Amal Al-Sibai Saudi Gazette MAKKAH — The mayor of Makkah, Osama Al-Bar, announced the introduction of a new program called “Values of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him),” into the Kingdom's general education curriculum. This year the program will be implemented in 638 schools in the Makkah province. The first of the Prophet's values that the program aims to reinforce is having a sense of responsibility and duty. “The main problem is that the majority of the Saudi youth are entrenched in it and they suffer many negative repercussions in their lives as a result of this faulty trait: Irresponsibility,” said Ibrahim Al-Khanjy, psychologist, counselor, and personal skills development trainer. “Many of the undesirable practices common among youth in Saudi society such as littering, falling behind in studies and reckless driving all boil down to a lack of responsibility.” The director general of Education in Makkah, Hamid Al-Sulami, said that the project will instill in society the Prophet's noble values. “It helps to fulfill the Ministry of Education's goals in transforming the information and theoretical knowledge in the syllabus taught to students into practical skills and daily habits that will be applied in the student's life. With classroom and extracurricular activities, the educational process should positively and actively influence the student's life and shape his/her behavior and conduct so that he/she speaks and acts in a way that emulate our role model – the Prophet (pbuh),” Al-Sulami said. The group of teachers and school counselors who laid the building blocks of this program have a vision: To develop a generation of Saudi youth who love the Prophet (pbuh) and follow his ways, take pride in their country, are responsible, productive, hardworking, happy to serve their communities, good to their neighbors regardless of nationalities and have superb mental and social skills. “Students will benefit from this program and they will apply what they learned both inside and beyond the school walls. “By following the teachings of the Prophet (pbuh), our students will be better citizens who understand their duties toward themselves, their Creator and society,” said Hasan Falali, the director of the program. Many view this program as a big step in the right direction. It is a movement away from mere memorization and rotary learning as has been the traditional way of learning in the Kingdom to a more useful approach of activities and an enjoyable way of learning. Some of the Islamic subjects that emphasize rulings, jurisprudence, and memorization of dates and names lack the spirituality and love for the religion that the program will provide. Teachers of the program will use a multifaceted approach by holding lectures and workshops, distributing brochures and interactive CDs, organizing competitive contests, engaging students in the morning assembly, and sending inspirational tips through SMS messages and social networking websites. Welcoming the program as a much-needed change was Eman Al-Baba, an Islamic studies and Qur'an teacher. The goal of a sound Islamic education should be to rectify one's character, manner of speech and one's dealings with others. Unfortunately, in this society there is a wide gap between having the knowledge and the application of such knowledge. Complying with the outer physical aspects of Islam such as growing a beard or wearing the hijab is meaningless if Islam does not influence the Muslim's thinking. Some people have memorized several chapters of the Qur'an yet they fail to adhere to the example of the Prophet (pbuh). They are harsh with children, always frown and are rigid compared to the Prophet (pbuh), who was gentle and kind toward children, smiled often and was flexible.
