I was sent a link to this website and found in particular quite an entertaining crossword puzzle (notice when you type in the right word a voice keeps repeating mashallah, very good, mashallah, it sounds hillarious) surely aimed at children learning about their religion. I wish we had stuff like this growing up instead of the usual Pakistani Molvi (imam) who spoke no Swedish, sitting in some basement somewhere, repeating a mantra with no soul.
What made me most annoyed with going to the Mosque on Saturday and Sunday (mind you the only two free days of school week), was the fact that I missed Narnia, the BBC tv series, every Saturday morning!
I never forgave dad for that.
Let me tell you what we used to do; majority of kids going to the mosque were Pakistanis, with the odd exception of myself being half Swedish, and my best friend who is also half Swedish half Pakistani. Needless to say, we found each other...
This all started when I was around 5, it was the same routine every Saturday and Sunday. By the time I was 8 I had not only read out the entire Qur'an in Arabic and learnt x number of verses by heart, but to my horror, my father had published a photograph of me saying just that in the Urdu magazine Manzil, that is printed in Sweden by an enthusiastic Pakistani businessman.
Every single kid in that mosque wished they were on some other planet, and the highlight of the day, besides going home, was the break where we were given cookies and lemonade. We would have dipping contests, who could dip the cookie longest without it breaking. (That is how bored we were...)
8 comments:
that sounds depressing.
:/
Well the islamic saturday school's in chicago are a little different.
Sometimes the ladies in white hijab's and navy blue coats were a little crazy (if you get my drift) but it was fun hanging out with other muslim kids for a change.
Yeah I see what you mean. Yup we sure had it depressing, all I could think of was the lion the witch and the wardrobe!
Atleast you didn't have to worry about being whapped with a coat hangar (or did you?)
Our mosque first started out as a house with a HUGE backyard (probably an acre). what we used to look forward to between the time we got off and the time our parents picked us up was having a game of soccer with all the older kids. In the winter, we'd wrestle in the basement.
...also, to add to the punishments, there was the "murgha", the "kursi" and sometimes they'd make us stand and read for the whole class.
Umar, let me put it this way, I have left out many details... sigh...
Oh yes I am familiar with both the kursi and the murgha though I never had to do either. Thankfully.
There was wrestling going on at our end as well...no doubt frustrations needed to be let out! Let's hope our kids do not have to go through it.
haha... I think (or at least hope) that things have changed in the past couple of decades. When I was in Philadelphia, the Mosque used to be trying these 'cool' programs for kids. Some pretty interesting excursions and trips for community-building and all. I'm sure there were religious lectures involved but they were not advertised as such.
oh... and the cookie dipping in lemonade is hillarious!
boo, well I pray to God things change or have changed. I sure as the sun rises in the east wont let my kids go to any place like that.
Glad you enjoyed the cookie dipping :) It's tragic, I know.
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