Your Character is Your Beauty

Lesson Objective:

- To emphasise the importance of inner beauty 

- To increase awareness of Allah in everyday actions

Quran Verse:

Wa libaasut taqwa dhalika khayr

The clothing of taqwa is the best 7:26

Every day we spend time looking after and caring for our body. In the same way, we also need to make sure we take care and look after our inside character and soul for that is where true beauty lies.

Activity: Your Character is Your Beauty
Fill a cosmetic bag with everyday objects used to look after the body and discuss the connections of how each one can also serve as a reminder to beautify the soul. 

Glasses/Contact lens case

We can all see the beautiful world around us. But Allah is Al Baseer, He has x-ray vision and sees what is inside us too! To Allah, it doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside, whether you’re tall, short, what colour your hair is or if you wear glasses. Allah cares about your beauty inside.

Hand cream

Helping hands - ‘koonu ansarAllah: be helpers of Allah’ holding open door, picking rubbish, giving

Lip balm

Good words - ‘kullu linaasi husna: speak beautiful words’. T.H.I.N.K before you speak is it true, helpful, inspiring, necessary and kind?

Cotton buds

Clean out your ears! Listen to what Allah has told us, parents, Quran (listener and reciter share reward!) not listen to gossip, foul/indecent language swear words/songs

Sun cream

We use sun cream to protect our skin from harm. The higher the SPF, the Sun Protection Factor the better. Apply your SPF, your Sin Protection Factor 5x a day by keeping up salaa and protecting your soul from harm.

Nail file and buff

File away your prickly behaviour and bad habits. Smooth and polish your good habits, let your manners shine!

Mirror

The reflection in the mirror only shows your outside beauty. Pray to Allah to help you be beautiful inside too. “O Allah just as you have made me beautiful on the outside, help me be beautiful on the inside”

Perfume

‘Allah looks at your heart and what you do, not what you look like’. Perfume your heart with good deeds and the remembrance of Allah!

Activity: Origami Paper Heart

Add a spray of perfume onto the completed heart to make it fun and memorable. Write inside how you will beautify and perfume your heart/The dua to ask Allah to make your inside beautiful.

View post

Prescription for Fasting

Lesson Objective:
To understand the reason given in the Qur'an for fasting

Qur'an Verse
O believers! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was for those before you so that you may have taqwa. 2:183. 

Discuss some reason why the children think we fast
- health reasons
- feel what the poor go through
- obedience to Allah

Read the Qur'an verse 2:183 and explain how Allah says fasting was 'prescribed' for us. Where else have they heard that word? Doctors give us a prescription of medicine to take when we are sick. Allah is the greatest doctor. He is telling us that our souls are weak and is giving us a remedy to strengthen and build our taqwa by fasting. 

When we fast, we are starving the body but feeding the soul by obeying Allah. The fasting helps us to become more mindful of Allah and stay away from wrong. 

See Also: Lessons on taqwa

View post

Power of Taqwa

Learning Objective:

- To understand taqwa as a covering protecting the soul 

- To know that taqwa is strengthened with the remembrance of Allah.

- To know that taqwa leads to success

Qur'an Verse

Wa libaasut taqwa dhalika khayr

The clothing of taqwa is the best 7:26

Watch the Power of Taqwa

Download Complete Lesson Plan: Taqwa: Protecting Your Soul

View post

Stoning the Pillars

One of the rituals of hajj is to stone the three pillars at Jamaraat. When we are hitting these, we are thinking which of our bad habits do we want to hit and get rid of to become closer to Allah. 

Recap the concept of taqwa, reminding how no one can make you do anything. They might ‘whisper’ and give you ideas to do something wrong, but when you have taqwa, you remember Allah and have the power to fight the whispers and not listen to them.

Go in search for pebbles and write the word Taqwa on one of the stones. Discuss scenarios when you've been tempted to do something wrong. Did you fight it away and hit it with the stone of Taqwa? Display your Taqwa pebble as a reminder of the strength of Prophet Ibrahim (as) as he fought away the whispers of Shaytan. We too by remembering Allah all the time can stop becoming distracted to do what is wrong. 

See also:
Lesson plan and activities on Taqwa

View post

Taqwa

Lesson Objectives:

- To understand the need to protect the soul

- To know what the soul needs protection from

- To understand what dressing in taqwa means

- To understand the importance of having taqwa

Quran Verse:

Wa libaasut taqwa dhalika khayr

The clothing of taqwa is the best 7:26

Key Learning Point:

When we wear the clothing of taqwa, we put on a protective suit that makes us aware of Allah at all times. It gives you strength to make the right choice and fight away the bad whispers that try to make you do what is wrong, and harm the soul. Taqwa is the most important piece of clothing we must wear everyday! It protects the soul and keeps it clean and beautiful.

Activities:

Soul Protection

Temptations

Protect your heart

Save the goal, protect your soul! 

Wearing Taqwa

Power of Taqwa

Download Complete Lesson Plan: Taqwa: Protecting Your Soul

Watch: Power of Taqwa Visual Experiment

View post

Save the goal, protect your soul!

Set up a goal and demonstrate how when the goal is not guarded, it it easy to score and get the ball into the net! When we don’t wear the clothing of taqwa, our soul is not protected and bad whispers can easily harm it.

Explain how the goal represents your soul and the ball represents the bad whispers. Do we want to listen to the bad whispers and do what is wrong? Do we want to let them in and harm our soul? We must have strong taqwa to save the goal and protect our soul!

Have the children take turns to wear the ‘taqwa armour’ and be the goalkeeper. Have the others name an action that would harm the soul, before trying to score. E.g. Dishonesty, not sharing, rude, disobedience, Bad friends, mean words.

If the goalkeeper saves the ball, cheer and praise him for having strong taqwa and protecting his soul.

If the ball gets into the net, use the opportunity to talk about how the goalkeeper needs to strengthen his taqwa by increasing his remembrance of Allah and let him have another turn.

Without taqwa, we can not protect our soul. Taqwa is the most important piece of clothing we must wear everyday! We can make our taqwa stronger, by increasing increasing our remembrance of Allah.

Download Complete Lesson Plan: Taqwa: Protecting Your Soul

View post

Wearing Taqwa

Lesson Objectives:

- To understand what dressing in taqwa means

- To understand the importance of having taqwa

Quran Verse:

Wa libaasut taqwa dhalika khayr

The clothing of taqwa is the best 7:26

When we have taqwa and remember Allah all the time, we are careful what words we say, what we listen to, what we look at and the things we do. Everything has an affect on our soul. We must be careful to protect it from harm.

SEE: TV/Posters on billboards unsuitable images. 

Put a blindfold on – look down/change channel

HEAR: Bad words/talking mean about someone else/gossip

Earplugs/headphone – not listen/walk away

SAY: think before speak is it true/helpful/kind?

Sellotape – not say 

When we 'wear taqwa', we are aware of Allah all the time and protect our soul by not looking at, listening to or saying what is wrong'.

Download Complete Lesson Plan: Taqwa: Protecting Your Soul

View post

Protect your heart

Tape a paper heart to the back of each child.

Have the children on the shout of go try to collect as many of the other players hearts as possible, while trying to protect their own! They can not pull, push or even touch the other children, only grab their paper hearts. Most children in their excitement will focus on capturing others hearts and probably lose their own!

When the game is over, announce that the winners are not those who have collected the most hearts but rather those who protected their heart and still have it. 

When you have taqwa, you are focused only on protecting your soul. You don’t let anyone distract you or do anything that will harm your soul and take you away from Allah.

Download Complete Lesson Plan: Taqwa: Protecting Your Soul

View post

Soul Temptations

Surah Naas Lesson

Lesson Objectives:

- To understand the need to protect the soul

- To know what the soul needs protection from


Role play a scenario with a friend tempting another to do something wrong.

Use bribes of increasing value e.g. pack of sweets/money/a present

Will you have taqwa, be mindful of Allah and the strength to resist?!

Allah has given us a brain so that we can control and choose what we do. No one can make you do anything. They might ‘whisper’ and give you ideas to do something wrong, but when you have taqwa, you remember Allah and have the power to fight the whispers away and not listen to them. You don’t listen to the bad whispers that are trying to harm your soul and take you away from Allah. Instead, you make the right choice to protect your soul. 

Download Complete Lesson Plan: Taqwa: Protecting Your Soul

View post

Soul Protection

Lesson Objectives:

- To understand the need to protect the soul

- To know what the soul needs protection from

Activity: 
Scatter some small stones on the floor and have the children walk over them barefoot. Point to the bottom of your foot and identify how your sole hurts and needs to be protected from dirt, stones, sharp objects by wearing shoes. Just like our SOLES need protecting, so do our SOULS!

Having taqwa is a way of protecting our soul from the harmful things that take us away from Allah and His remembrance.

Download Complete Lesson Plan: Taqwa: Protecting Your Soul

View post