The concept of "Tarbia" (education):

Education may be defined as: "The best way to deal with humans by directingthem, directly by talk and indirectly by example, according to a specifiedmethodology and specified means. This action aims to changing them tothe better."

"The best way" is the way which Allah (s) educated his Prophet (S) with, andthe way by which the Prophet (S) educated his companions."dealing with humans" with all their contradictions is not an easy task, but

applying the methodology which Allah has revealed, guarantees directing them correctly. "talk" is ordering, forbiding, advicing, ... and this can be thru a plain advice, a story, studying certain materials, a speach, ..."education by example" is one of the most effective ways in directing people.

This requires the educator to be at a high level of manners.

"education methodology" here is the Islamic "sharia" with all what it includes

for the good of the individual, the family, the society, and the state. It

can be also any new method which abides to the borders put by this sharia,

and helps in reaching the educational objectives.

"the better" is to transfer the Muslim from kufr to iman, then from iman to

iHsan (distinction), and from sin to acts of worshipment, and towards more

understanding to his/her religion and Islam as a way of life.

The "halaqa" for "tarbia" (education)

Definition

A "halaqa" (circle) is a method for education which appeared since the

begin of the Islamic da'wa. The companions (and those who came after them

and followed their path) used to have sessions for educating each others.

Abdullah ibn Rawaha (r) used to ask the companions to: "Let's believe for

one hour." He means let's have a session of knwoledge or rememberance for

one hour to increase our belief in Allah (s). The Prophet (S) said about

these sessions that "Ibn Rawaha loves the meetings which the angels pride

themselves on."

Also, in the Hadith: "Whenever some people gather in one of Allah's houses(mosques) to recite the book of Allah and study it among themselves - thecalmness (tranquillity) decends upon them, the angles surround them, mercycovers them, and Allah mentions them to those who are at him."Carrying this intention, the brothers/sisters should attend the halaqa.It is recommended to recite this Hadith at the beginning of the Halaqa tofocus intentions and sincerety.

Objectives for the individual:

Forming his character in an Islamic way:And this is a very wide objective which can be (generally speaking) brokendown into:
- The individual's creed: To have a correct creed "aqeeda" in Allah (s), hisnames (asmaa'), his actions (afa'al), his qualities (Sefaat) - in the angels,previous books, Prophets (S), the hereafter, the fate (qadar), ....
- The individual's acts of worship: To do the mandatory actions (fara'edh),to avoid sins, and to regard as much "nawafel" (optional actions).
- The individual's culture: To increase the knowledge with the different Islamic branches of culture (to be explained within the program).
- The individual's manners: Sincerety, brotherhood, patience, abiding to the truth, and helping people, regarding the "sunna" of the Prophet (S) in his manners, avoiding hateful actions "makroohat", ...
- The individual's activation: His Islamic manners in dealing with people, and the ability to: gather people, direct them towards the good, to love and to be loved in the way of Allah, convince people with the necessity of the
Islamic work and the strength of working collectively, help people, and givefor the sake of Allah (s), ...
The individual's management skills: To be trained to the principals of themanagement science, to be accurate in timing and doing things, to be trained to the Islamic manners in conversation and taking "shura", to abide to theresult of the shura (for example after taking votes) even if it is not his own opinion, to save time, and to understand the psychology of the otherbrothers/ sisters in the halaqa and deal with them accordingly.
To strengthen brotherhood/sisterhood ties:To have a strong acquaintance "taarof" with the other brothers/sisters in the Halaqa (it is recommended to begin with a long taarof - may last the first few meetings), to give and accept advice, to understand and help each others, andto practice love for the sake of Allah (s).
To enhance "self-education": "Self-education" means that every brother/sister participate in his/her own education (tarbia) by self-generated plans:
To fetch for the personal faults and try to put a program to solve them (the follow up may be thru a self-accounting "moHasaba" table, which the brother/sister fills every night to scan and reform the actions that happened during the day.
To take care of the secret actions (qiaam, charity, ...), and to advice each others with that in the halaqa.
To increase the knowledge about Islam and the Muslim Ummah thru personal programs for reading and attending related sessions.
To avoid overlap between his/her personal program and the halaqa's program.

Obj.(4): Cooperation among the halaqa members in training:
- The halaqa can manage a wide variety of training projects for its members while each brother/sister is trained according to his abilities (preferences). Some of these projects can be in the meeting itself (for example training on giving a khotba). Others can be scheduled in specialized halaqas or other training programs (for example political analysis and social activities).
- Training areas: giving khotba, lecture or lesson, debating, preparing a well-written research paper in an Islamic topic or a conversation with an Islamic character, political analysis, developing management skills, fast reading and writing, time saving and scheduling, social activities (visiting the sick, orphan projects, feeding the needy ...), sports, and using technological developments to be more organized and time-saving (personnal computers, fax, electronic mail ..).
Obj.(5): Cooperation among the halaqa members in solving problems:
- Among the most important objectives of the halaqa is to learn how to co-operate in understanding our different personal problems, and solving them. Problems may be natural, psychological, spiritual, intellectual, organizational, ...
Obj.(6): Halaqas "reproduction":
- A halaqa should not last for ever ! It should be programed to fulfil a certain curriculum. Then, after passing thru the different levels of the curriculum, the brothers/sisters should spread to form new halaqas, and to act, then, as amirs/amiras for the new educational work. However, completing the curriculum is not the only training before leading other halaqas. The amir/ amira should apply the following in order to train his brothers/sisters:
- To delegate the responsibility of leading the halaqa to one of the members occasionally.
- To study how the member fulfils the conditions of the good amir (to beexplained later), and to plan to guide him/her towards them.
- To try to take the advice of the older (more experienced) brothers/sisters regarding the candidate.
- To try to discover the abilities and skills of the members. One member may have the ability to lead any other specific Islamic work, but not to lead a halaqa (due to any natural or background-related conditions). In general, the objective for the Muslim home is to be "Islamic" in all aspects, its manners, its shape, the children ...
- A good choice of a Muslim wife/husband: according to the Islamic rules: ".. win the religious woman to hang the good to your hand." (Hadith). It isalso recommended - if the brother/sister ask for the halaqa's advice - to direct him/her not only towards the praying brother or the sister who wears Hijab, but also towards active Islamic workers (brothers or sisters). This serves Islam a lot - inshaa Allah - by gathering a husband and wife who are cooperating in the Islamic da'wa.
- Preserving the Islamic shape of the home: by:
- Preserving the Islamic manners in all the family activities (talking, eating, dressing, ...), and to remind each other with the appropriate "zekr" for each of these activities (could be learned in the halaqa).
- No excess luxury and no greediness in the house's furniture and facilities.
- Cleanness and simplicity.
- Making da'wa for the other families: by visits and social gatherings (within the Islamic rules). The husband, wife as well as the kids could advice and invite others. This can be programed thru the married halaqa-members, and they can also cooperate in holding social gatherings for the other families.
- Educating kids:
- Teaching them the Islamic manners and the Quran since their early childhood. The halaqa-members can share giving a session in the masjid for teaching kids Islam and Quran.
- Giving the kids the true example of the Muslim man/woman.
- Balancing the fulfilment of the different needs of the kids (their bodies, their spirits, their minds).
- Accustoming the kids to the mosque.
- Watching their friends and guiding their actions with them.
- Having an Islamic library at home (even very small), and teaching them to read and learn.
- The halaqa members should share their experiences in raising the children.
Objectives for the Islamic Da'wa
A halaqa is like a brick in the castle of the Islamic da'wa. Therefore, it is not so unrealistic to think that this small halaqa will serve Islam on a large scale. Here are some duties of the halaqa:
- Providing the communities with da'wa workers and leaders: By training the brothers/sisters who attend the halaqa to reach high Islamic levels in knowledge, speaking, advicing others, leading da'wa organizations, under-standing and analyzing political crises of the Ummah, practicing social activities, writing, educating others, managing economical projects, ...
- Studying the reasons behind problems in the different Islamic communities and organizations and participating in solving them.
- Understanding very well the structure and the decision making strategies of the American/Canadian system, and benefiting from the positive sides in serving the Islamic Ummah (politicaly, technologically, financially, ...).
- Producting more halaqas (Individual objective number 6).

Ideal conditions for forming a halaqa

Of course the first condition is to form the halaqa from good Muslims/Muslimas who understand Islam correctly, i.e. don't have "fatal problems" in their idea about Allah (s), the Messangers (S), the Quran, the hereafter, the unseen world which Allah tells us about in the Quran (the angles, the spirit, ..), the SaHaba, and the (well-known to be good) Muslim leaders and scholars all over the Islamic history. Then, there are some more conditions which areimportant for avoiding divergence in backgrounds and understanding:

The correspondence in the intellectual level (except for the ameer/ammera ifpossible).
The correspondence in ages.
The correspondence in cultural background. This doesn't mean to form halaqas on nationalistic basis, but rather, to avoid complete misunderstanding or miscommunication among the halaqa members (for example due to difficulty in understanding each others languages or expressions).
The correspondence in residence: To save time and effort in coming to the meeting, to facilitate social relations, and to be able to meet regularly in the masjid or the community place.

The manners of the halaqa

To renew repentance and to remember sencirity before going to the halaqa.
To come and leave in time except for a strong excuse.
To respect the other brothers/sisters and treat them kindly.
To say your opinion clearly and politely after taking the permission to talk from the ameer/ameera, and to respect the results of the shura.
The host brother/sister should avoid spending much effort or money in cooking or buying food for the halaqa. This causes missing the main reason for gathering, exhausts the host brother/sister, and weakens the attention to the speaker(s) for at least the host.
To prepare the required material carefully.
To avoid giving "fatwa" without knowledge, and to ask a more knowledgable brother/sister about what may be unclear.
To think: How can we develop the meeting in order to be more useful and interesting ?

The Program schedule

1. Reciting some verses from the Quran (and their translation if needed).

2. An introductory word (given by the ameer/ameera or any other member). It is a 5-minute word aiming at opening the hearts and minds to what is coming up. It should include a reminder with something closely related to one or more of the coming sessions.

3. Presenting an overview to the schedule of the meeting.

4. Studying the curriculum: which is the longest and main part. It consists of theoritical sessions which help in reaching the educational objectives stated above for the individual, family and da'wa.

5. Training session: to train the individuals according to the individual'sforth objective (above).

6. Appointing jobs for the next meeting.

7. An opened session to discuss problems which face any of the individuals in his/her family, community, or work, and cooperating in offering solutions for them.

8. Discussing the status of the Islamic Ummah, and analysing the latest news.

9. Opened session for notes regarding strengthening good parts or avoiding any fault that appeared in the program.

10. Making Dua' and then saying "sobhanaka Allahomma wa behamdek, ashhado allaelaha ella antt. astaghferoka wa atobo elayk", and reciting surat Al-'Asr.

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