Rawha Madrassah

 

The Rawha Academy Launches a Pioneering Haya Madrassah

The Preservation and Dissemination of Sacred Legacy

The Rawha Academy has already developed and implemented a transformational programme for its Saturday School, and is now set to launch its new pioneering Haya Madrassah for children. Both the Academy and the Haya Madrassah aim to preserve and disseminate the essence of our faith. A team of well-qualified and experienced teachers and dedicated staff have developed a syllabus to impart sacred knowledge to nurture chivalrous children.

We are honoured and blessed that our esteemed Shaykh Habib Umar Bin Hafiz has named our new madrassah “Al Haya”.

Haya’ can be translated as: modesty, shame, virtue, shyness or bashfulness. The word haya’ is derived from the word “al-hayah”, which means life. This signifies that ‘modesty’ is an indication of a heart that is alive, and the hearts liveliness depends on the owner’s belief and knowledge of God.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said “Haya will not bring anything except good” (Bukhari) and that “Iman and Haya are like twins, they go hand in hand” (Hakim) as well as “All of Haya is good” (Muslim).

The Haya Madrassah reflects a new paradigm in madrassah education. It is a bold attempt to embody and integrate holistic learning of both Islamic and academics sciences, while being rooted in Qur’an and Sunnah and our rich Islamic tradition.

Madrassah is an Arabic term for “school”. The word madrassah is derived from the triconsonantal Semitic root (D-R-S), which relates to a learning process carried out through study; so madrassah literally means “a place where learning and/or studying is done”.

The Haya Madrassah will create an Islam-inspired school that is focused on nurturing students who excel academically, are grounded in Islamic values, and are connected to the community with a keen sense of service. We aim to cultivate a vibrant learning environment and a sustainable, supportive, child-centered culture.

In the pursuit of excellence, both the Rawha Academy and the Haya Madrassah aspire to develop children of character who embody the values of our faith in thought and action reflecting sacred prophetic virtues and morals. A key aim is to instill a spirit of learning and love for our Creator, His Messenger, and for Islam.

 

The Rawha Academy Launches a Pioneering New Madrassah

Learning Outcomes of the Rawha Madrassah are to nurture a generation who:

• Glorify Allah (SWT) by embodying the message of Islam and sharing it with others
• Love the Prophet (peace be upon him) through exemplifying his character
• Attach firmly to the Qur’an and the knowledge therein
• Emulate the learned scholars in their quest for knowledge
• Strive to continuously improve themselves – Ihsaan
• Aspire to be faithful servants by contributing to society – Khidma

 

The Importance of Tajweed and Tarteel

The Holy Quran is the word of Allah (SWT) and is unlike any other book. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Verily the one who recites the Qur’an beautifully, smoothly, and precisely, he will be in the company of the noble and obedient angels. And as for the one who recites with difficulty, stammering or stumbling through its verses, then he will have twice that reward.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

The Holy Qur’an states: “And recite the Qur’an with tarteel (in a slow pleasant tone and style).” [73/4].

When asked about the meaning of tarteel, Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) replied, “It means that the Qur’an should be recited with tajweed and with due observance to the rules of waqf (pausing or stopping at the end of a verse)”.

Beautiful recitation of the Quran is something many of us wish to achieve. The stages for beautifying recitation are correct pronunciation of each letter and then to learn to recite the words of the Qur’an in the manner of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).   This science is known is known as tajweed, without which one’s recitation can never be regarded beautiful.

The methodology of the Rawha Madrassah will endeavour to inculcate excellent tajweed and tarteel in each student insha Allah.

 

How will my child be taught to read?

The children are assessed and assigned to a tajweed reading group, so that the Madrassah can effectively differentiate and individualise learning. Your child will work with children who are at the same reading level.  This will involve some children working with other children in different year groups.  Children will be assessed half termly and move to a different group if they are making faster progress that the others.

 

Quranic Phonics

At the Rawha Madrassah we will be using pure Arabic phonic sounds:

• Children will learn to connect Arabic letters (graphemes) to their individual sounds (phonemes) and how to blend them together for reading
• Children will be taught how to identify the individual phonemes within words and segment them for spelling
• By recognising the phonemes and the graphemes that represent them, and blending them together to read words, children will quickly progress in their learning of the Qur’an insha Allah.

 

Lesson Structure

• Bite-sized lessons that build knowledge cumulatively
• Each lesson features a range of stimulating activities to enhance your child’s knowledge and understanding
• Introduction of new Arabic letters and words (and review of letter and words previously learned)
• Blending and segmenting of words
• Word building – both orally and/or at story time
• A gradual introduction to tajweed rules
• Practise tests and support for parents to record their child’s progress.

 

A Place for Rote Learning

One of the most salient features of elementary education in Muslim societies has always been the concept of rote learning and memorization (hifs). This reflects the importance of the oral tradition and the verbal transmission of knowledge going back to the Prophet (peace be upon him) despite the increasing prominence of the written word. The philosophy of education based on the concept of fitra, also contributes to the pedagogy of the madrassah.

 

Rote learning is very important in learning to read; the most important task in learning to read an alphabetic writing system is to develop a phonetic reflex, which is easily achieved with repetition, where the learner repeats the letter-sound combinations.

 

 

 

Key Features of The Rawha Madrassah

• Trained teachers
• Small group sizes
• Education for children between the ages of 5 and 14 years
• A child-centred and structure learning environment
• Age appropriate learning methods and materials to make learning enjoyable
• Qur’an and Hadith included through the syllabus
• Nurturing of character development, with a particular focus on prophetic character, throughout the course.

 

For further information or an application form please email info@rawhaacademy.org or call 07518 836056
www.rawhaacademy.org
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