A Good Friend

Lesson Objectives:

- To understand what a good friend is

- To understand why it’s important to have good friends

Quran Verse:

T ‘aawanu alal birri - help each other to be good 5:2

Key Learning Point:

We must try to behave with the best manners and do what Allah teaches us so that we can be super friends!

We should choose our friends carefully to make sure they will help us to do good and become close to Allah.

Activities:
Super Friend!
Choosing Friends experiment
Friends rub off on us!

Download complete lesson A Good Friend

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Choosing Friends

Lesson Title: A good friend

Quran verse: 'T'aawanu alal birri', Help each other to be good 5:2

Key Learning Point:
We should choose our friends carefully to make sure they will help us to do good and become close to Allah.

1. Put a small apple slice into a ziplock bag: Let's imagine, this is a boy called Adam.

2. Run through a scenario emphasising how Adam did not have good manners and did not behave in a way that would make Allah happy. For each negative trait, pour a drop of vinegar into the bag.
(Have the children smell the vinegar)

3. Along came Isa. He thought Adam was fun to play with because he had lots of cool toys. Put another apple slice into the bag.

4. So the boys played together. Adam would shout, get angry if he didn't get a go, snatch the cars and didn't even listen to his mum when she told them to tidy up! Isa noticed that Adam did not have good manners, but He thought well, I'm not like him. I just want to be friends with him so I get to play with his cool toys.

5. Isa carried on going round to Adam's house everyday. Adam would say mean things about some of the people they knew from school. Isa knew it wasn't a good thing to say but soon he started to laugh too.
At each part, add in drops of vinegar and swirl the contents.
What do you think is happening to Isa? Is he still a juicy piece of apple or do you think the taste is changing?
The more Isa played with Adam, the more he started to become like him too!

6. One day when Isa got home, his mummy told him to get ready for dinner. Isa started shouting, 'I don't want to eat rice, I want chips!' He got angry and threw the plate on the floor.

His mummy realised that Isa's manners had changed. He always used to do such good listening and would never shout at her like that. Isa's mummy explained to him how Adam was not a good friend. He did not have good manners and by spending a lot of time with him, Isa was becoming like him too.

Isa understood that his mummy was right. He was sorry. It was more important to do the right thing and make Allah happy by having good manners than play with Adam just because he had some cool toys.

PART 2
Adam started missing Isa. He used to have fun playing with him. He went round to Isa's house and found him playing with his new friends.
Put a few apple slices into a clean, fresh clean bag.

They were all playing so nicely, sharing, taking turns, and helping each other too.
With each positive trait add some sugar into the bag.

Isa asked Adam if he would like to join them.
Add Adam's apple slice to the bag and give it a swirl.

Because Adam's new friends were good, he started to pick up on their sweetness. The children's good manners had rubbed off onto Adam and they had helped him to become good too!

What kind of friend do you want to be? Allah says we should be friends that 'help each other to do good'. We can sweeten our friends with our good manners!

What kind of friends do you want to have? Good friends remind us how to behave in the right way. They help us to do good and become close to Allah.

Our behaviour can change others, so be the best you can be and choose your friends carefully.

Download complete lesson A Good Friend

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Friends rub off on us!

Learning Objective:
To be able to visualise how we pick up on the behaviour and manners of the people we are close to. We start to become the way our friends are.

Have the children draw and colour in their friends with chalk onto black card.
Let them rub over with their fingers, the qualities they would like to 'rub off' on them!
Cross out the remaining negative traits.

Doenload complete lesson A Good Friend

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Making the Right Choice

Lesson Title: Making the right choice

Quran Verse: ‘Atiullaha’ Obey Allah 4:59

Key Learning Point: 
With every choice we make, we must put Allah first. Think, am I doing what Allah has asked me to do? Will it make Allah happy? We must listen to and follow the Quran and our Imams so we can learn how to make the right choice.

Download complete lesson plan: Making the right choice

See also: Imamat

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Imamat: The 12 Imams

Activity by Teaching Young Muslims

Imam means leader. We have 12 Imams. The Imams are chosen by Allah. They never do anything wrong, even by mistake. Allah has sent the Imams as guides to help us understand the Qur'an and show us how to live and behave in the right way. The Imams obeyed the words of Allah in every single way. They are the perfect people to guide us and help us to behave in the right way.

Activity: The Qur'an and the Ahlulbayt
Connect two key rings to each other and label them accordingly. No matter how hard you pull, you cannot separate the two rings. In the same way, the Prophet and his family the Ahlulbayt are connected to the Qur'an. They cannot be separated - we need to follow both. The Qur'an gives us instructions on how to behave and the Ahlulbayt are our teachers who show us how to follow Allah's rules in everything we do.

Activity: Follow the Leader
When someone is the leader, everyone copies and follows them. Our Imams are the only perfect leaders. They always do what is right and obey Allah, so we must always follow them. The Qur’an tells us what Allah wants us to do and the Imams show us how to behave in a way Allah loves.

Activity: The Imam Says
Played like 'Simon says' with the children only following the instructions when 'The Imam Says'. The Imams sent by Allah only listen and do what Allah has said. They always obey Allah.

Activity: Hot And Cold
Hide an object for the child to find by listening to and following instructions. When the child is far from the hidden object use the phrase cold and as he nears finding it state from warm to hot.
The Qur'an and Imams are our guides. They give us all the instructions we need to 'atiullah', obey Allah. We must listen to and follow them, so that we know what to do.

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Ashura Amaal

A'maal Sticker Chart
Younger children may use a sticker per recitation whereas slightly older ones could use the stickers for the Surah Ikhlas and a tasbeeh for the Salawaats.

A'maal Dhikr Square
Colour in the hundred grid Dhikr Square as a tracker to help you recite one hundred Surah Ikhlas throughout the day

Older Children:

Surah al-Ahzab Worksheet

Surah al-Ahzab is recited in the Ashura A'maal. The worksheet allows children to gain an understanding as to why this chapter may have been recommended. They will need an English translation of the Qur'an to locate certain verses and learn about the high position of the Holy Prophet (S)

Salaams on Imam Husayn (as)

Download Ziyara Card

Other Resources

A'maal sheet produced by Towards Jannah

Muharram Workbook ages 4-6 

Muharram Workbook ages 7-9

Workbook: Knowing the Ma'sumin: Imam Husayn (a) by Academy for Learning Islam

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Karbala Landscape

Materials Needed:

A4 sheet of sandpaper

Foam shapes

Have the children make a picture of the landscape to include: The hot sun, Euphrates river, fewer tents of Imam Husayn's camp away from the river, and those of the enemies close to the waterbank.

Can be used as a visual reminder to emphasis the importance of saying salaam to Imam Husayn (as).

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The Heroes of Karbala

A hands on way to learn the family tree of the heroes of Karbala.

Write each member on a mini post it note, colour coded by siblings. The children can sort the families and arrange accordingly onto an A3 sheet. The notes can be reused for practice and as a game to help recall by removing various names for the child to place correctly. A larger version can also be used as a whole class exercise or wall display by using regular post it notes. 

 

Do the family tree exercise together step by step.

1. Who brought us the message of Islam?
Let's put Prophet Muhammad at the top, in the middle of the page.

2. Did he have any children? Who?
Let's put Bibi Fatima underneath the Prophet.

3. Who did Bibi Fatima marry?
Let's put Imam Ali next to her.

4. Did they have any children together?
They had 2 boys and 2 girls

What was their first child called?
Let's make a new line underneath and put Imam Hasan at the beginning.

5. Who was born after Imam Hasan?
Let's put Imam Husayn next to him.

6. Who were Imam Husayn's sisters?
Let's put Bibi Zaynab and Umme Kulthum in the same line.

7. Now let's look at their children.
Imam Hassan had a boy called Qasim. You will hear about him in the story of Karbala.
Let's put him underneath Imam Hassan.

8. Do you know the names of Imam Husayn's children?
Let's put them all underneath 

9. Bibi zainab had two boys who were also in Karbala.
Let's put Aun and Muhammad under Bibi Zainab.

10. When Bibi Fatema died, Imam Ali married Ummul Banin.
Let's put her on the other side of Imam Ali

8. They had a son called Abbas.
Let's put him underneath the name of his mother Ummul Banin.
Abbas was Imam Husayn's little brother.

Use the family tree to question and check understanding of the relationships between each member.

Take off the labels and have the kids practice again, saying out loud the names on the cards to help them form the connections.
A black and white version can also be printed to check understanding without colour coding.

Review Questions:

Who was Imam Husayn’s mother and father?
Who was Ali Akbar’s father?
What are the names of Bibi Zainab’s sons?
Who were Imam Husayn’s sisters?
Who was Qasim?
Who was Hazrat Abbas’ mother?
Who was Imam Zainul Abideen’s father?
Who was Bibi Sakinah’s uncle in Karbala?
Who was Imam Husayn’s grandfather?
Who was Bibi Zainab’s mother and father?

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Fruit Experiment

Learning Objective:
- to understand that Imam Husayn showed us to stand for the truth
- to become familiar with the Quranic ayat, 'be with those who are truthful’ 9:119 
- to learn the Arabic vocab word ‘Sadiqeen’, truthful

Quranic Verse:
Koonoo ma’as saadiqeen, be with those who are truthful’ 9:119

Materials Needed:
Various fruits

Activity:
Ask one child to leave the room. Tell the others about the experiment. 
'When I show you the apple you must all say its an orange!' 
Call the other child in and go through the various fruits asking the children to name each one.
Does the child who left the room say the apple is an orange because all the children do so?!

Explain that it is brave to go against what everyone else is doing/saying.
You must do/say what’s right even if no-one else will.
Talk through examples – times when it’s hard to say the truth etc

Download complete lesson plan: Standing for the truth

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