on the list became the basis for individual growth. I utilize
resources such as the book, The Seven Habits for Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey
to be able to assist students in understanding their paradigms and to be able to develop
their philosophies to life. I try to expand on this through a variety o f other classroom
assignments and expectations such as reflecting in their growth portfolios; having
students complete anecdotal self-assessments-especially around their learning skills;
giving them oral feedback based on classroom interactions and behaviour; maintaining a
healthy level o f interaction with parents and guardians as well as building healthy
relationships with their peers; I also always integrate character elements throughout all
subjects that I teach.
Another strategy I have incorporated in my classroom to facilitate character
growth and development is called Love Notes. I learnt this from one o f my own mentors
who used it in her classroom. Love Notes allowed students to anonymously ask questions
on any topic o f interest to them by writing it and anonymously submitting it into a box. If
there were questions, we would choose appropriate moments in class where w e could sit
in community circle. I read the questions out to the class and w e would try to strategize
answers for the anonymous peer. Students are not allowed to see the piece o f paper on
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which the question was written in order to protect the student’s identity. As a teacher,
this provided essential insight into any larger issues within the classroom that needed to
be addressed either as a class or within our intermediate division.
In addition to such strategies, it is equally important that advocacy at the level o f
the individual students be maintained. In one specific incident I worked with a student
who was having a difficult time at school and was constantly getting into trouble. At the
parent night meetings, after the first term report cards, this student’s parents came to meet
me. Their focus was immediately on the report card and the marks. I took the report card
and put it aside and said to them, “I can speak to you about your son’s report card or
about your son - tell me which you would prefer?” They opted for talking about him. We
spent some time going over behavioural patterns, his apparent anti-social behaviour,
some obsessive habits I noticed over time and I recommended they go to the doctor. I
found out through our discussions, that he was on medication to keep him calm during
the day (which I was not told before) and I felt that it was having a negative effect on
him. When I asked why he was on medication his parents did not know, they were simply
following the doctor’s orders. They were immigrant parents, English was their second
language and they had no external support. I told them that if the doctor’s main concern
was just to keep him calm and was fine with it, to see if the doctor would be willing to
see how he coped without medication and I would monitor his interaction in class. The
doctor agreed to take him o ff the medication.
There was a noticeable, dramatic change in his behaviour. He started to eat, he
was more happy, the obsessive habits stopped, he did not have bursts o f anger. However
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he was a lot more active in class and at times I had to remind him to focus. But it
automatically opened him up to listening to me because he saw me as an advocate who
clearly cared for him beyond his marks. That created an even stronger relationship
between us and encouraged him to do well in school. He continued through the year to be
both active and successful. I had to be open to his need to move around and addressed
that as a learning style as opposed to a problem.
There have been moments o f tension when I would see children displaying
adverse behaviours that I felt could be handled using new or different strategies. One o f
the areas I would have to negotiate would be to ensure that I did not “step on other
teachers’ toes” and the other would be to suggest new or different insights to parents and
caregivers. I had a young grade 7 student who refused to come to school if her hair did
not look “good”, she would routinely skip school, argue with her mom and had become
sexually active. Her role model was someone who had pornographic videos on the
internet and her personal goal was to become a “playboy bunny”. Eventually I invited
her mother into school to have a discussion with her about her daughter’s behaviour. Her
mother felt totally helpless, and each time I suggested strategies to use, the mother would
be fearful that her daughter would sneak out o f the house at night. At that point, I had to
stress to the mother that she was the parent in the relationship and had to do what she
thought was best for her daughter even if her daughter disagreed. I tried to support this
student for two years. Unfortunately though, the student’s behaviour persisted. At the
end, I tried at the very least to reinforce that I wanted the best for her and that if she ever
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needed my support and she was willing to work on becoming a better person, I would
always be there for her.
As many other good teachers do, I continued to work on building the character
focus in my classroom while trying not to lose teachable moments because o f curriculum
demands. I believe that there is one substantial difference with my focus and that is that
my pedagogy is grounded by my epistemology and my understanding o f Islam. It is not
based on an individual, altruistic impetus that is subjective and may change from one
individual to another. Instead, I seek opportunities to actively work on developing the
character o f my students through our classroom assignments and in turn advocate for
other teachers to adopt it within their own classrooms. One example o f this is the Turning
Points Essay I have made my students do each year since I became a teacher. Each year, I
coordinated its implementation in schools where I worked.
Within my division, I began to use the [Turning Points Avsw]

competition as another mechanism to drive character traits
home. This assignment encouraged students to think about a
specific event in their lives that acted as a Turning Point and
encouraged them to think/act differently because o f their
experience. Once teachers understood the value o f such a
reflective exercise, the entire division came on board and
encouraged their students to participate. It turned out to be some
o f the best writing w e received from the students. (Appendix D)
Sometimes the question is asked, “Why should teachers teach character values
and whose character values are they teaching?” My epistemology allows me to
understand and believe that there are universal values that are shared by the majority o f
cultures in the world. The essence o f Oneness or Tawhid has existed through time and
space and is shared by all peoples. My understanding o f this in Islam is that I must
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respect all people, their rights and beliefs despite if it differs from my own. Turning
Points provides a further opportunity for students to explore their own personal turning
points, how that shaped their characters and what they learnt from those experiences. It
allows a student to share a variety o f experiences that are free from the dictates o f the
teacher and pushes them to explore the underlying motives that inform their decision
making process.
The [Turning Points] essays that were completed by all o f the

students in 8C were done for one prominent reason: what made
us think the way w e think, act the way we act and be the person
we are?.. .This assignment made us reflect on ourselves and
made us learn a whole lot more about why we think a certain
way and why we act a certain way. There are many perspectives
on what exactly was the purpose o f this turning point essay. To
come up with a topic for the turning point essay was difficult.
By the end o f this assignment most o f our class recognized that
there will be decisions in life that you will be forced to make
independently. The correct decision might not be as clear as we
think, or we might not want to make the right decision. This
essay pushed us to write in a different style; not the usual
Writing, where we wear our white thinking hat, but writing in
your red thinking hat as well. To write a turning point essay,
our thoughts must come directly from the heart. In order to
receive an excelling outcome you needed to express yourself to
the fullest, including your thoughts and feelings as i f you were
in that same situation once again....A turning point is what it is;
a point in life when you turned around and changed pathways.
(8C Armadale Public School, 2006)
In completing this assignment, students are given the opportunity to do several
drafts so that it fulfils their objectives. They are also given the option to not share their
essay with others. If they choose this option, their essay would not be read to their peers
or put up on the bulletin boards. On another section o f the same website, the students
were able to make the connection between the critical learning strategies taught in class
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and the assignment itself. This to me is the fruition o f their learning, because it means
they understand the importance o f knowledge being taught in class and how to utilize it
in terms o f improving their characters and being successful.
Another classroom activity that I do with my students to assist them in building
their character is integrated into a daily reading strategy that I use. Each morning when
students walk into my class I usually have quotes from a variety o f people and cultures
around the world, written on the board. The students are expected to sit and write the
quote in their journals and then through utilizing a variety o f reading strategies write what
they think the quote means in an overall sense as well as individually to them. We then
take the opportunity to orally share these reflections with each other and focus on how it
can assist us in becoming better individuals. The following three reflections indicate the
impact this exercise had on shaping the perspectives and characters o f the students in my
class (each using a pseudonym):
When I first went to my new school I thought I would be the

worst student in reflecting on my school-work and assignments.
However, to my pleasant surprise I was wrong because my
reflecting skills started to improve day by day. Quotes helped
me in my reflecting skills because in quotes you do not have
only one answer; there are many possibilities. Quotes can help
many people as they have different opinions and different way
at looking things. In fact, quotes are like hidden treasure o f
wisdom. Moreover, many o f us have different ways o f thinking.
You develop a good thinking pattern and logic by observing
others closely and thinking upon it. It does not make you a
better person if you think in a different way from others, but it
just makes you unique because every individual is a unique
creation o f the God. - David Pitt
My personal connections between quotes and I is similar to

David's. When I walked into a new school year and when I was
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notified that everyday w e have to reflect on quotes, right away
in my head I was already saying " I am going to be the only
student in the whole class that has a weakness on reflecting."
But, now each day I get better and better because each quote
takes me to the next level/stage. It takes me to the next
stage/level because each quote has different meanings and
the more you think, the more you understand it. In my
perspective I think that certain quotes is a helpful tool on
improving on life and understand certain things because lying
behind those words in a quote is a meaning that helps you
improve on certain things and maybe help you reach a
milestone. - The Unknown
My personal connection to quotes is very much different than

David Pitts and Unknowns. Various quotes made me see the
world in a completely different way. I realized that we have to
take the challenge to change everything that’s wrong after I read
the quote "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about the things that matter". I realized then that people
wish world would be a better place but most o f
them don’t actually do anything to make it better. That reminds
me o f another quote "Great minds have purposes, others have
wishes". As you can see if I read a meaningful quote, it just
stays in my mind and comforts me when I’m hurt, it is my
weapon when I need to defend myself against those who do not
realize the true meaning o f life. Quotes benefited me in many
ways and I hope they do the same for you. - Demonic Wolf
Tiger (8C Armadale Public School, 2006)
Each personal reflection indicates the individual growth that occurred for the
students and how it impacted them in personal ways. This further allows students to
develop a stronger sense o f character shaped by personal value systems but also within
the context o f a shared narrative with peers. As they mention, there is no one way to
interpret the quotes or one answer that is correct. As such, there is a sense o f safety in
exploring personal connections and understanding how to implement those meanings into
their lives.
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As a teacher, I definitely do help students to construct meaning as well as
understand what “good character’ entails. For this, I utilized my school board’s
Character Matters traits as I found them to be consistent with a variety o f world-views
and consistent with my own epistemological understanding o f what “good character”
looks like. The students allude to the universality o f the idea o f respect on their TRIBES
website:
Also there are rules that are followed for TRIBES to make it
easier to understand each other and communicate. They are,
Mutual Respect, Attentive Listening, Appreciation, No Put
Downs, and the Right to Pass. These rules will help you in
having an effective conversation. Showing respect is a major
part that shows that you care and if you look at it in human
nature, what everyone wants to feel is that there is someone that
cares about what they have to offer. (8C Armadale Public
School, 2006)
By utilizing processes encouraged in our board such as TRIBES and other
techniques, I was able to effectively focus on both my students’ characters as well as their
learning, both o f which are pivotal in Islam. My understanding o f the TRIBES process is
consistent with Tarbiya methodology. TRIBES initially focuses on the individual person
and their self-development and seeks to move them to functioning within a community.
Their level o f comfort and safety is o f utmost importance and engaging them in a group
dynamic where they become interdependent while maintaining their individual strengths
and talents is one o f the components o f Tarbiya methodology. This was one o f the
reasons why I applied and eventually became a TRIBES trainer in my board. In my
application, I explained the features I believed to be most important about TRIBES as a
process in my classroom.
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I am applying to be a TRIBES trainer because I believe that it is
an effective process o f learning that engages students in the
classroom, helps to provide a high set o f consistent standards
for interaction and promotes an inclusive and respectful
environment in the classroom.. .It has since been two years. In
that time, I have used TRIBES in my intermediate classroom
with my students to develop what we fondly call “8C family”
(“C” stands for Chanicka - my surname)... I believe that
TRIBES can add to our board’s focus and commitment to
developing character, promoting equity, strengthening the
practice o f participatory democracy in our classrooms and
building healthy, learning communities that promotes life-long
learning. It is my hope to build my professional knowledge o f
TRIBES by becoming a trainer to strengthen the work with my
students, to share it with colleagues and spreading the TRIBES
philosophy to other schools in our region. A Chinese proverb
states “the journey o f a thousand miles begins with a single
step” and I believe that all o f our schools will benefit by using
TRIBES. However, perhaps my training to become a TRIBES
trainer will be the first step o f that thousand mile journey!
(Appendix E).
Many teachers can immediately see the utility o f TRIBES in the elementary classroom but
I have also made it a main component o f my intermediate classrooms as well. I feel very
comfortable using it because the activities can be modified to include all my students’
needs, and they all work to assist in the overall development o f my students so that I can
cover both the curriculum and maintain the focus on their character development, both o f
which are priorities for me. Over the year we utilized one strategy in particular -
community circle- where we would sit together as a community and discuss a variety o f
issues. From the perspective o f the students, community circle and TRIBES were very
useful processes:
Community Circle helps us learn to be confident with sharing

and expressing our ideas so others will know what you have to
say. From the first time we did Community Circle to near the
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end o f the year you can see a difference in all the students, not
only in the way they speak, but the way they have matured.
Community Circle has helped us understand that everyone's
ideas have to be accounted for even if it doesn't make any sense
to you. Our class is also split into groups that we call TRIBES.
In each group we are with people that we feel comfortable being
around. Each member o f each tribe has certain strengths and
certain weaknesses, so everyone can help each other out when
they are stuck or if they don't understand something. This
structure in a classroom allows students to learn how to learn
from each other. It helps us learn that students don't always have
teachers there waiting for us, if w e don't understand something
it is up to us to get it done our own way. (8C Armadale Public
School, 2006)
TRIBES gave me a system, which I could use to facilitate the Tarbiya process in
my classroom with my students that is accepted systemically. In fact, I believe so
strongly in TRIBES and its consistency with the Tarbiya process that I have begun to
advocate for its use within the Muslim community for working with youth. As a
Mnrabbi, I am a mentor and nurturer within the classroom with both my students and
Teacher Candidates. Nurturing growth in individuals also requires challenging them to
move beyond their comfort zones and problematizing key ideas and beliefs. I often host
between two and four Teacher Candidates or volunteers each year who are interested in
getting into education as a career. I usually sit with them and go over my expectations as
well as theirs and I try my best to model practices that I believe are consistent with
effective instruction. I also reflect and model my focus and commitment to character
development along with my students’ intellectual growth and development. Just as I
challenge my students to analyse their philosophy and to engage in critical thinking, I
challenge the Teacher Candidates as well. I especially challenge them to analyse how
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their personal social location influences the way they perceive the status quo, the
students, the issues that affect their students and the types o f strategies they may perceive
necessary to develop both the students’ characters and performances in class. This is
important to me in trying to prepare new teachers to analyse why they think the way they
do and how that may impact the students in their classroom.
On one occasion I had a very strong Teacher Candidate except I was worried
about the ease with which she was willing to accept the status quo. This was more
bothersome to me because she represented the hegemonic norm within the field o f
education - a young, white, middle-class woman. The reason why this was important to
me was because her work would eventually include minoritized groups in her classroom
or school. It was important that she understood how her personal identity would shape the
way she viewed her students, their parents and the community in which she worked. The
following excerpt from my journal followed a discussion in which we, along with another
volunteer- a young male from a minoritized group - were engaged:
(Name) was strong in many ways except that she was very
comfortable with the status quo and did not recognize her own
privilege. We had a discussion about his wanting to get into the
faculty (o f education) and she reacted to me saying that he
would have a good chance getting into Primary being male. She
argued passionately that people should not get in (to the faculty)
because o f gender but because o f merit and that if anyone
checks off minority/gender to get into the faculty, they are
encouraging the same problem that excluded them to begin
with. We had a long discussion about “merit” and who gets to
decide who has merit.. .That day, I copied Peggy Macintosh’s
article-Unpacking White Privilege for her.. I was worried how
she took all o f this but accepted that this was a part o f the
process for her. On her last evening before she left, she thanked
me for challenging her. She said that when she went home and
started reading the article, she found herself defending against
everything, then she stopped and asked herself why she was
being defensive. Her card thanked me for helping her to re
shape her teaching philosophy. (Chanicka, Journal, March 10.
2006)
It was important for me to engage her because unless she was aware about what
informed the way she saw or how she interacted with her students, I did not think that she
would be as effective as she could be. It was a blessing that I also had someone who
helped mentor me and assist me to develop these lenses in my teaching. As a Muslim, I
needed to know that I did all that I could in order to prepare her to be the best she could
be, as she would one day be responsible for the hearts and minds o f students o f her own.
In this way, my actions impact more than my own students but other students who I may
not even meet in the future.
Moulding healthy characters produces young individuals with responsible ethics,
who have good character. This makes them become responsible for the knowledge they
gain during the time they are in my class and throughout their lives. Furthermore, it
allows that responsibility to manifest itself in a healthy, productive manner and more
importantly allow them to fulfill their purposes in life.
Character Education has also become a key component o f not

simply my curriculum but in my classroom management
practices. I have been able to effectively emulate the character
traits through the active use o f processes such as TRIBES to
develop a character based, academic environment. Much to my
delight I have noticed my students starting to use character-
based discourse to engage in meaningful discussion both in and
out of class.
Character Education has been a value added integrated

component to the curriculum that has empowered me to develop
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the critical literacy o f my students, to give them the academic
tools and the character capital to navigate their way in our
rapidly shifting and changing environments. I hope that as we
continue to embark upon this journey we can find methods to
measure the impact that Character Education is having in the
lives o f our students so we can have a collection o f both
quantitative and qualitative data to assist us to improve what we
offer to our students.
In summary, my experience o f Character Education is that it has

allowed me to foster in my students a passion to be active,
global citizens and encouraged me to continue developing my
classroom practices based on the universal ethics embodied in
our character traits. It is truly a way we can change Canada and
the world for the better, one child at a time! (Appendix D)
This element o f my pedagogy is one that I doubt will ever diminish. The
challenges o f trying to develop a rich and dynamic curriculum while being bogged down
with content and other systemic devices such as report cards can be quite daunting at
times. On some occasions, I had to make decisions about what to cover and how much
time to give to it based on what was occurring in my classroom even if it meant
sacrificing some curriculum expectations.
As my work became more recognized in this field, I also had to deal with some
negative repercussions between myself and other teachers who resented the attention I
was receiving. On one occasion, there was a division meeting where negative comments
were made about me and the work I was doing. It was not the division I belonged to, but
a couple teachers who were uncomfortable with the discussion informed me. I personally
believed that it was difficult for some o f those teachers to see that within a short duration
o f time, I was able to make strong connections with the students and parents. Even more
importantly, I also got the students to do amazing work by helping them transform the
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school environment. The teachers were largely white, middle-class women while the
student population was largely composed o f lower-class, minortized groups o f students.
There also seemed to be few attempts in the past to try and develop a cultural competency
o f the assets within the community and to integrate that into the students’ schooling
experiences.
When I contributed to or lead school activities, I would always try to do so
keeping equity considerations in mind. This, along with direct attempts to connect with
the surrounding community and bring them into the school (which was supported by the
administration) helped in creating the impact which I had in that particular community. I
went to the head o f the division and made it clear that I heard some people had concerns
and if they have anything they would like to raise they should come directly to me instead
o f talking behind my back. I was very cognizant o f the multiple layers o f my identity-
minority, male, Muslim in such situations, as well as the resentment that people had for a
young teacher who was beginning to be recognized throughout the board as an emerging
leader in terms o f my classroom practices and critical pedagogy. Age was a clear factor.
On one occasion, I entered a classroom to model some literacy strategies and the teacher
o f that particular class said to me, “I have been teaching for twenty-five years, but YOU
are the expert.” As the year progressed, it was difficult to deal with some o f that
negativity. I had to make a concerted effort to focus on good incidents that happened and
eventually conceded that I was not there to be “friends” with everyone. I tried to be
respectful but stood my ground when it came to advocating for what I thought was good
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for the students and/or the community. To me, as a Muslim and as an individual, the
most important thing I can develop in my students is their character.
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Chapter 5
Islamic Epistemology and Social Justice Pedagogy in Education
The goal o f a Muslim in this earthly life is to attain the pleasure o f Allah. The
attainment o f this pleasure is inextricably linked to the pursuit o f knowledge so that
Muslims could understand which actions help to attain that pleasure as well as what
actions would earn God’s displeasure. Through this understanding, a moral and ethical
foundation for action is laid that encourages individuals to focus on both their personal
development as well as the need to do actions for no other reason than attaining the
pleasure o f God. This moral imperative forms the basis to engage agency and promote
social change. The theme o f social justice is interwoven throughout the Our ’anic
narrative and has both social and sacred implications. Sacred because they fulfil the
requirements o f God and social because true leadership (whatever it’s form) comes to
those who hold to such principles because they promote justice and equity within society
for all. This is the Qur ’anic imperative exemplified by Muhammad (peace be upon him).
This concept o f social justice is achieved by giving the

individual a better understanding o f his duties in society and
the reward thereof as provided under the Islamic dispensation.
Education, being the measure and touchstone in this context,
was made obligatory by the Prophet [peace be upon him] on
every Muslim. More specifically he said and knew that
knowledge enabled one to distinguish right from wrong. By
virtue o f it, God exalts nations, makes them guides in good
pursuits, and gives them leadership. (Qureshi, 1997)
In fact, Muslims are taught that if actions are done for anything other than the
pleasure o f God, they will only get the benefit o f what they were seeking (Kulliyyah o f
ICT., 2002). Whereas if an individual does something for the pleasure o f God, they will
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earn that and many other rewards in the process. In earlier discussions o f the construction
o f knowledge (ilm), it was explained that knowledge is defined in a more comprehensive
manner within an Islamic framework. It goes beyond information and includes action.
There are numerous incidents in the Qur’an where knowledge and action are mentioned
simultaneously. This understanding acts as a tool to facilitate the operationalization o f
knowledge.
The operationalization o f knowledge is considered to be fundamental to the
understanding and implementation o f Islam across time and space because knowledge
leamt for its own sake is considered to be o f no use and in some cases destructive.
The impetus for operationalisation o f knowledge was provided

by the moral imperative that was inextricably meshed into the
fabric o f ilm. Here again, it was at once a moral obligation to
acquire and disseminate ilm. For eight classical scholars, it was
at once a moral obligation to acquire and disseminate ilm and
operationalise it as a moral discriminant....Suffice it to say that
amal (action) was declared part and parcel o f ilm and ilm
without amal was inconceivable. This was indeed the
operationalisation strategy for ilm and it was guided, in spirit and
letter, by the central Islamic concept o f tawheed and the moral
dictates which this implies. Indeed, the moral imperative, the
function that knowledge performed, whether it was 'objective' or
'subjective', 'praiseworthy' or 'blameworthy' was determined on
the sole criteria o f its moral worth. (Ahmad)
Once again, it is important to note the difference here between western,
individually-based altruism and constructions o f morality, and a coded belief system that
provides the parameters that describe morality and spirituality in detail and gives clear
parameters for what can be described as “good works” (Giroux 1983a). Giroux, (1983a)
noted that action is reflective not reactionary, and for those who are guided by an Islamic
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epistemology, this has clear implications about notions o f social justice and praxis.
Furthermore, because o f the relationship between the individual and God, the onus is
placed on individuals to do their best to remedy situations o f wrong doing, injustice and
in helping those who are less fortunate. The Prophet Muhammad said that “Whoever
among you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand (by taking action); if he
cannot, then with his tongue (by speaking out); if he cannot, then with his heart (by
hating it and feeling that it is wrong), and that is the weakest o f faith.” This narration
clearly links action to faith and encourages individuals to act in the best interest o f
changing any injustice they may witness or experience themselves.
My classroom curriculum is framed within a social justice lens. I always try to
focus on teaching that is connected to the real experiences o f the students. At the end o f
my units, I ask the question: “So now what? N ow that you know this information, what
are you going to do about it?” I tiy to push them to understand that knowledge when it is
operationalized transforms them into change agents. As I continued to teach, I created a
specific social justice unit and another unit that focussed on resistance and its various
forms. In teaching my students this information, my intent was to equip them with the
intellectual capital necessary to become advocates for themselves and others and to
appreciate the contributions o f those who devoted their lives to transforming society. This
is evident on the class website which starts off by stating, “together we can change the
world” referring to the 8C Family’s collective power to effect change in the world (8C
Armadale Public School, 2006). Further, some o f the topics they chose to explore on their
student websites included: media literacy; body image for teenagers; over consumption o f
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the world’s resources; poverty in different parts o f the world; the issue o f gangs was an
important because o f gang activity in their neighbourhood; and utilizing the Six Thinking
Hats to explore issues o f war and peace. The students introduce the readers to the idea of
social justice on the class website by stating:
Social Justice
Make a difference, Use your power within you to stand up to
wrong! This Social Justice site will teach you about many
heroic activists that stood up to wrongs and made things right.
And there are many that made a change in this world in order
for us to live the way we do today. You will also learn that
anyone can change anything that’s negative, only if you stand
up for your rights. You will also learn the struggles
and sacrifices these activists have gone through for doing right
things and making a difference. ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat
to justice everywhere. ’ (8C Armadale Public School, 2006)
On the “injustice” section o f the website, the students felt comfortable enough to situate
themselves from the position o f their spiritual beliefs, demonstrate empathy and the
social justice consideration o f effecting individual and collective agency to make a
difference in the world:
Why do people become unjust?

Many treat others unfairly for power, some do it because o f
jealousy, and some even do it because they cannot think o f
anything better. What ever is the reason, being unjust to others
is wrong. People forget that there is a power watching them, a
power that created the trees and the rivers that flow, the power
that created the oceans and the skies, the power that rules the
heaven and the earth that we live on.
If only these people knew what the other person is going

through they might stop. If they could just feel the
circumstances o f others heart they might not have the ability to
continue with their undeserved actions. Now it is our duty to get
this message to them. It is our responsibility to tell them the
state o f others. We are the ones held responsible for making
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these people realize the wounded feelings o f others. (8C
Armadale Public School, 2006)
As a Muslim teacher, the feeling o f satisfaction that I got when I saw those ethics
being reflected in their work was tremendous especially because this would eventually
inform the way they will interact in the future with others. Furthermore, I feel that I am
able to contribute in a meaningful manner to society while staying true to my beliefs. My
curriculum is designed to empower them to understand the power relations that exist
within society and the world. Instead, I wanted them to focus on the power o f those who
were marginalized and the great changes that can be made when people are committed to
effecting change. I also teach my students social justice vocabulary and teach them how
to use it effectively. I even encourage them to use it in our classroom discussions and
assignments with the incentive o f receiving bonus marks if they do so in a contextually
appropriate manner. This vocabulary includes words and terms such as “equity, equality,
functional superiority, consumerism, advocacy, empower, marginalized, minoritized,
[change agents and] discrimination” among many other terms (8C Armadale Public
School, 2006). Teaching students this language and these concepts empowers them to
understand their personal social locations and how to negotiate their relationships with
the dominant power structure o f society. This additionally enables them to contextualize
their personal situations and activate their personal and collective agency to effect
change.
An inclusive, social justice approach to education must also deal with the
complexities o f world-views that may diametrically oppose our own personal belief
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systems. Issues such as abortion, homosexuality and the role o f women may be examples
that may evoke strong opinions within the spectrum o f secular to religious perspectives.
Within the sphere o f public education, controversial issues can be unpacked under the
banner o f different understandings and lived realities o f the world. It is the reality o f the
world in which we live that people approach and understand life and the choices they
make through different operational paradigms.
A multi-centric approach assists students to understand the complexities o f lived
experiences and the way different groups o f people approach the world. This is still
constructed within a framework o f respect for all and resists the need to convert people to
accepting set or specific ways o f viewing and understanding the world. Beck (1999), in
exploring the issue o f homosexuality cites the rhetorical question o f Halstead and
Lewicka (1998):
And so the question arises whether they too (i.e. orthodox

Muslims, Jews and Sikhs), like the majority population in the
USA, are to be considered homophobic, stuck in a timewarp o f
outdated religious proscription. Or is it possible that their view,
though based on a quite different framework o f values and
presuppositions from the gay and lesbian world view, has none
the less, validity in the modern world as a rationally justifiable
alternative cultural perspective on homosexuality? (p. 122)
Beck’s question and resulting answers complement a multi-centred approach to
education and one in which religiously-based epistemologies can successfully co-exist
with contradictory ways o f seeing and knowing that may conflict with those religiously
or spiritually based ways o f knowing. An additional way o f strengthening public
education is by assisting students to focus on common values and ethics that exist across
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belief systems- something that is embedded in a Tawhidic worldview. Public schooling
must also unpack complex issues in a manner that reflects a variety o f worldviews. Beck
continues his exploration o f the issue by noting,
What schools can legitimately do, and should do, is:
(1) to help young people to understand that sexual relationships

are also always inter-personal relationships (as well as
including, in some cases, the potential for procreation) and that
as such they involve complex ethical considerations and
choices;
(2) to help them to understand the difficult distinction between
the public and private spheres o f values and why within some o f
the 'thick' complex value systems associated with religious
traditions, certain acts which are legitimate within the public
sphere are nevertheless held, seriously and sincerely by some
people, to be immoral, and that such reservations are not the
same thing as unconsidered or malign prejudice; and
(3) to help them to appreciate that these competing value
positions are one reason, though far from the only reason, why
homosexuality remains in some respects a controversial matter
in liberal, democratic, multicultural societies.
To accept that in these limited respects schools should treat this
topic as a controversial issue is not, o f course, incompatible
with the previous argument that as far as public values are
concerned, common schools should endorse the right, including
the moral right, o f those with a gay and lesbian sexual
orientation to enter into sexual relationships consistent with
those orientations. (Beck, 1999, p. 128)
Such approaches may serve to build more aware global citizens with stronger critical
thinking and analytical skills.
In my role as Mu ’allim , I teach my students how to become critical thinkers by
utilizing the Six Thinking Hats. However, I activate the social justice viewpoint by giving
them issues o f societal or global inequity to analyse from their Six Thinking Hats. On one
occasion, I modelled this strategy to a visiting delegation from the United Nations
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University o f Peace in my grade 8 class. I wrote the statement “the purpose o f war is to
secure peace” on the board then I encouraged the students to decipher the statement and
come up with individual ideas on the issue. Finally, they formulated a collective
response. The visiting delegation expressed surprise and the level o f discussion that was
happening and by their ability to develop a sophisticated level o f discussion on the topic
especially because they were using the social justice language throughout their discourse.
In addition to using this language, I often encourage my students to take positions
on issues that they feel comfortable with even if those positions diametrically opposes my
own personal views. We also talked about intellectual humility and the difference
between ego-centricism and socio-centricism. By engaging this process, I wanted my
students to understand that the purpose o f critical thinking is to uncover the truth or at
least a common understanding on a particular issue. This is exactly what the great,
classical scholars o f Islam used to do when they would pray that the truth would come
out on the tongue o f the person with whom they were debating. It also enabled them to
advocate on their own behalf; a valuable skill for both them and society.
On one occasion, a student came to me in tears because she was worried about
going home with a mark that was 30% lower than on her last report card. She disagreed
with her marks and explained her situation to me. In my journal, I reflected, “I told her
that it sounded like she had a good case and she should advocate for herself by going to
her teacher.” (Chanicka, Journal entry, March 13th 2006). She had spoken to the teacher
and did not feel that it helped. Based on her story, I felt inclined to believe that the
teacher was wrong but I could not express that to her. Without her knowing, I went and
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spoke to the teacher. The issue was around one assignment that she claimed to have
handed in while the teacher was not sure that she did (although he admitted that he could
have lost it). Instead o f focusing on the quality o f all her other assignments he decided to
give her a mark o f 68%. I engaged him on this to understand his rationale. I asked him if
he excluded the one assignment (which was a regular assignment o f equal weighting to
the others he gave) what mark would he give her? He noted that if he gave her 80% it
would be correct, because she knows her work very well, she does her assignments,
participates as a leader in class and is usually one o f his top students. That angered me
because I did not understand his reasoning for going from 80% to 68%. We talked about
it for some time. I had to be very careful about what I said because in the end, I wanted a
fair outcome for the student, so I could not risk him feeling that I was stepping on his toes
or questioning his judgement in a negative manner. At the end o f the discussion, he
agreed to call her mom and let her know what happened and increase her mark. That
evening before she left, she came to see me and said “thank you.” The smile on her face
said it all to me. I told her I did not do much but I hoped she understood the importance
o f advocating for herself to which she replied ‘yes’.
On my first day o f class in September 2 0 0 5 ,1 began working at a new school. The
students there had no previous experience with me, nor I with them. Once we set up the
classroom environment together, w e sat and talked about life at that school and their
experiences as well as some o f my own. At that time, they disclosed to me some issues
that they had with the bathroom doors not working. In one case in the girl’s washroom
one stall did not even have a door. We talked about the fact that the school had never
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been painted and that although there was some work on the roof, it would still leak at
times. I asked them if they did anything about it to which they replied that they had
become used to such things and did not say anything to the teachers, administration or
their parents.
That bothered me a great deal. The focus o f schooling should be the students
themselves. As a Muslim, they were under my care and protection and I would be
accountable to God for the conditions that they endured. Even though I could not change
it myself, I could try to do something to make a difference. We spent time exploring the
notion o f second-class and first- class citizenship and what it meant to be a first-class
citizen. I asked them why they would accept that type o f treatment for themselves or their
peers. However, they had never been exposed to anything else and were content with
accepting the status quo. I realized at that point why the principal o f the school had hired
me, because she knew that I focused on these issues and always tried to develop a
constructive and transformative type o f agency among students, staff and community
wherever I worked. We also talked about being a part o f the solution and not a part o f the
problem. While it was important to advocate for these circumstances to be remedied, we
also needed to work to see how w e could be positive agents o f change.
Knowledge, I told them, was a path that would allow them to understand these
issues and their roles. That led me to do an exercise with my students, which focused on
creating a class mission statement. We worked for several weeks on this so that it
reflected the different ideals that we needed to be successful and what we wanted people
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to know about us. The following mission statement was posted up outside our classroom
door for everyone to see:
Before you step into our room, you should know that our 8C
family is on time, on task and on a mission.We believe that we
must be self-directed and life-long learners. Knowledge is the
key to power. It will open many doors in the future.
As a family it is our duty to treat each other fairly, co-operate,
respect each other, participate actively in our learning,
constantly strive to improve ourselves and each other and create
a safe learning environment. As the oldest in the school we
recognize our responsibilities are to be leaders and advocate for
what is right beginning with ourselves, here at school, in our
community and the world. We are here to have fun but we will
never let that make us settle for second best and we will always
do our best! We are a trusting community that understands we
are world leaders! Welcome to our home! (Posted on Classroom
door, 2005)
This established a platform for the rest o f the year by which the students could engage the
curriculum in a dynamic way. Such an approach would encourage them to actively
question what informed and shaped their worldviews; the expectations that they, as well
as others, and the system may have had for them; it pushed them to understand how they
could effect change and more importantly- why it was necessary.
One o f the reasons I became a teacher was because o f the work I had done in the
education system. Prior to applying to the Faculty o f Education, I had approximately
eight years o f experience volunteering and working at a variety o f levels. I had gone in
and frequently done in-service training for administrators and teachers assisting them to
understand the needs o f minoritized youth and to encourage these young people to stand
up and advocate for themselves. I remember one incident that greatly informed my
decision to go into teaching. I worked for a year as a counselor with youth designated as
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“at-risk”. These youth exist on the margins o f school and my job was to work with them
and try to assist them to successfully navigate the school system. I started in September,
2001 just after the World Trade Centre bombing. The issues that affected Arab and
Muslim students at the time were phenomenal and unfortunately the board I was situated
in had not even issued a memo asking principals to be cognizant o f how these students
may be affected.
One student, whom I did not work with, approached me directly one day and
asked to talk to me. He was Muslim, Arab- half-Afghan, half-Iraqi. His car was stolen
and vandalized and he was having a hard time getting help. He felt that when he went to
the police that they were accusing him instead o f helping him. This was not hard to
believe given that he also came from an area characterized by low income, immigrant
families who had a history o f policing. The intersections o f religion, race, class and
poverty are often overlapping. While at moments, one layer may be the primary reason
for systemic oppression, at other times, they overlap each other and compound the issues
that affect minorities and the minoritized. In re-tracing that moment some time later to
understand how it influenced my entry into the field o f education, I noted:
I remember how sad I felt at that moment. This student was

trapped in a difficult situation and obviously felt very
powerless. Fear had become a rampant commonality o f a post-
September society. Arabs and Muslims were often placed on the
same platform as the terrorists who had committed the bombing
o f the world trade centre. It was common in Toronto at that time
as in many places across North America to hear o f hate crimes
being perpetuated against Arabs, Muslims and many members
o f South East Asian heritage. This student’s life was no
different; he was a Muslim, Arab who was also half-
Afghan/half-Iraqi which was a toxic mix in the prevailing geo-
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political climate. He was scared and unsure o f his rights or his
place in society anymore. Furthermore, the Toronto District
School Board [TDSB] which governed his school had not
released any memos or advisories letting administrators and
teachers know how the students in TDSB who matched the
above profile would potentially suffer in a post-September 11th.
There were no policies or mechanisms in place to support either
students or staff I recall sitting in the staffroom listening to
teachers complain about certain groups o f students whose
grades were failing or whose grades were declining. However I
did not hear any teacher make the connection between the lower
performance with post-September 11th anxiety and stress
disorders that was emerging. Many teachers blamed low
performance on a lack o f effort. At times I would try to explain
that there could be a connection between the event and student
performance. Some teachers admitted to never thinking about
such a connection while others dismissed it. “If students want to
succeed, they will make the effort” was the response.
(Appendix F)
Nothing frustrated me more, because at that time, I was an external consultant to the
board and not a board employee. I felt that my hands were tied while so many vulnerable
young people were not getting the assistance necessary to help them in school. Instead I
saw the school system as belligerently perpetuating the existing social class system where
many minoritized youth were being further marginalized and condemned to second-class
status. It was this and many similar incidents that served as a catalyst for my entry into
the field o f education. It was also the reason why I have always chosen to work in school
locations that were characterized by high populations o f at-risk students. The intersection
o f my faith with my own personal experiences o f marginalization that I had either
experienced myself or witnessed in the school system served as a powerful catalyst to
push me to help all students succeed.
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The altruistic spirit in Islam, I have found, is situated as a part o f a wider
epistemological paradigm that identifies and moulds the form o f what that altruism
should look like for a Muslim. It also creates a site from which a form o f liberatory
social praxis may be pursued, and for which the practitioner has a sense o f accountability
not only to individuals but also to Allah. A Muslim teacher who follows this paradigm
has a basis to integrate or engage in a social justice based pedagogy in their classrooms as
well as a moral imperative by which they may act to resist the system in order to promote
student success.
This idea further informs us how faith can act as a site o f resistance against
oppression. Zine cites Taylor to support this understanding:
[A]s an anti-colonial force, Taylor (2002) views spirituality as a

transcendent, resurgent, and insurgent force. He describes its
unifying and ‘integrative reach’ that is
‘... evident in the visions and beliefs o f those in struggle with
(neo-) colonizing powers, who invoke and reflect upon alliances
and unities, using myth story and history for some transcending
o f temporal and spatial horizons. This need not be a totalizing
discourse replicating the universalizing paradigms of the (neo-)
colonizer. It is a reach for unity, based in senses o f ‘one earth’
or ‘one cosmos’ that can enable a reaching across national and
cultural boundaries, as in Pan-African, Pan-Arab, and Pan-Maya
resistance to (neo-) colonizing power....’ (Taylor as cited by
Zine 2004, p.92)
Zine also cites Dei who argues “spirituality speaks o f the embodiment o f the self
as a necessary condition for political action” (Dei as cited by Zine 2004, p.92). My own
journey has seen my resistance informed through Islam. At times it was quite difficult to
continue my work because o f systemic barriers, whether those barriers were against my
students, the community, or me. I tried to be patient and continually hopeful through my
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actions and prayers. As a Muslim educator, I have had to continually navigate such
situations and deal with issues where my “muslim-ness” has been used as a point o f
contestation. It is the truth o f all minorities and minoritized groups o f people.
On one occasion at one school I worked at, a group was brought in to discuss
abuse- physical and sexual- to a group o f intermediate students. I sat in on the
presentation and initially it started quite well. However as the presentation continued, I
was shocked and mortified to hear the presenters get into the specifics o f explaining
sodomy, voyeurism and several other sexually explicit activities to my grade 7 and grade
8 students. Many o f the students in that particular community had never been exposed to
nor even imagined that such activities existed. Culturally, many o f them came from
conservative homes and started to become quite uncomfortable. It became quite clear that
they were uncomfortable when up to thirty students; one after the other came and asked
to be excused to go to the bathroom. Other teachers were also uncomfortable with the
presentation. I went to one administrator and explained what was happening and was
quite shocked by the response I received, “Are you sure that it is inappropriate for the
children or are YOU uncomfortable with it?” Ordinarily, I would not have had a problem
with the question but it was the tone in which I was spoken to and the implication that
because o f my religious or “seemingly conservative” beliefs that I was uncomfortable
with the presentation. I became really frustrated. The administrator did not make an
attempt to come and listen to the presentation and simply allowed it to finish. I went
back to the presentation, allowed every student who wanted to leave to go to the
bathroom to leave and took notes. At the end o f the presentation, I gave the combined
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feedback o f the other teachers and myself to the coordinator o f the presenters. I had
community circle with my students after school (when the presentation ended) to ask
them for their feedback because I wanted to gauge if I was over-reacting. Some o f the
students felt it was ok, some felt very uncomfortable but the majority o f them noted two
things: 1) they learnt new things about sex and sexual activity e.g. not knowing what the
specifics o f sodomy and voyeurism, and 2) if their parents knew they sat and listened to
the presentation and learnt about those things, they felt they would be punished. That
was given and asked how they would feel if his or her child sat in on a conversation
where the mechanics o f sodomy was explained with detailed precision. I also explained
that the “perception” that I may be conservative was misguided and that I speak to
students about issues that are relevant at the time. The only response I received was that
the situation was now over and that if I felt I needed to discuss the situation some more, I
could come to the office. I never did go.
Ironically, it was that same administrator I spoke to on another occasion where I
explained that I needed to have a discussion with my students about Rainbow parties.
These were parties where girls would wear different colour lipstick and all take turns
performing oral sex on several boys at a time. I was concerned because it was starting to
happen in the neighbourhood and I wanted to talk to the students about healthy choices,
behaviour and to help them be aware o f what the repercussions o f such activity would be.
I was told that I should re-consider and maybe refrain from having the discussion. That
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jcu mv classroom aoor ana i naa the discussion with mv students. Thev were
: t » e out mere was a context and an exposure, which aireadv existed in the community.
I also had a similar situation with the Friday prayer at school. Because o f daylight
savings time, sometimes the Friday prayer would occur during lunch and other times it
would occur after the lunch hour. It was difficult to try to leave school during lunch on
some days especially if I had lunch duty. It would ultimately be left to me to try and find
a suitable time to exchange with another staff member so I could leave the school. This
became increasingly difficult with a rotating daily schedule because there was no
guarantee when the timetable days would change - if it would fall during my prayer time
or not. In some o f the schools I worked at, the principals would allow me to lead the
Friday prayer at school for students who wanted to attend. It often fulfilled three
purposes: 1) it gave me a space to pray so I did not have to leave and rush to prayer and
try to rush back to school on time; 2) gave the students an opportunity to pray if they
chose to and 3) prevented students from signing out o f school and missing school time to
go to the mosque which was occurring and largely on the part o f students who needed to
be present in class because they were struggling. I would either have the prayer during
the last 20 minutes o f lunch OR right after school to ensure minimal interruptions to the
daily routines at school. If that did not occur, I had administrators who would cover my
class if my prayer times fell during class time.
On one occasion, I had an administrator whom I felt was uncomfortable because
o f his/her Christian background that I was leading the prayer at school. I was called to the
office and told that although prior administrators may have allowed it, that it was against
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board policy for any teacher to lead a religious activity on school premises. I explained
that I understood this but it was difficult when the time changed because o f having to try
and arrange for classes to be covered and even when it was lunch the closest area to pray
was at least 20 minutes away -
offered that they could sit in and listen to the ten-minute prayer to see that all I talked
about was character-based issues, which were inline with board policies. The response
was that they would check with the board to confirm that this was indeed the policy. I
asked if a parent could come and conduct the prayer so that students could attend and I
could be the teacher assigned. The response was “no” because it was board policy. While
I could understand the policy in a general context, I felt it was not fair to Muslims
because the mandatory prayer time meant that Muslims prayer necessarily fell during the
school day. There was no acknowledgement o f the difficulties or interruptions and stress
this would cause to either the students or myself. What was important was that we
followed the board policy. When other non-Muslim staff members heard this, they were
quite upset. Often, 15- 20 students would attend and among them would be a handful o f
students who were always in trouble in the office. The teachers all felt that the prayer was
a good opportunity for them to have something positive in their lives, which they felt,
was missing otherwise.
I called the board official and asked for clarification but was told the same thing. I
asked how my leading the prayer at school was different from a teacher singing
Christmas carols about Jesus, that were inherently religious by nature (not festive), any
different. The response I received was that Christmas was a festival. In the end, I was told
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that the administrator had the final say. In this case, my administrator said an emphatic no
and said that he/she did not want other students and teachers to feel that the Muslim
students were getting special treatment. Especially because as a Christian, he/she could
not have a bible study group for Christian students. I asked then, that I be given my time
to pray and was told that it would be my responsibility each week to find someone to
cover me. Eventually one o f my Jewish teaching partners covered my class so I could
pray and I would then have to speed twenty-thirty kilometres over the speed limit to try
and get back to school as quickly as possible. It was very stressful for me, I prayed a lot
and advocated for the students and community as much as I could. The students learnt a
lot about life from that situation - that situations changed and the role o f power in
affecting how they were able to practice their religious beliefs within school. Many were
quite angry at not being able to pray at school anymore and started signing out o f school
again. But they also saw that it was a Jewish colleague who would give up time for me to
be able to go to pray at a mosque. I explained to them that everything in life is a test and
we always have to see what we can learn and what we can do to make a positive
difference. In this case, I also explained to them that it was the policy and I had done as
much as I could do and unfortunately whether w e like it or not, I did not have the power
to do anything else about it. At the same time, I could not become negative or act in a
negative manner because it may hurt future opportunities for creating change. I used it as
an opportunity to teach them both spiritual and life lessons. I eventually left that school
because I never found the openness to issues o f equity and inclusivity that I desired and
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had to make the difficult decision to go to another site where I could make a positive
change.
It is this same holistic spirituality that allows me to function within a pluralistic
society, and to do my work as a teacher in public education. A part o f my mission is to
assist my students, other teachers, parents and the system to help utilize education as a
site for social transformation.
This formed the context for an initiative I began in my current Board o f Education.
In my first year o f teaching, I proposed a program to my principal to connect children from
Canada with children from less privileged situations both nationally and abroad. We began
the project- Helping Hands, as an integrated component o f the Language/Social Studies
curriculum within a participatory democracy framework. Eventually, the program grew to
include math and other subjects along with a focus on character education. The Helping
Hands reporting document chronicles this:
Helping Hands developed as a component o f an integrated

Geography and English Language program at Ashton Meadows
P.S. in 2003. This initiative sought to tie the board’s Character
Matters program with its commitment to ‘inspire and prepare
learnersfo r life in our changing world community. ’ It was
based on a practical approach to learning and a desire to impart
humanitarian values to our students. Over the past two years,
Helping Hands has continued to provide opportunities for
students to understand relationships between the ‘have and
have-not communities’ in the world and provide students and
school communities with opportunities to directly assist those
less fortunate. Each year this initiative continues to grow as
more schools become involved and participate. (Appendix G)
The countries Helping Hands connected students in Canada with students and
families from Iraq, Jamaica, Grenada, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Pakistan. It also
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expanded across 24 schools including one from another school board. The program was
well received and continues to receive support within the board today. It succeeded with
support from both my administration as well as a superintendent in my board at the time
who valued this type o f work. Without such support, moving the program to this level
would have been very difficult. Helping Hands reflected a form o f positive agency
because it represented my need to value good character over the curriculum. However, I
am also legally and divinely accountable to teach the curriculum. Helping Hands allowed
me the space to do both in a meaningful and effective manner.
Another initiative I began at my school was one that directly targeted our “at-risk”
students. With the support o f the administration, I was given time to develop and run a
program that targeted some o f our Grade 7 and 8 students who could potentially be pushed
out (Sefa-Dei et al., 1997) (as opposed to drop out) o f school. The strategies o f this
program included the designation o f the At-Risk resource teacher as an advocate for the
students as well as the willingness to explore alternative forms o f discipline. I was not
satisfied with the program running only at our school. I had experienced working in this
type o f program before and I believed that it could work. I contacted one o f the board
researchers to let him know about the project and asked him to assist by doing research on
the program. My hope was to do some research that would highlight the need for such
programs across the York Region District School Board. I eventually did a presentation on
the program to the director o f the board along with superintendents and other stakeholders
and the feedback was very positive. However, the program did not go beyond the school
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even though the research indicated a positive impact on the students. It is at these moments
I pray for patience.
Systemic change takes time and I have to remember that I am only accountable for
doing my best. Once I do this, everything else is in the hands o f God. Muslims believe that
when w e see something wrong we must do our best to change it; however, this is based on
the understanding that we may not see the result o f the efforts - though we are accountable
for taking action. I believe that the public school system marginalizes at-risk students and
pushes them out o f it. For this reason, I see the work that I have done in the field o f risk and
resiliency over the past three years as a way to bring justice to those who have been treated
-many times- in an unjust manner. After the murder o f a 12 year old boy, I wrote an article
to advocate for systemic change. It was sent out to all teachers in a neighbouring board o f
education. The following is an excerpt questioning the level o f access different students
enjoy within the system and problematizing the manifestations o f power and equity in the
system.
Our school systems are largely reflective o f the society that

surrounds them. Students have lived realities that they bring into
their classrooms each and every day. Increasingly the roles o f
teachers have been rapidly increasing albeit to a structure that is
chronically under-ftmded. Current policies such as zero
tolerance often operates based on the system o f perceived
‘fairness and equality’. By this I mean that we should treat
everyone the same, we should not think about the context in
which a situation may occur. It also assumes that all students
have the same levels o f experience, awareness and opportunity
to deal with any issue that happens because the system is
supposedly fair. It does not reflect the reality that, just as in
society, some o f these students may not have or may not feel
they have access to the same avenues to deal with issues that
others students may have. This may be because they may not
have the best marks, because they have had other incidents in
the past by which they would be judged or simply a lack o f
confidence or know-how in terms o f accessing the system or
being advocates for themselves. Equality in the school system is
not a precondition for equity and equal treatment in these cases
assumes that we can be fair by not considering the nature o f the
issue as well as the individual social and cultural
contexts... .Without addressing issues o f power, equity, and
social difference w e will not be able to deal with the
disengagement o f students from the school system. The school,
being a mirror o f society, then becomes another institution that
promotes the values and rights o f some while severely
marginalising others. All o f this also needs to be examined
within the context o f popular culture and the promotion o f
violence and individualism as avenues for conflict resolution.
Many schools are now individually looking at suspension
alternative programs by which they can deal with issues in the
school system that are fair and allow students the ability to deal
with their actions. It also empowers them to understand how to
access the system in which they live and how to advocate for
themselves. There is a need for such alternatives to be systemic
and not based on the individual impetus o f the schools. As a
system in which the youth o f our country will spend the
majority o f their lives, we need to re-examine the way in which
issues o f discipline and authority are enforced. The displaced,
epitomized in the likes of Reena Virk from [Victoria] and more
recently the young 12 year-old boy, need to be given back their
voices. Reena Virk was too scared to access the system to save
her own life. Our systems as they are currently structured are
reinforcing such feelings, our students are disengaging
themselves and it will be to the detriment o f our country as a
whole. And unless this changes, we may be unfortunate enough
to hear o f more and similar incidents, o f the “loners” who just
“flipped-out” one day. (Appendix H)
My work with the at-risk program sought to create systemic acceptance for
divergent practices otherwise not usually mandated within the system. Kohl (1994) has
noted that teachers engage in “creative maladjustment” and Giroux (1988) views teachers
as “transformative intellectuals.”
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My hope is to shift away from the common lens used to understand such
resistance -a s being highly relative, or based on solely individualistic concerns about
social justice and introduce another lens through which such action can be viewed - a
divine motivation. As a teacher who at times chooses to resist within the education
system, it is important that this be contextualized as “...reclaiming subjugated
knowledges and engaging in subversive educational politics that seek to de-colonize the
practices o f schooling that privilege only dominant ways o f knowing, teaching and
learning” (Zine, 2004, p. 102). As a teacher, there have been moments o f resistance in
which I have engaged. I did this, despite the system’s warnings and requirements because
I believed that it was in the best interest o f my students.
Teachers are not supposed to share their email addresses or email correspondence
with students. I understand that this is to protect both students and teachers but I also
believe that the policy was developed based on negative incidents as opposed to focus on
the positive impact that such communication can have. I give my students my email
address and add them to my online messenger so that w e can engage in live discussions
online. There are several reasons for this. The first reason is to be able to send work via
email or for them to be able to contact me if they have questions on assignments that they
are doing. But at a more fundamental level, I see this as a way to facilitate my role as a
Murabbi. Through some online discussions, I am able to assist students to reflect on
incidents where they may not have made the best decisions or encourage them to make
healthy decisions on issues they are facing. What I do to protect myself is to keep a log o f
all the conversations and inform the parents that I am in contact with the students in this
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manner. Through such online discussions I have been able to learn about several issues
impacting students in school such as negative relationships with peers as well as problems
at home and be able to address it openly in class. This assisted them to develop healthier,
more successful relationships.
I would also leave messages online such as “I love you 8C” to let my students know
I am thinking about them and my role as their teacher does not stop at the end o f the day.
By understanding my role in looking out for my students, I am able to centre myself and
understand the roles I need to play both within my class and the school system. The same
can be said about my relationship with the administration o f the school and how I choose to
negotiate that within the context o f the well being o f the students.
At some point it becomes necessary to mention the phenomenal

role that my principal has played and continues to play as a
mentor, leader, advocate and friend through my process and
growth as an educator. It has been useful to have an
administrator who shares a similar vision and passion and
commitment to student success. Without a committed
administrator it is difficult to achieve change within a system.
People are under the mistaken impression that Sharon
(principal) and I agree on everything. The short response to this
is that we do not. What we do, is share the overall vision and
goals. Our methods may differ but the end is the same. So we
do argue with each other at times about what approach is best
for the students and in the end it is her call BUT she does listen
and is open to accepting something even if it conflicts with her
opinion. (Chanicka, Journal March 30lh 2006)
In seeking to explore what leads to resistance, there is a need to critically read
beyond western altruistic and individualistic notions o f what is “right” to understand that
resistance may be informed by religion and spirituality without essentializing religion
(Giroux, 1988). Furthermore, resistance is sometimes spurred on by a notion o f

116
connectedness that is entrenched within Islamic doctrine. This allows people the
opportunity to understand that their resistance 1) is connected to a Higher Being other than
themselves which minimizes the notion o f simple altruism and 2) resistance, while it
may/may not help the one engaging in its process, may at least assist in
informing/assisting/liberating other members o f that community or other oppressed
communities. This makes resistance clearly political but entrenched within an individually
activated, spiritual code o f responsibility to the Creator and a recognition o f providing
service to the Creation. On one occasion at my board’s Leadership Forum - which serves
as a scholarly body within my board- I was asked by a coordinating superintendent, “what
was the kernel o f teacher resistance?” I told her “that it was student success (removing
students from the margins) and a commitment to public education” (Chanicka, Journal
entry March 11th 2006).
My work with the Equity Team which looked at the development o f equity training
in the board has resulted from this world view. It serves as a point o f departure by which I
can work to affect change systemieally as opposed to only locally in my own class or
school. At this level, administrators and managers are encouraged to analyse their teaching
and hiring practices, to ensure that all students are included and all groups are represented
in the board’s hiring practices.
I am not sure though if it is based on the assumption that

participants will accept that a Diverse workforce will be good
after presenting them with some o f the data. I think something
that needs to be addressed is the way we view a “qualified
applicant/worker”. Many times the response given is that “I am
hiring based on skill and not race (or anything else)” without the
realization that because “skills” are perceived through one lens,
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it automatically negates other types o f skills and assets o f other
groups o f people and hence current hegemony is preserved.
Perhaps this (concern) is repetitive and is meant to happen when
the “filters” are discussed? Sorry if it is/was - 1just wanted to
be sure. (Chanicka, Email correspondence, April 1 2006).
The need for diverse hiring practices ensures that all groups are represented and by
extension, it ensures that the needs o f our students and teachers will be represented as
well. It is essential that the public education system is inclusive. My own experience as a
teacher reflected this. At one o f my past schools, my principal and I shared a West Indian
cultural connection which often helped her to understand my perspectives on issues, “It
helps that we share a broader West Indian cultural connection- she gets me. When it
comes to Islam, she is open to learning more so that she can understand and become even
more inclusive in her practice” (Chanicka, Journal entry, March 30th 2006).
My own experiences o f resistance have been vast; from advocating on behalf o f
marginalized students to administrators willing to listen and to those not willing to listen; to
those who did not understand their own privileges or at times did not care; fighting for a
space to observe the Friday prayer at school; advocating on behalf o f marginalized
teachers/parents; assisting parents to know their rights and how to access the system; tiying
to create systemic change through classroom practices as well as at the policy level by
being outspoken, sitting on board planning teams and advancing divergent views among
other issues. There are moments when some o f these areas overlap and it becomes
important to advocate because it impacts several groups o f people in a variety o f ways and
affects student success. One such incident involved the lack o f working photocopiers at a
school that had approximately 1000 students. Apparently before I joined the school, people
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had complained and nothing was done about it. It had become such a huge issue at school
because teachers were spending entire preparation periods attempting to photocopy one
class set o f materials. This would ultimately impact on the students. As a Muslim I
understand that it is my duty to try and do something to affect change. I started email
correspondence with the other staff members o f the school to try and encourage people to
do something about it.
Right now they (board) seem to want to just shove it under the
rug. It is absolutely ridiculous that they could say even though
they KNOW we copy outside, the copiers are always broken,
that despite our high numbers o f students etc that we still don’t
qualify for additional support. If people are willing, I will start
the chain o ff and send the first email to them and then we can
simply add a different starting line/s to say our own thoughts (or
just send the same email) and then leave the rest the same. I am
sure if they get 30 emails they w ill take notice.
They think that we will just back down and they will be able to
just dust this off. I say we don’t let them get away with it, we to
help stop the insanity we have to endure each day, from losing
entire preps, monies spent in copying etc...Maybe we can
suggest that the P.in P-Plus stand for PHOTOCOPIERS?????
.thoughts?
Lets not let them feel they have swept us under their carpets!
(Chanicka, Email correspondence, January 12th 2006)
The example o f Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) around a pact called “h ilf
ul FudooF highlights the ability for Muslims to work with all people, regardless o f faith or
belief systems, to stand together on issues that are considered to be unjust. This pact was
one in which he entered prior to Islam to establish justice on an issue with some o f the
chiefs o f the tribe Quraysh. After Islam was revealed to him, he remarked if he were called
to enter the same pact, that he would do it again. From this, I understand the importance o f
working with all people to establish justice. Although the issue o f the photocopiers was not
at the same level, it still needed to be addressed. This is a recurrent theme present
throughout the Qur 'an. In Chapter 107, Muslims are reminded to be careful o f engaging in
the ritual prayer to be seen by others or to be mindful o f praying while neglecting “small
kindnesses” to those who are less fortunate in society.
.. .the Quran emphasized the responsibility o f Muslims to care

for and protect one another, regardless o f socio-economic status.
In fact, the Quran repeatedly emphasizes the need to care
especially for those who were outcasts under the tribal system-
widows, orphans and the poor... .[T]he Quran emphasized the
responsibility o f the rich toward the poor and dispossessed. The
new social order called for by the Quran reflected the fact that
the purpose o f all actions was the fulfilment o f God’s will, not
following the desires o f tribe or self. (Esposito, 2002, p. 163)
Giroux notes that schools are “cultural sites” and represent arenas o f “contestation
and struggle among differentially empowered groups” (Giroux, 1983b, p.74). To me, this
implies that despite system claims, the curriculum and the school system do not offer the
same opportunities for success to students and to staff. This has been the reality o f my
navigation o f the school system and something that I now recognize as a fundamental
truth o f schooling. The question that continually arose for me was, ‘How was I going to
deal with situations that I felt were unfair and/or unjust?’ These were the times that I had
to rely on my faith to gain inner strength and peace and to use it as a guide to help me
deal with such situations.
“As I have been reflecting, I realise that I have to be careful not

to be perceived as an angry “black” man. You become
frustrated by always being diplomatic and not calling a spade a
spade. I may have to call it a utensil for the development o f the
agricultural economy but not a spade. (Chanicka, Journal entry,
March 30£* 2006)
The moments o f anger and frustration also highlight the complexity o f religiosity
and race, and the necessarily constant negotiation in which people o f colour and
minoritized groups must constantly engage in order to navigate the system. In this
particular entry I used the term “black” because o f the perceptions that I believe exist
around issues o f black and white. It becomes compounded for me when you add the
layers Muslim and male-especially in the post September 11th world. At times it is easy to
feel despondent about the lack o f progress and the apparent work that needs to get done.
Those are the moments I realise that I am not accountable for the results but I am
accountable to fulfil my role as an advocate and change agent to facilitate a
transformative process in my board and that I must stay true to my beliefs and remember
the importance o f engaging in a liberatory form o f social justice praxis.
121
Conclusion
September 11th 2001 was a turning point for Muslims living in North America and
the west. Questions were raised such as, ‘what were the roles and duties o f Muslims in
the West? Can Muslims hold dual identities o f Canadian and Muslim at the same time?
What does active citizenship mean for a Muslim?’ It forced Muslims who were situated
as the “other” by the overarching hegemonic structure as well as those who also
constructed themselves as the “other” to critically reflect on their lives and position
within Western society. The resulting ethos has caused dissonance amongst the Muslim
community as they seek to combat internal ‘ghettoization’ (Ramadan, 2006) resulting
from the isolation imposed upon themselves to ensure that their faith was maintained and
that they were protected from a blatant and total acceptance o f the secular status quo.
This dissonance continues to give currency to the development o f a “critical
Islam” (Mandaville, 2005), one that seeks to hold to the eternal core values o f the faith
while applying it within a modem context. There has been a need for Muslims to de
mystify themselves especially given the negative reputation they have begun to develop
in the dominant discourse in the media (Sharif, 2001). This becomes increasingly difficult
as Muslims seek to navigate the dichotomy o f a secular system that has separated the
sacred from the social, holding that the former is an individual endeavour. Critical Islam
rejects this binary and holds that there can be no separation o f religion and society and
instead seeks to build a civilisation that is based on principles similar to a critical social
democracy.
122
Currently, secular society seeks to compartmentalize the sacred and the social in
order to protect the rights o f all people. However, my understanding and lived experience
is that Islam sees both as part o f an integral whole. As such, Muslims view and
understand the world in a more holistic manner.
As Muslims seek to navigate a secular society situated within this hegemonic
binary, the resulting dissonance has led to calls for Islam to be situated within the current
context. A multi-centric approach to education would allow such understandings to be
shared within a public, secular system without giving power to any one group. Only then
can the public system claim inelusivity and only then will it become truly inclusive. The
parameters that must be established will ensure that over-zealous teachers o f any
persuasion- the religious, secular or scientific right, do not use such entry points in order
to convert students or hijack public education to further their own personal goals.
Simultaneously, complex and difficult knowledge must be unpacked in a manner that
reflects the diversity, which exists in the world today.
Critical Islam requires Muslims to share Islam as an alternative epistemology that
can enrich the public discourse and one which seeks to create a just and inclusive society.
In doing so, scholars have repeatedly called on Muslims to always speak with “one
tongue” in order that there is always one consistent message both within the community
as well as to the wider society. As a minority community within a dominant Anglo-Saxon
society, Muslims now have the responsibility to engage the overarching structure and to
highlight the ways Islam can effectively contribute to society. As this effort begins, there
is a need for the public system to be more open and inclusive, to fulfil the various ways
123
that the world is constructed and the ways that people bring meaning to the world. It
further requires the decolonization o f public education and a willingness to accept the
multiplicity o f truths and worldviews that exist. This is the only way that a critical social
democracy can be established. By minimizing these world-views to brief mention o f
cursory ritualistic/cultural practices relegates entire groups o f people to the margins o f
society. Decolonizing public education means that multiple ethno-cultural groups o f
people can be engaged and given an equitable opportunity for upward mobility and
success within the parameters o f the system. Ultimately, the students are the ones who
will be most successful as a result o f everyone being able to situate themselves within the
structure and fabric o f society.
Research on Islam within the academy has traditionally been situated from the
outsider, orientalist approaches. Such approaches have sought to give meaning to an
epistemological framework which has no meaning to those conducting the research or
succeeded in further polarizing Islam by reinforcing notions o f “them” and “us”. As more
Muslims engage the academy, there have been some attempts to highlight how Islam is
negotiated within the wider discourse (Zine, 2001), or to focus on Islamic epistemology
within Islamic settings (Hashim, 2002; Tauhidi, 2001; Uddin, 2001). There has been a
lack o f research on the role o f Islamic epistemology as a guiding framework for Muslim
teachers within the public system. This is o f critical importance if we are to understand
the motivations o f Muslim teachers and to effectively engage them within a system that
theoretically should represent them. It is increasingly important to “demystify” Islam
especially for those practitioners o f “critical Islam” who seek to stay true to the original
124
texts o f Islam but approach it within a contemporary context. While Islam is not
monolithic and there are multiple and divergent approaches within the broad parameters
o f its faith, there are common values rooted by a shared narrative.
However, it is especially more important for such research to be conducted by
insiders because meaning is/will be best constructed by those who hold Islam as
meaningful (Rahman, 1985). It prevents Islam and its adherents from being objectified
and creates meaningful knowledge that can be treated as a form o f scientific data.
The epistemological foundation o f Islam based on a Tawhidic worldview (al
Faruqi & al Faruqi, 1986) that is perennial in nature. Its premise is based upon the unique
nature o f the Oneness o f God and His message to all o f humanity for all time [Qur’an,
2:213], As such, while messages may have changed over time and manifested in different
ways, the core universal values have remained the same. These are what have come to be
known today as “universal values.” This perennial understanding o f Islam arguably
positions Muslim teachers to better relate to the diversity o f faiths and worldviews that
exist. It is operationalized through the understanding o f the dual nature o f teaching. A
Muslim teacher is both mu 'allim - a transmitter o f knowledge and Murabbi- a role model
and mentor (Henzel 1-Thomas, 2002).
As a Muslim, I believe that my actions ultimately affect my personal relationship
with Allah - to Whom I am accountable. This life is transitory and there is another life in
which I will have to account for all o f my actions in this world. This means that injustices
that have not been remedied in this life will be ultimately resolved and judged by God.
This ethic is considered to be a core foundation o f an Islamic civilisation because a

125
personal relationship with God informs the actions o f a Muslim. There is an
understanding that injustice is a major sin and the perpetrators will be held accountable
for their actions. Such understanding is facilitated by knowledge, which is Islamically
considered to be the noblest goal o f a Muslim. Just as Islam does not compartmentalize
the sacred and the secular, knowledge is not divided into religious or secular. All
knowledge is considered to be sacred, a part o f the same whole that should inform
humanity o f its relationship with God (Qureshi, 1997). Moreover, ‘ilm or knowledge in
Islam is more holistic and moves beyond data or information to include action. This
forms the basis for a social movement that is transformative in nature and seeks to uphold
justice for all individuals - Muslim or not. It also forms the basis for a truly pluralistic
approach to responsible citizenship that is respectful o f all individuals and their right to
co-exist peacefully in society.
Tarbiya is the methodological operationalization o f Tawhid. It assists the teacher
to mould responsible individuals who understand that knowledge is a tool for freedom
and liberation - mental, emotional and physical - and seeks to connect individuals with
their wider sense o f purpose and responsibility to their Creator. Tawhid is a general view
o f reality and truth o f the whole world that does not require its tenets to be imposed upon
others which is emphasized in the Qur’an [Qur’an, 2:156],
My commitment to engaging Islamic epistemology within the framework o f
public education illustrates my own commitment to the same system. It is founded on my
belief that Islamic epistemology can enrich our diverse society. My understanding o f
Tawhid has empowered me to move beyond viewing the layers o f my identity- “Muslim”
126
and “Canadian,” as a dichotomy because there is no conflict here. Canada is my home
and there is no personal desire to confine myself to a mental “ghetto” or to accept being
“otherized” by the dominant hegemonic structure. Furthermore, this knowledge has
enabled me to help my students find their own place in society and to empower them to
become meaningful contributors and change agents on the basis o f their own social
locations and identities.
This holistic approach to Islam has enriched my own personal practice and
allowed me to view the various elements o f my curriculum as indivisible pieces o f a
dynamic whole. Many teachers often have to contend with multiple initiatives continually
being downloaded onto them to incorporate with their students, such as literacy,
numeracy, equity, TRIBES and instructional intelligence. However, I believe that the
construct o f “Oneness” from my own epistemological foundation has enabled me to view
all o f these elements as integral components o f educating the whole child and more
importantly, fulfilling my duties and responsibility to God. Teaching is more than a
profession to me, it is my vocation and has great benefits for me in this life and the next
(Shakir, 2001). As a teacher, God will bless me for all the good that my students go on to
do in the world and for the positive agency that occurs based on what I have taught them.
It is my Islamic epistemology that has given me the opportunity to synthesize knowledge
and character to effect student agency and to hopefully transform and promote a healthy
democratic social revolution (Giroux, 2002).
Giroux’s (1988) notion o f teachers as “transformative intellectuals” actively
working towards achieving a critical democracy is consistent with this. However, the
127
underlying motives for altruism and transformation in Islam are implicated in belief that
this is a duty to Allah alone and should not be done based on any other motivations. It
also locates faith as a site for resistance within the public system (Taylor as cited by Zine,
2004). My ability and willingness to resist the construction o f public education as
restricting the engagement o f religiously based epistemology and rely on my faith as a
site for resistance has allowed me to build upon practices to create a social justice agenda
for my classroom and the public system. As I negotiate my identity in the current context
and operate with the notion o f criticality, I have had to situate myself within the language
o f the dominant discourse and establish my place within the value systems o f the
dominant hegemonic structure. In many instances, I can do this with a clear conscience
because it does not conflict with my faith, which forms the core o f my identity because it
is a part o f the struggle to critically apply Islam within a current contemporary context.
However, I don’t feel that I should need to have to constantly negotiate my faith either
against or within the boundaries o f the dominant discourse. Inclusivity should allow me
to speak with one voice and give me the freedom to operationalize a critical pedagogy
within my own terms and taking my religious needs into consideration.
Parker Palmer, in his The Courage to Teach: Exploring the

Inner Landscape o f a Teacher's Life, stated that “we teach who
we are,” and this literally and figuratively applies to me. My
purpose empowers me to empower my students. Having been
marginalized at various times in my life, including today, my
life has taught me the importance o f validating my students and
their lives, cultures, and perspectives. Together, w e create a
shared narrative, one that sees us as individual agents o f change,
one that values humanity, one that understands equality and
equity, one that cares for our environment and one that can
appreciate the intrinsic good that exists in all people. Within the
128
four walls o f my classroom, I am changing the world, because
that is my purpose. When I die, if even one candle is lit that
brings light, even for one moment, or my star guides a lost ship,
even if one life benefited by my presence, then I will have had a
successful life, and that is the power o f purpose. With certainty,
every single one o f us will taste death, however, not all o f us
will experience living, or living with a purpose. (Chanicka,
2004)
As a Mu ’allim and Murabbi, I have seen the impact o f character-based
education within my classroom and the integration o f character education and knowledge
to form a constructive form o f agency. It is here that the intersections o f faith and
education create a balanced foundation for social justice praxis to take place and for
education to become truly transformative. This reflective journey has provided me with a
space to establish the spiritual epistemological framework that guides my praxis and
allowed me to realise the necessity to continue my jihad.
It has reinforced the importance o f advocating for the inclusion o f my voice and
the voices o f others-who may differ from me but who view the world from religious
lenses, within public education. Such inclusion should happen without the need to couch
it in dominant, hegemonic terms or without the feeling o f “otherness” that is inherently
created from navigating a system that is based on one way o f knowing and understanding
the world. I believe that this is the only way that educators can assist in creating a more
egalitarian society in which all voices can be included and valued.
129
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Appendix A
Participatory Democracy in the classroom:
Project Helping Hands
March 15th 2006
Participatory Democracy in the classroom: Project Helping Hands
As a teacher in my first year, I wanted my practice to revolve around the ideal o f
participatory democracy. This evolved because I recognized the power I held in my
classroom and as the teacher. I wanted to allow students to see themselves as democratic
participants in classroom activities and in shaping and guiding the curriculum that was
used in daily instruction. It was even more important for me to help them develop the
ethic o f being self-directed learners within a larger learning community and to understand
the power and responsibility that came with knowledge and education. Participatory
democracy requires students to be self aware, empathetic and to demonstrate initiative
and leadership, responsibility, optimism, fairness, integrity, courage, respect, honesty and
perseverance. All o f these are the Character Matters traits at York Region District School
Board and would naturally form the core o f this project.
This was how the project “Helping Hands” was developed. It started as a component o f
an integrated Geography and English Language program in 2003 that sought to tie the
board’s Character Matters program with its commitment to “inspire and prepare
learners for life in our changing world community It was based on a practical approach
to learning and a desire to impart humanitarian values to our students. Helping Hands
139
became a platform for students learning about the world to become change agents. As we
learnt about population growth, the world economy and migration, students decided to
embark on an initiative to send food and clothing for war affected families in Iraq. The
students mobilized themselves, peers, the entire school and even took the initiative to
reach out to the business community to raise over 2000 pounds o f food and clothing to
send to those families. Over the past two years, Helping Hands has continued to grow as
an annual, grassroots initiative and to provide opportunities for students to understand
relationships between the “have and have-not communities” o f the world. It also
facilitated a way for students and school communities to have opportunities to directly
assist those less fortunate than them. The project is now in its third year although it is not
a formal project within the board. Each year it continues to grow as more teachers,
principals and schools participate and recognize its value as a part o f a dynamic academic
program, to build character traits and foster ties between local and international
communities. It impacted on the schools’ culture because it engaged staff and students in
a meaningful way and it naturally gave life to our board’s focus on Character Education
and removed perceptions o f it being an “add on”. Furthermore it helped us to achieve a
major part o f our school goals in terms o f engaging our community members within the
school. Since it began, Helping Hands has assisted war affected families and orphans
in Iraq, survivors o f Hurricane Ivan in Grenada and Jamaica, Earthquake victims in
Pakistan and India, Hurricane Katrina victims in N ew Orleans and Tsunami survivors in
South East Asia. The initiative has engaged students from as young as Kindergarten
through Grade 8 and has encouraged students to take the personal initiative to make a
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change. While Kindergarten students filled paper bags with food items, Grade 1 students
stacked food and learnt about weight and addition, Grade 6 students encouraged peers
and family members to bring in items and Grade 8 students composed rap jingles and
approached neighbourhood businesses to assist. Helping Hands allowed students to take
ownership for their learning and built on their sense o f empathy to see how they could
make a difference in the world.
The Helping Hands Tsunami R elief project ran from January 3rd -1 4 th 2005, the first two
weeks o f school. What initially began informally as a small project in one class at one
school grew throughout the whole school and eventually to twenty four schools. The
fundraising events included personal donations and collections from events held at
schools. Students made items and brought them in for sale, made and sold greeting cards
and calendars and spoke to friends and neighbours to bring them on board and gave
money from their own pockets and emptied their piggy banks. The total collected for
Tsunami relief was $77 072.62.
Students would engage in both written and oral reflections on the impact this initiative
had on their lives. Furthermore, other teachers, principals, family members and
administrative staff from a variety o f schools called to see how they could participate and
assist. As this initiative continued, even one principal on leave called and volunteered to
assist in setting up an end o f year assembly for delegates from all participating schools. It
provided an opportunity to build appreciation and celebration in commemorating student
and school success. Students wrote and received letters from children in the countries
where aid was received and had a chance to see in a power point presentation how their
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money made a difference in the lives o f children in different countries around the world.
All this was broadcasted on news interviews and live TV in the Greater Toronto Area.
Although this is not an official program sanctioned by the board, it has been recognized
and each year for the past three years, staff and students have received recognition for the
outstanding work that has happened through this in the “Applause” sections o f the York
Region Board meetings. As the program continues to grow, students have personally
advocated for it to become a main program o f the board. Teachers have offered to
become involved in coordinating this annually and students continue to write reflections
on how this initiative has impacted on their lives and inspired them see and understand
their role in this global village as one based on learning, action and change. It is all I
could have hoped for when this program began and more.
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Appendix B
A Teacher’s Philosophy
A Teacher’s Philosophy... .by Jeewan Chanicka

I begin with me, because in my classroom I am the role model, I
am the one who has control and am in a position o f power. What I do will
not only influence the lives o f my students in the short-term. In some
stances what I say or do will stay with them for the rest o f their lives. I begin
with me because not only am I the teacher but in my classroom, I am an
active learner as well.
A teacher is not one who focuses only on what they can teach their students in
their class but what they can learn as well. What I take away from my class and students
is equally as important to me as what I give to them. My classroom is student- centred,
they are the trees foil o f fruit and fragrant blossoms that we admire and I am the ground
upon which they stand.
A teacher is one who realises that no student is “bad” but each student is different
and that each child has the ability to change and grow. Each student brings into my
classroom a wealth o f knowledge and experience, something I can learn from them. My
challenge as a teacher is to find strategies that reflect the social and cultural identities o f
my students and to allow them the chance to realise their own potential. To realise how
special and important they are. My challenge is to engage my students’ multiple
intelligences and show them that they can ALL learn and to use some o f the common
ideas in brain research to reinforce their learning and growth. EACH student in my class
is a leader and has the ability to learn.
As a teacher I can do this by fostering mutual respect, listening attentively,
celebrating success and by demonstrating genuine care for each o f them. I can show my
students respect by not humiliating them, but correcting them through positive and
constructive criticism and I must be able to accept this from them as well. I show them
respect when the classroom agreements apply to myself and to them and not solely to
them. I also show them respect when my classroom reflects them and the world around
us. When they see themselves reflected they develop a positive relationship with what
they are learning! Creating a dynamic, caring and safe classroom community that loves
learning and one in which we share our knowledge is important to me.
My passion for education rests upon the realisation that education is the essential
foundation o f all lives that can empower students to become positive and active citizens
who change themselves and eventually the world.
As a teacher my pledge is to work to help my students love learning; to harness
their leadership skills; to realise the power that comes through education; to reinforce the
importance o f literacy in their lives by helping them to enjoy literacy-based activities and
by integrating it into other curriculum strands; to love themselves; to understand their
place, power and position in society; to strengthen their ability to think critically; to assist
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them in realising their heritage and history within our curriculum; to help them
understand the holistic nature o f education by integrating curriculum and showing how
each part connects to the other; to show them that they are not just students but teachers
and I am not just a teacher but a student as well; to motivate and inspire them; to let them
know that I am there and that I DO care; to realise as a teacher in many ways I am an
agent o f community development; I will empower my students and give them the tools
they need to develop resiliency* as that will serve them tor the rest o f their lives; to
realise that learning can be fun; that learning happens all the time; that we have a shared
responsibility within and without our classrooms for each other and the environment
around us; to understand the context o f our classroom within the context o f the society
and the world; that parents and community members posses intellectual capital that is
necessary for society so I will engage them in my classroom as well; to include parents
and guardians in shaping and moulding the success o f my students (as they will definitely
know what success should look, sound and feel like with respect to their child); to work
with others be they educators, administrators, mentors to meet the needs o f my students;
to meet the curriculum expectations, to take time for myself because when I am not
stressed I can be a better teacher; to continue to engage in professional development
because the more I know, the more effective I can be in the classroom; to be an example
and
never forget that as a teacher I have great power and with great power. comes great
responsibility/
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Appendix C
Participatory Democracy Workshop Description
31 March 2006
Workshop Title: P a r t i c i p a t o r Democracy: A model for the classroom

Workshop description: Participatory democracy is a process o f teaching students based
on the value and necessity for student participation and engagement that reflects the lives
and values o f the student and community population. Through this process, students are
exposed to a variety o f thought processes, realities and values that may/may not run
counter to their own ideals. It situates students and parents as teachers and teachers as
learners. P.P. empowers students to locate themselves and positions vis-a-vis the
curriculum' to think critically, to become reflective thinkers and advocates bv making
big-picture connections. It also moves teachers from the need to “convert” students to
accept their perspective o f the world to accepting the reality that there are a multiplicity
o f truths in the world in which w e live. Participatory democracy is the intersection o f
literacy, character education and equity: a meeting point that allows teachers to be
creative, to get away from “add-on’s” and continue to focus on the valuable work that
needs to happen in the classroom -changing the world by changing one life at a time.
Equipment Needs: overhead projector/screen maybe LCD projector/screen

VCR/TV Other:
-------------------------------- Room Arrangement: theatre style X

classroom (tables & chairs) __ __
Presenter’s Biographical Information: Jeewan Chanicka is a classroom teacher at
Armadale Public School and currently pursuing his masters degree at York University.
He has a background working with at-risk/at-promise students and spent two years
developing a program and draft-curriculum specifically focusing on re-engaging such
students into the schooling process. He has worked on developing peer-mediation
programs at the elementary school level, done presentations with the character education
department within YRDSB, worked on leadership development programs for
administrators and staff, coordinated the Helping Hands initiative for over 24 schools
and currently sits on the SEEDS team for equity training and development within the
board. Jeewan has been a teacher for three years.
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Appendix D
Importance of Character Education
Grade 8 Homeroom/Intermediate Lead/At-Risk Resource

Ashton Meadows P. S.
15th December 2005
“I care not about what others think o f what I do, but I care very much about what I think
o f what I do. That is character!” Theodore Roosevelt
Our fundamental role as teachers is to produce literate graduates who are ready to
embrace the challenges o f living in a global village. In teaching my students to become
critical thinkers and change agents, I have found that the York Region District School
board’s Character Education initiatives have become a cornerstone in my teaching to
enable students to understand how to approach the challenges they must face in a rapidly
changing environment. Our students are constantly bombarded with images which exploit
their sense o f being and at the same time being expected to adapt to the challenges o f a
shrinking world. My entry into York Region District School Board occurred at a time
when Character Education was implemented across the entire board and teachers were
furnished with the appropriate resources to help them integrate character education into
the curriculum.
As I started to grapple with meeting the curriculum expectations and making the
curriculum relevant to my students lives I also started to reflect on how I could integrate
character components into the lives o f my students. While there was a concerted focus on
curriculum, many students especially those considered to be at-risk were coming socially
ill-equipped to deal with life. The character initiatives provided a basis by which we
could explore the skills and characteristics necessary to negotiate their way successfully
through life. The more I came to know and understand the Character Education
philosophy, the quicker it began to infuse its way through my classroom teaching.
Eventually, it formed the basis through which I would approach the curriculum and
develop a class o f life-long learners.
One o f the fears that many teachers had was about Character Education being an “add
on” to the curriculum and yet another addition to the many things that teachers were
expected to do in the classroom. However I don’t believe it is an add-on, rather I see it as
a foundation on which we can mould responsible and literate citizens. Through this lens, I
have been able to utilize the Character Education traits as the basis for developing the
Helping Hands program, which tied math, language and geography curriculum
expectations with several character traits to assist the students in seeing themselves as
active participants in the global theatre. Helping Hands allowed students to actively and
personally participate in alleviating suffering o f different groups o f people around the
world through focussed and well thought out action. Once teachers in other schools got to
know about the initiative, it gathered steam and after the tsunamis that affected South
East Asia in 2004, 24 schools worked together and collected approximately $80 000.
Within my division, I began to use the Turning Points Essay competition as another
mechanism to drive character traits home. This assignment encouraged students to think
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about a specific event in their lives that acted as a Turning Point and encouraged them to
think/act differently because o f their experience. Once teachers understood the value o f
such a reflective exercise, the entire division came on board and encouraged their
students to participate. It turned out to be some o f the best writing we received from the
students.
Character Education has also become a key component o f not simply my curriculum but
in my classroom management practices. I have been able to effectively emulate the
character traits through the active use o f processes such as TRIBES to develop a character
based, academic environment. Much to my delight I have noticed my students starting to
use character based discourse to engage in meaningful discussion both in and out o f class.
Character Education has been a value added integrated component to the curriculum that
has empowered me to develop the critical literacy o f my students, to give them the
academic tools and the character capital to navigate their way in our rapidly shifting and
changing environments. I hope that as we continue to embark upon this journey we can
find methods to measure the impact that Character Education is having in the lives o f our
students so we can have a collection o f both quantitative and qualitative data to assist us
to improve what we offer to our students.
In summary, my experience o f Character Education is that it has allowed me to foster in
my students a passion to be active, global citizens and encouraged me to continue
developing my classroom practices based on the universal ethics embodied in our
character traits. It is truly a way we can change Canada and the world for the better,
one child at a time!
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Appendix E
TRIBES Trainer Application Letter
February 28th 2005
To Whom It May Concern:
I am applying to be a TRIBES trainer because I believe that it is an effective

process o f learning that engages students in the classroom, helps to provide a high set of
consistent standards for interaction and promotes an inclusive and respectful environment
in the classroom.
After completing my TRIBES training at OISE University o f Toronto, I
immediately approached my trainer Penny Ballagh to ask about becoming a trainer. She
told me that I needed to use it in my class for one year first. It has since been two years.
In that time, I have used TRIBES in my intermediate classroom with my students to
develop what w e fondly call “8C family” (“C” stands for Chanicka - my surname).
During the past two years, I have used Community Circle the most in my
intermediate classroom as well as numerous other TRIBES activities and energizers. The
TRIBES agreements are posted on my walls. It allows me to establish a safe and inclusive
environment in my classroom that promotes the development o f students’ literacy skills.
At my school, I am the lead teacher for the Intermediate Division. At our lead meeting, I
along with several o f my colleagues advocated for our school to wholly adopt TRIBES as
a guiding process for our entire school. I am happy to say that w e are now a “ TRIBES”
school.
I have also had teacher candidates who have done their practicum blocks in my
class both of whom believed in the TRIBES process but were unsure about its
functionality in an intermediate classroom. Some o f the things I actively worked with
them to do was to realize and understand how applicable TRIBES can be at the
Intermediate level and to help them feel comfortable with using it’s strategies in class.
In addition to this, I sit on a variety o f committees in my board including
committees focusing on equity initiatives and peer mediation. In addition to these, I have
been actively involved in conducting workshops for teachers and administrators in
Classroom Management, Literacy, Professional Portfolios, Growth Portfolios,
Equity/Anti-Racism, Risk and Resiliency. At many o f these workshops, I would highlight
the role o f TRIBES towards creating a manageable classroom, inclusive environment,
enhancing the student/teacher reflection process and building resiliency in children.
This year, I included TRIBES in my Annual Learning Plan talking about the role
that TRIBES has played in tying together my extremely diverse classroom and looking
forward to building my knowledge and sharing this with other teachers and
administrators in my board. I have been rated “exemplary” during my teacher evaluation
for the past two years in a row. In both evaluations, the role o f TRIBES was mentioned as
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one o f the key foundations I have established to foster student success in my classroom.
My class is currently creating our class website and I allow them to choose topics for
themselves. I had several students ask to do one o f their pages on “ Community
Circle” and on how we grew together as a class. I was extremely happy to hear them
asking for this opportunity.
I believe that TRIBES can add to our board’s focus and commitment to
developing character, promoting equity, strengthening the practice o f participatory
democracy in our classrooms and building healthy, learning communities that promotes
life-long learning. It is my hope to build my professional knowledge o f TRIBES by
becoming a trainer to strengthen the work with my students, to share it with colleagues
and spreading the TRIBES philosophy to other schools in our region. A Chinese proverb
states “the journey o f a thousand miles begins with a single step” and I believe that all o f
our schools will benefit by using TRIBES. However, perhaps my training to become a
TRIBES trainer will be the first step o f that thousand mile journey!
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Appendix F
Course Paper utilizing Auto Ethnography
Auto-ethnography (beginning)
My journey to education was long and rather complex. My life always revolved around
the sphere o f education as a student, advocate and leader. I often worked to validate and
bring to the forefront the voices and presences o f those often relegated to the sidelines.
However, I never thought about becoming a teacher which is rather ironic considering
that my father and two o f my aunts were teachers and my mother worked in the Ministry
o f Education for some time. My career both pre and post the Faculty o f Education would
see in a variety o f positions including as a program counselor working with at-risk
students, as an advocate and workshop leader to teachers and administrators on issues o f
equity and anti-racism, running for trustee in the 2000 Municipal elections and sitting at
the table to work on the religious accommodations policy among many other exciting
opportunities.
In 2 0 0 1 ,1 worked as a Program Counsellor for the Learning Partnership with students
identified as being at-risk. I remember an incident in November 2001 when a student, I
never worked with approaching me and saying he wanted to talk to me. I was not sure
what he wanted or why he wanted to talk to me but I invited him to my office. He
disclosed that his car was vandalized and expressed his sentiment that the police were not
being very helpful. In fact he claimed that he was being ignored by the police. After a
lengthy discussion, he further revealed that he was half-Afghan and half-Iraqi and had
immigrated to Canada with his brother to study. His father and mother lived and worked
overseas to support them. His car was stolen and vandalized in a post-September 11th
climate. If I can recall correctly, phrases such as “go back home” and “die” among other
moTe threatening and hateful remarks were written on his car. It was also smashed and
other items were stolen as well. The car was eventually found but the police were not
helping the student in any way to resolve the incident. In fact, in many ways, he felt as if
he was the perpetrator o f some type o f crime because o f the way he was being treated by
the police. We talked, more and more about school, the fact that his grades were
dropping, how difficult he felt school had become since September 11th and what his
perceptions were o f how he was being treated in school.
I remember the feelings o f despair I felt at that moment. This student was trapped in a
difficult situation and obviously felt very powerless. Fear had become a rampant
commonality o f a post-September 11th society. Arabs, Muslims and many members o f the
South East Asian community were often placed on the same platform as the terrorists
who had committed the bombing o f the world trade rgani. It was common in Toronto at
that time, as in many places across North America, to hear o f hate crimes being
perpetuated against these groups. This student’s life was no different; he was a Arab
Muslim, half-Afghan/half-Iraqi, which was a toxic mix in the prevailing geo-political
climate. He was scared and unsure o f his rights or his place in society anymore. I know
that personally, it was a difficult time for me as well. My manager called right after she
heard what happened and gave me the rest o f the week off o f work. She told me to expect
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a backlash and to make sure my family and I were safe. My family and I had worked out
procedures for getting into our van, how to grab my son’s car seat and jump into the van
and lock the door and figure out how to put it in place after we were inside. My wife,
who was bom and grew up here in Toronto and use to her freedom did not leave the
house under any circumstances fearing that her scarf would attract attention to her and o f
being attacked verbally or physically.
Furthermore, the Toronto District School Board which governed his school had not
released any memos or advisories letting administrators and teachers know how the
students in TDSB who matched the above profile could be potentially suffer in a post-
September 11th. There were no policies, mechanisms or directions in place to support
either students or staff. I recall sitting in the staffroom listening to teachers complain
about certain groups o f students whose grades were failing or whose grades were
declining. The demographics o f these groups o f students often included many Arab,
Muslim and South East Asian students who were arguably affected in the aftermath o f
Sept 1181. However, I did not hear any teacher make the connection between lower
performance with post-September 11th anxiety and stress disorders that were emerging.
Many teachers blamed low performance on a lack o f effort. At times I would try to
explain that there could be a connection between the event and student performance.
Some teachers admitted to never thinking about such a connection while others dismissed
it. “If students want to succeed, they will make the effort” was the response.
It was very disempowering to be in this situation, as I was not a teacher I worked as a
Program Counsellor. I was not a board employee, I was a consultant brought in by the
board to work with marginalized students. Yet, it was difficult to advocate for these
students without being a part o f the “inner workings” o f the system itself. The most I felt
I was able to do was to advise the students o f their rights, talk to teachers, let parents
know their rights and talk to administrators. However, life could have been so much
easier for students had the board issued an advisory in the early days o f the event.
I also thought about this boy’s family and how disempowered they must have felt.
Many immigrant families migrated to Canada seeking safe refuge from oppressive
governments. In his case it was even more difficult; he lacked the advocacy in which his
own parents could engage. Furthermore, in the post-September 11th climate many o f
those same communities (which communities) felt targeted, as if they had returned to
similar experiences from which they fled. These families would hardly advocate for their
rights instead they would accept negative treatment by the law or the school and consider
it as the arm o f the government. Silence in dangerous situations in their home countries
meant safe-guarding their lives. Many immigrant families would not speak up for fear o f
reprisals by the law against them. This student expressed similar sentiments to me,
because he did not feel as if he was being treated fairly but also he did not feel that there
was anything he could do. His case was complicated because o f his pending visa renewal
and he feared that by trying to speak up for himself he would be deported from Canada.
He was Arab and his parents came from the two hot spots that were being focused on at
that time - Afghanistan and Iraq. His only recourse, was talking to me, someone who had
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only said hello to him in the corridors and never taught him at all. It was an attempt to
relieve himself o f his burden and to be understood.
It was interesting that out o f the entire school staff, this student felt safe enough to
talk to me about his problems. I thought about this; maybe he felt comfortable because he
knew I could identify with him. I had never shared any o f the concerns or problems I
faced, with him, but it was understood. It definitely brings issues o f race into the forefront
and racism whether it be overt, systemic or both. One o f the reasons he connected to me
was because he felt that I could truly identify with his struggle. Although I did not have
any issues with the police, I did feel uncomfortable and thought that I could be an easy
target as I had spent all my life in social justice circles. If I was not rganizati protests,
petitions and rallies, I was speaking at them or attending as a participant. In addition to
this, I had traveled through the Middle East and other parts of Europe that were now
being seen as “terrorist hotbeds”.
When I worked in the Ontario works program, and had single mothers come to me in
tears because o f the way they were being treated by their case workers or new immigrants
and people with disabilities, I found creative, legal ways to be able to get them through
the process while keeping their dignity and self worth intact. I had written editorials,
spoken at lectures and seminars and done all that I could to bring light to difficult
situations and give voices to those who were traditionally silenced.
After September 11th, the pressure was immense to bear; it affected my daily life, where
and when I went, who I spoke too and how I navigated my way in the society. However, I
had some pieces o f capital that this young man did NOT have. I was born in Canada; I
also spoke fluent English; and because I was a convert to Islam and did not have a
“Muslim” sounding name, I was protected in several ways. Having been active in the
sphere o f civil rights, I knew many lawyers and I had access to many resources this
young man did not. So although I could not change the colour o f my skin, I had access to
many more resources and a level o f privilege that he did not have.
There are other facets o f this conversation that can be explored such as why he felt
the need to speak to me privately as opposed to when he saw me during recess. Actions
that appear to be isolated are so often connected to a wider set o f circumstances. If we
take the time to reflect, we would realize how ruling relations can set parameters which
easily influence our thoughts and our daily actions. Incidents such as these have
prompted me to focus on creating a safe and inclusive classroom in which all students
feel safe and respected. If we do not time to critically understand the wider connections
o f seemingly unconnected and simple daily actions, it can render us impotent in seeking
proper solutions to larger societal issues
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Appendix G
Projeet Helping Hands Report
3 1st January 2005
Compassion, Empathy, Leadership. A project o f love and caring by students to
change the world. York Region District School Board
Helping Hands History

Helping Hands developed as a component o f an integrated Geography and English
Language program at Ashton Meadows P. S. in 2003, This initiative sought to tie the
board’s Character Matters program with its commitment to “inspire and prepare
learners fo r life in our changing world community". It was based on a practical approach
to learning and a desire to impart humanitarian values to our students. Over the past two
years, Helping Hands has continued to provide opportunities for students to understand
relationships between the “have and have-not communities” in the world and provide
students and school communities with opportunities to directly assist those less
fortunate. Each year this initiative continues to grow as more schools become involved
and participate.
The recent earthquake in South East Asia and the resulting devastation led to calls from
many schools and communities who clearly wanted to come together and immediately
begin to assist with relief efforts. This response was, in part, a reflection o f the need to
help students and families who were directly affected - students who needed to cope with
the loss o f family members.
Through direct involvement w e could help young people begin the healing process by
providing an immediate opportunity to assist. Students not directly affected by the
tragedy could better understand how to begin to support their friends and neighbours both
through emotional support and direct financial contribution. All the money would be
channeled to the region via Canadian Relief Foundation.
Why Canadian Relief
The initial contact with CRF emerged as a result o f the past work o f Helping Hands
coordinator, Jeewan Chanicka, with the NGO prior to joining the YRDSB. In 2003, two
thousand pounds o f food and clothing were sent to war-affected families in Iraq. As a
non-partisan rganization, CRF would distribute all aid to Iraqis and Kurds and everyone
in need regardless o f ethno-cultural differences. The relationship with CRF was solidified
as a result o f their enthusiastic response and focus on student leadership. Ashton
Meadows students were excited to receive photographs from the field showing their
donated items being distributed. Our students felt personally gratified when they received
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a message o f thanks from a group o f orphans. CR F continues foster this spirit o f
compassion, empathy and leadership in our students.
CRF is a grassroots NGO that had pre established programs in the regions affected by
the tsunami. Their commitment is that 100% of all donated funds go directly into the
field. This is the best offer from any o f the various NGO’s working in South East Asia.
They also committed to sending back pictures students and school communities o f some
o f the activities that have been sponsored due to their contributions. They are supported
by various Members o f Parliament including Ontario MPP Dave Levac who sits on their
board as a honourary member.
CRF had a well established reputation working with the United Nations World Food
program in Afghanistan and is currently liaising with the U.N. World Food Program for
medical and reconstruction projects in Banda Ache. They were able to quickly get over
30 000 pounds o f aid on the ground into Sri Lanka where they continue to work. They
also have a team on the ground in Tamil Nadu, have deployed the only Canadian NGO
Disaster Assistance Response Team into Meuloboh and have a second team in Banda
Ache working closely with the Canadian Consulate there. They continue to do their work
through partnership with local agencies which hire local people to bring aid to their
communities.
Tsunami Relief
The Helping Hands Tsunami Relief project ran from January 3rd -1 4 th 2005, the first two
weeks o f school. What initially began as a small project between several East schools
gathered momentum and eventually spread to twenty three East schools. The fundraising
events included personal donations and collections from events held at schools. The total
collected was $77 072.62
Following is a list o f schools that participated in the project and the amount o f money
collected by each. Under each total you will see a second amount in italics. This
represents how much will be reflected on the receipt from Canadian Relief Foundation*.
The total for the school receipt was calculated using the following formula: Total
Amount - ( cheques made directly to CRF + cash donations that required receipts
which were deposited by schools and written on a school cheque). All cheques were
sent to Jeewan Chanicka (project coordinator) at Ashton Meadows P.S. Schools that
sent cash will NOT receive a receipt because all cash was deposited into the Ashton
Meadows P.S. account and a cheque was issued by AMPS to Canadian Relief
Foundation.
All money collected and received was sent directly to the Canadian Relief
Foundation www .canadianrebef.ca . The Canadian Relief Foundation will issue
receipts directly to schools.
Long - term Success
One o f the most outstanding features o f this initiative is the growing
awareness in schools and communities that our relationship with those
affected by the tsunamis must continue over the long term. Many schools have
begun to look for opportunities to continue assisting those affected by
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developing or seeking out long term projects in which both schools and
communities can become involved. One such example is at Ballantrae Public
School where students created a “Helping Hands” song which will be
recorded and sold. Proceeds will be directed towards long-term tsunami relief
projects.
As a direct consequence o f this project Helping Hands has truly begun to take
on another phase o f life. Many staff members from various schools would like
to see more York Region schools have the opportunity to be involved in future
Helping Hands initiatives and have begun a process to facilitate this type of
project becoming permanent feature o f York Region schools.
Canadian R elief Foundation has begun to initiate other long-term projects in
the region and is enthusiastic about working with your schools and
communities in the future. As a board, initiatives such as Helping Hands
continues to enrich the lives o f our students, provide dynamic learning
opportunities and foster the Canadian tradition o f global compassion and
citizenship.
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Appendix H
Unpublished Article
Murder o f a 12-year-old and discipline in the school system - Jeewan Chanicka
The recent, brutal murder o f a 12-year-old boy has shaken Toronto to its very core.
Yet another incident o f senseless violence and a desperate attempt to understand the
issues that would push our youth to engage in such heinous acts. Sadly, we watched the
news only to see other students describing the young people charged with the crime as
“loners... .not cool... .keeping to themselves”. These were the students who just could not
“fit into” the social fabric o f the school system.
Increasingly there have been calls to treat such offenders as adults; in fact the justice
o f the peace presiding over the case has already made it clear, if they are convi cted, they
would be sentenced as adults. In the school system, we have seen the introduction o f
“zero tolerance” policies, an attempt to curtail violence and aggression in our schools. A
1993 Environics poll revealed that Canadians believe school-based youth violence is the
single most important issue facing public education, a concern that more recent studies
still reflect. These attempts are being employed to ensure that our school system is
preserved and that all are kept safe.
However, to view these incidents in isolation, is to do many students a disservice. If
one was to assume that our school system is a microcosm o f our society, it offers a
chilling testimony o f what is happening around us. And while we need to focus on the
serious nature o f individual incidents, w e need to understand these incidents in a more
holistic manner. It should push us, as a society, to undertake a serious level o f reflection
in order to understand how to prevent another life from being lost and how to empower
the most vulnerable o f our society to be able to find proper avenues to channel their
strength and energy.
Our school systems are largely reflective o f the society that surrounds them. Students
have lived realities that they bring into their classrooms each and every day. Increasingly
the roles o f teachers have been rapidly increasing albeit to a structure that is chronically
under-funded. Current policies such as zero tolerance often operates based on the system
o f perceived “fairness and equality”. By this I mean that we should treat everyone the
same, we should not think about the context in which a situation may occur. It also
assumes that all students have the same levels o f experience, awareness and opportunity
to deal with any issue that happens because the system is supposedly fair. It does not
reflect the reality that, just as in society, some o f these students may not have or may not
feel they have access to the same avenues to deal with issues that others students may
have. This may be because they may not have the best marks, because they have had
other incidents in the past by which they would be judged or simply a lack o f confidence
or know-how in terms o f accessing the system or being advocates for themselves.
Equality in the school system is not a precondition for equity and equal treatment in these
cases assumes that we can be fair by not considering the nature o f the issue as well as the
individual social and cultural contexts.
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In addition to this, what is acceptable and unacceptable are often defined by one
group o f people and may reflect the social norms o f one group o f people. Take for
example, pushing and swearing in school sports may be deemed as acceptable but not in
the hall way o f the school.
Consider that a recent study done by the Human Resources and Development Canada
highlighted that up to 20% o f high school students are not accumulating enough credits to
graduate with a diploma. The reasons for this are several and varied. However various
studies have shown that when marginalised, students will under-perform or disengage
from the system altogether. Some scholars have termed such students as “push-outs” not
“dropouts”. It is these students who often “fall through the cracks” especially when the
manifestation o f such disengagement is not overt. In fact many students who disengage
view themselves as powerless within a system that is routinely based on a hierarchy o f
power.
Without addressing issues o f power, equity, and social difference we will not be able
to deal with the disengagement o f students from the school system. The school, being a
mirror o f society, then becomes another institution that promotes the values and rights o f
some while severely marginalising others. All o f this also needs to be examined within
the context o f popular culture and the promotion o f violence and individualism as
avenues for conflict resolution. Many schools are now individually looking at suspension
alternative programs by which they can deal with issues in the school system that are fair
and allow students the ability to deal with their actions. It also empowers them to
understand how to access the system in which they live and how to advocate for
themselves. There is a need for such alternatives to be systemic and not based on the
individual impetus o f the schools. As a system in which the youth o f our country will
spend the majority o f their lives, we need to re-examine the way in which issues o f
discipline and authority are enforced. The displaced, epitomized in the likes o f Reena
Virk from Vancouver and more recently the young 12 year-old boy, need to be given
back their voices. Reena Virk was too scared to access the system to save her own life.
Our systems as they are currently structured are reinforcing such feelings, our students
are disengaging themselves and it will be to the detriment o f our country as a whole. And
unless this changes, we may be unfortunate enough to hear o f more and similar incidents,
o f the “loners” who just “flipped-out” one day.
We need to learn to manage discipline based on social and cultural acceptance and to
move from focussing on equality to equity in order to re-empower our youth and teach
them that the system can work!
Jeewan Chanicka is a Grade 8 Teacher in the York District School board.
157
Glossary of terms
(explanations are ONLY intended to convey the meaning o f the word as used throughout
this paper)
Allah literally means God in Arabic. It is used by both Christian Arabs and
Muslim Arabs and non-Arabs to refer to God. There is no singular/plural;
masculine/feminine to this word.
Amal specifically refers to doing good works with the understanding o f
operationalizing the knowledge gained on how to earn the pleasure o f
Allah.
Ayah(s) verse(s) o f the Qur’an.
Hadith recorded sayings/traditions o f the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
him)
Hajj Muslims are to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their
lifetime if they can afford it. It is the fifth pillar o f Islam.
‘ilm an all-embracing term usually used to mean knowledge but which also
includes theory, action and education
Jihad struggle. For the purpose o f this research: The Jihad in Me refers to the
struggles in which I have engaged within public education to develop my
praxis as a teacher and maintain my values and beliefs as a Muslim who
understands that there can be no separation o f religion from public life.
La illaha ilia Allah The primary pillar o f Islam and belief that There is only one God -
Allah.
Mu’allim Instructor and trainer o f the mind and a giver/transmitter o f knowledge.
There is an understanding that a mu’allim is accountable to Allah for
his/her actions, what they teach and how they use their power to influence
those in their care.
Muhasaba Holding ourselves personally accountable in this earthly life before we
have to give account for our actions in the Hereafter.
Mujahada
Murabbi A trainer o f the souls and personalities; Mentor and/or role model. An
individual who holds him/herself personally responsible to mould
characteristics in the lives o f those they influence. There is an
understanding that they are accountable to Allah for their actions and how
they use their power to influence those in their care.
Ramadan This is the fourth pillar o f Islam. Muslims are required to fast for one
month each year.
Shariah Literally means the way. It cannot be limited to only Islamic rules or
punishments. It is the entire code both in spirit and letter by which
Muslims live their lives.
Sunnah the words, actions and confirmations o f Prophet Muhammad. Muslims
believe that Muhammad is the last o f a long line o f messengers and
158
prophets descending from Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. They
believe that he is the final prophet and that his actions are "A form o f
revelation.. .but not verbatim as in the case with the Quran. As such
authentic Stmnah is the second primary source o f Islamic teachings after
the Quran... Disregard or ignorance o f the Sunnah can lead to serious errors
o f interpretation.
Tafakkur contemplative thought

Tarbiya (educational) methodology used by Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him), to operationalize Tawhid and to teach and empower those
around him. Tarbiya is a dynamic and living process as such it is not
limited to the classroom,
Tawhid the belief that there “is no God but God”.
Qur’an Muslims universally accept this as the word o f Allah or
"God", dictated to Prophet Muhammad through Angel Gabriel.
It is divided into 114 units each called a surah. The Quran is the
highest authority for information on Islam.
Ummah Global Muslim community. Anyone who testifies to the belief “There is
no God but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger o f Allah” is
considered to be a member o f this ummah despite race, culture or gender.
Zakaat This is the third pillar o f Islam. It specifically refers to 2.5% o f annual
earnings that Muslims are expected to donate to charity and those less
fortunate in society (locally and/or globally). It is sometimes colloquially
used to refer to all types o f charity.
159

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A thesis submitted to the Faculty o f Graduate Studies

Graduate Program in Education

Published Heritage Direction du

395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington

Your file Votre reference

The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur

In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne

While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires

ROLE OF ISLAMIC EPISTEMOLOGY AS A GUIDING

FRAM EW ORK FOR STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND

TEACHER RESISTANCE IN A POST SEPTEMBER 11™

By virtue o f submitting this document, electronically, the author

Examination Committee members:

the dichotomy o f sacred-as-individual and secular-as-public live in a secular society? The

allow the development o f a social justice based, inclusive pedagogy. Understanding o f

language o f the dominant hegemonic discourse.

opportunity to be engaged in such a meaningful form o f worship. I would also like to

may not be mentioned by name but to whom I am deeply grateful.

It is my sincere hope and prayer that this research will be a meaningful

in which all voices are heard, recognized, included and valued.

the forgiveness o f God.

Epistemology as informed by Tawhid...................................... 32

Epistemology guided by the Islamic concept o f Tarbiya...... 37

Epistemology guided by personal social location...................39

Epistemological construction o f knowledge

Knowledge and its role in creating an inclusive system 47

3. Teacher as Mu ’allim ........................................................................... 54

5 Creative Resistance - Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil........ 92

A: Participatory Democracy in the classroom:

Glossary o f terms....................................................................................... 158

Furthermore, according to the website www.religioustolerance.org current trends indicate

“hyper-individualised market-based relations o f capitalism and the retrograde appeal to

religiously guided epistemology. As teachers, we are encouraged to engage in a reflective

geo-political climate, it is important for me to explore my practice and to highlight and

research and exploration is situated as a reflective approach to understanding the way

becomes problematic as Islam, as in other religions, is considered to be a holistic code for

requirements are being violated.

As the following narration o f Prophet Muhammad (the last recognized prophet in

Oh you who believe, stand firmly for justice as witnesses for

norms when it is deemed to be fair or just and to engage in transformati ve change in

order to champion issues o f social justice.

(Ramadan, 2006) that was occurring because o f this.

Increasingly, the lived experience o f Muslims is one surrounded by a culture o f

meta-narrative o f a Muslim’s life.

students can begin to occur.

However, schooling should be seen as an opportunity to expose students to the variety

As a Muslim teacher, I continue to explore the complexities o f my identity: race,

epistemological foundation, which informs my teaching.

decisions, understanding o f and actions in this earthly world.

neutrality that masks its ideological grounding” (Giroux 1983b, p.89).

stereotypes on Muslims in Canadian schools (Rezai-Rashti, 1999); how strong affiliations

challenges in developing a balanced Islamic studies curriculum (Alwani, 2006).

noticeable absence o f research about Islamic epistemology and a lack o f understanding as

education by furthering understanding o f how Muslim teachers contextualize and

climate (Sharif, 2001).

system. The demystification o f Muslims as ‘other’ will assist in developing a more

voice is critical to exploring this question.

Such a discussion will introduce the academy to an alternative, insider perspective

valuable as that o f the “objective” outsider, if not more so,

The methodology, although influenced by auto-ethnography, is based on a

reflective approach to understanding my experiences as an educator. This is explored