Where Are We Heading To?

This recent piece of news put me on edge. If you haven’t heard about it then here;

"إغلاق أو سعودة تدريس القرآن" هما الخياران الوحيدان أمام حلقات تدريس الكتاب الكريم في منطقة المكرمة، وفقا لبرقية صادرة من إمارتها إلى مسؤولي جمعيات تحفيظ القرآن بالمنطقة، التي يتبعها عدد من المدن الرئيسية المهمة كجدة والطائف.

الرسالة خيرت تلك الجمعيات بين تعليق حلقات تحفيظ القرآن الكريم التي يديرها معلمون غير سعوديين، أو "سعودتها"، وهو ما يعرض مصير أكثر من 30 ألف طالب للمجهول، بحسب تعبير مدير أحد المراكز المسائية التابعة لجمعية قرآن جدة، فضل عدم ذكر اسمه.


The first thing that came into my mind was the word; racism. What’s the difference between a foreign teacher and a Saudi one as long as he’s/she’s serving the purpose of teaching? If it was about employment, then no, these Quran lessons do not pay that much and one only start it with his own will, as far as I know. But to come right up and give an option or you’ll close the whole thing down is insane.

I’d understand if it was about teaching in general, but when in it comes to Quran, what are your reasons? And where, if you may ask? In one of the most holiest places on earth.

لا فرق بين عربي او اعجمي الا بالتقوى

أليست التقوى مقياس التفاضل عند الله, وبالتالي ليس من حقنا نحن البشر ان نقوم بعمل كهذا؟

I'm utterly disappointed about where we're heading to with our actions and I can't imagine what I'd do without my Syrian Quran teacher.

3 comments:

Amarant said...

Totally agree with you. I can't describe how frustrated I am right now. Quran should be dealt with differently.

and even if I was an atheist, I would say: it's not like there are hundreds of thousands of saudis who want to teach Quran but can't because foreigners are taking their places.

Sara said...

What's keeping my hopes up is the sense of outrage I am also getting from the Saudi community, not all is lost =) Allah y7f'9na

Stimulus said...

At first instance, this is what it feels like, racism.. But there might be deeper reasons to it.

For instance, I know that if your native language is not english, then you're not supposed to teach people to become English teachers, you can only teach students english..

And maybe the same goes for Quran and non-Arabic native speaking teachers.. just guessing!

But Islam as a subject shouldn't be taught ONLY by Saudi's, and such a decision should definitely be made gradually (e.g. in 5 years this won't be allowed anymore) to take into account the 30000+ students who might end up totally lost :)