Statement of Objectives:(WIS):

Our overall objectives are for the children of our community to growand develop to:

1. Be believing and practicing Muslims,
2. Believe in Allah in their hearts and recognize that He is theirLord,
3. Be aware of their duty to Allah and to be motivated to do 'Ibadah,
4. Have knowledge of the teaching and practices of Islam,
5. Know why Islam is a better way of life than everything they seearound them,
6. Develop character, better manners and a respectful demeanor, and
7. Be able to relate Islamic beliefs and teachings to non-Muslims ina coherent and compelling way.

These objectives will be achieved by:

1. building a Muslim identity,,
2. gaining knowledge of Islamic beliefs and practices, and
3. becoming fluent in Qur'anic knowledge, Arabic language andIslamic Philosophy..

The first component involves trying to combat the influence ofnon-Muslim culture in the minds of our youth. One class will be devotedonly to reading Islamic literature, both classical and modern: storybooks, adventures, biographies, etc... Some may consider it a waste oftime for a class to read together, but then again, if their childdoesn't get an A+ in Reading and English class in the local publicschool, these same people get angry.

The second component, Islamic belief, is fairly self-explanatory.The approach must be systematic. We can't teach the same thing to everygrade as if there is nothing else in Islam. There should be a varietyof knowledge from class to class. Therefore, the textbooks chosen mustbe varied also to suit the various requirements of each class level.

The third element is a combination of Arabic class, Hifz class andTa'leem class. All three must be combined. It may seem a daunting taskbut this is how it used to be done in the old days. It at all possibleone teacher will teach all three elements in one, interwoven lessoneach week. The usual approaches have failed so we must renew ourmethods to make all three trends relevant to each other

Special thanks to the work done by the Islamic Foundation of Americafor their curriculum development efforts.