Scenes from Iqra Academy in West Springfield

2008 – ISWM opens the Iqra Academy to teach the Koran and Sunnah, the sayings and practices of Mohammad, to young Muslims K-12 so they don’t have to go to kafir schools.

June 2011 – 20 yr old Hannah Omary is the first and only graduate of Iqra High School – Principal Evette Abdul-Rahim

June 2013 – Principal Nadeem Sikander finds a job for young Hannah Omary as his personal assistant, although Islamic law prohibits them from ever being alone together.

 

June 18, 2013 – Students study the Koran and Sunnah, the saying and practices of Mohammad, at Iqra Academy in West Springfield

WEST SPRINGFIELD – The children at the private Muslim academy in this community worship Allah and learn Arabic as well as study that favorite American childhood classic “Charlotte’s Web.”

The story of the friendship between the spider and the pig moved third-graders at Iqra Academy so much they used it to win a recent door decorating contest at the school. Their door, which featured spider webs created from cotton balls, took first place, according to the school’s principal, Nadeem Sikandar.

Sikandar showed off the door and the rest of his K-12 Muslim academy during a recent tour for a reporter and photographer. The Pakistani-born Sikandar, who has a background in computer science, is working on a master’s degree in educational administration.

The academy is attached to the rear of the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts mosque on Amostown Road.

While its female students wear head scarves in keeping with Muslim requirements, the academy appears little different from other schools. Posters are affixed throughout the building with such typical admonitions as “Respect: You’ve got to give it to get it” and “Pay attention, follow instructions.”

Jahad Ali, an 18-year-old senior at the school who hails from the Indian Orchard section of Springfield, has been a student there for the last two years. She said she prefers it to public schools because the students at the academy are better behaved and not interested in smoking or drinking. Ali plans a career in electrical engineering.

Sikandar said 10 families from the mosque started the school in 2007 with 17 students. It now has 52 students as well as 12 teachers and three other staffers. The institution is working toward getting accreditation with the state. It has produced nine graduates so far. Iqra means read in Arabic.

The school is one of about a dozen private Islamic academies in the state, with the closest other one being in Worcester, according to Sikandar.

The local school was established to provide a more nurturing environment with a lower teacher-to-student ratio than in public schools and lots of one-on-one attention. Teaching is so individualized that some students can complete three grades worth of work in two years, according to Sikandar.

Arabic is taught every other day and there is also instruction in the Koran and Sunnah, the sayings and practices of Mohammad. As for whether the local school bears any resemblance to the madrassas in some Arabic countries that preach hatred of America, Sikandar says not to worry.

“We are trying to make sure people do not get that kind of education,” he said. “That’s what we are trying to battle.”

The academy does not indoctrinate its students and teaches tolerance of other religions, he said.

Starting in sixth-grade, boys and girls are segregated from each other but follow the same curriculum. The students are free to learn at their own pace and seem to learn better among their own gender, Sikandar said.

http://www.masslive.com/living/index.ssf/2013/06/students_study_reading_writing_koran_at_iqra_academy_in_west_springfield.html

 

 

ME