Education in the Madrassah

Foundi Abdou Soilih

Foundi Abdou Soilih is one of the most significant, noble and influential Qur-anic teacher in the Village of Séléa.
He spends most of his precious and incalculable time in teaching children of different ages in his Madrassah.

Foundi Abdou has contributes tremendously in the spiritual development of many people of Séléa. He helped many young people in the Village through the process of developing their fundamental understanding of Islam. Because of his moral contribution, many children of the Village grew up with a good understanding of their religion.

Oustadh Abdou Soilih is one of the most, patient and charismatic teachers in the Village of Séléa.

He is always ready to accept to teach all children no matter which social background they come from. His efforts, courage, determination and hard working play essential role in the life of many children of Séléa.

Many of us who have been taught by him, will never forget the positive contribution, which he made in our lives. He definitely deserves respect, honour and recognition by each members of the community of Séléa

Words are not enough to express our thankfulness towards Foundi Abdou Soilih (Oustadh Abdourahamane Soilih). We ask God to give him the strength to continue teaching the children.

We ask Allah to grant him a long life.

Learning in Madrassah/Shiyoni in the VillageSelea-Bambao

ARSB

Brings you all about the learning experience in Madrassah in Selea

The above photograhs present the structure of seating, the dressing code and the manner, in which children are required to present themselves within the Madrassah. The photographs also show how the children of Selea learn about Islam and how to recite the Glorious Qur-an using the method tought in Grand comorian Madrassah.

Education is the key to success in life

The above picture is the Fiday mosque, as you can see it still under construction.

Learning in Shiyoni

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A community without education is a lost Community

Madrassah is a traditional Isslamic School, where many children from the age of 5 would be sent by their parents to learn how to read the Qur’an. It is also known in the local language as Shiyoni. The word Madrassah is an Arabic word mostly used in every Islamic society for many centuries.

The method of learning in Madrassah / Shiyoni can be explained in three basic steps:

1. Learning the Arabic Alphabetic by reading and writing.
2. Learning how to be fluent in reading the Glorious Qur’an
3. Learning and understanding certain Fiqh books (The science of the Islamic pillars)

Generally in Grande Comore, children learn how to read and writing Arabic characters by using a simple and basic book called Kurwassa. This simple book (kurwassa) contains the Arabic Alphabetic along with some basic instructions on how to read and writing in Arabic.

Kurwassa originally composed and compiled by various Islamic institutions based in the City of Mombassa, the second largest City of Kenya East Africa through whom its largest population are dominantly Muslims. Kurwassa also contained several Surat from the Glorious Qu’ran, mostly from Juzuu-Amma. Once a child is able to read this beginners book, he/she would move to the second step of learning in Shiyoni. This second step is known in Comorian language as Ngemswahafuni, which means the child begins to learn from the Glorious Qur’an according to Tajweed (the art of reciting the Qur’an).

The primary objective of going to the Shiyon in Grande Comore is to learn how to read the Glorious Qur’an and develop one's basic understanding of Islamic practices and the pillars of Islam.

Islam is the main religion followed by the Comorian people. In fact it is very, very rare to find a Comorian person, who follow any religions other than Islam. Religions such as Christianity and Judaism have no teaching influences on the lives of the Comorian people for so many generations.

After it has been established, approved and acknowledged by the Madrassah teachers (Fundi) that the child is able to read the Glorious Qur’an fluently, then the next step is to begin learning certain books of Fiqh (the Islamic Science of performing all the religion pillars, which is an obligatory up on every Muslim) .

The books to be learn include: The Baabu, the Safina, Rissalah, Mabadiu Al-Fiqh and many other fiqh books. All these books are taught according to the school of thought of Al-Imam Shafi, which is the branch of Fiqh the Comorian people follow in performing their Islamic daily obligations in life.

Do the Village children like attending to the Madrassah?

Going to Madrassah in the Village it is an obligation imposed upon all children by their parents. However, many children don’t like going to Madrassah. Perhaps the reason here could be the teaching methodology or the implications posed on the children by teachers.

There could be many other reasons for which discouraged the children attending Madrassah on regular basis. One of the reasons might be that the Madrassah’s system is very restricted and hard to keep up with.

The following could be thought of as some of the other reasons why children on the Island in general don’t like attending Madrassah:

In the Madrassah whipping was something so common in the early days of of traditional Madarassah. The punishment was normally carried out by the Madrassah's educator, or by one of his appointed supervisor. Sting-natal was another form of weapon teachers use for punishing the children. Other method of punishing, such as slapping and smacking would also be used for punishing those who disobey, or break any code of conduct in Shiyoni. Any disobedience whether major or minimal would result to such punishment e.g. Not wearing proper attires, lateness, chatting, failing to memorise a surat or forgetting equipment.

Certain way of dressing was enforced upon all children, who attend to the Madrassah, failure to ware the dressing code, which prescribed by teachers could result in some kind of punishment.

Attending to the Madrassah on time was also under obligation and failure to attend on time would have an avoidable banishment of whipping.

Many children found it very difficult to attend two schools every day; the French State School and Madrassah. Every other week some student attend State school in the mornings and then Madrassah in the afternoon whilst the others attend Madrassah in the morning and State school in the afternoon. As can be imagined, this was very tiring and stressful.

Working freely for the teachers was a duty to be performed twice or once every week, normally on Tuesday and Thursday. This task is called Yahowa, which could be translated as ‘paying teachers their dues’. The male children would work on the teacher's farm and girls would be responsible of the house chores including going to the farm and collecting pieces of woods, which would be used to light fire for cooking.

Children some times were finding too difficult to attend two schools everyday. Some days they may even require attending to the Shiyoni twice.

Most children would never get along with the Madrassah's supervisor, simply because they felt that they were more restrictive and pressured more than the teachers themselves. Generally speaking if any Comorian child were to be asked about his or her experiences of being in the Shiyoni, perhaps very few would have something cheerful to say about it. That is how the teaching in Madrassah used to be, however, thses days the system and the methodology of teaching in Madrassah has changed in many apects.

The teachings in Madrassah used to be always organized freely for all children to attend. But nowadays since economic necessities become more important to our lives, parent must pay both state schools and Madrassah. This is where life can get too complicated for most of families in Grande, as many families are relatively large with fewer resources. Many times the students themselves would have to pay these fees in assistance to their parents. They often have to do so by doing the odd job such as picking up food and materials from the farms (e.g. oranges, coconuts, bananas etc) to sell

Despite all challenges being in Shiyoni, a significant number of children succeeded extremely well in terms of being teachers, educators and leaders in religious affaires in the Village. The Children also enjoy a unique privilege and respect from many people in the Village, extraordinarily from the elderly. Some managed to further their education in many universities in Arab world, mainly in the Middle Eastern Countries.

Many Madarassah nowadays, however, became more moderate and restrictions became less important on the children. The majority of children are going to the Shiyoni voluntarily, unfortunately, many parents are unable afford fees for two types schooling due to the lack for cash.

There are at least two Madrassahs in the village and the neighboring villages would send their children to attend Madrassah in Selea and vice-versa.

The teaching in Shiyoni have played a major role in keeping their children in good in terms of respecting religious code of conduct, social norms, values and morals. Till the present time, Shiyoni remain a major institution among most of the Comorian families. The learning method in Shiyoni now is improving positively and it has a good reputation of storing high-quality of discipline on the children. Many grow up with fine etiquettes and good moral in their conducts.

The ARSB recognizes that Foundi Mbae as one of the most important persons in the Village of Selea. He plays a central role in the Community of Selea. Foundi Mbae took the responsibilities of teaching some of the children from the in community of selea voluntarily.

Foundi Mbae spends the majority of his times offering a basic Islamic education to the Village children on daily basis. The ARSB believes that his contribution and hard working, must recognized and embrace by all the citizens of Selea. The ARSB regards his work of educating the community children as a central element.

As you can see from the image above, Foundi mbae has a physical disability, however, he never allow this conditions to weaken his determinations. He is indeed a very courageous person, who dedicate his time serving the children from the community of Selea.

The team of www.bangazoselea-surleweb is very grateful and appreciative for his remarkable works and efforts. We ask God to continue give him strength and protect him from any harm.

The photo above is the Madrassah of Foundi Koullah (Foundi, Educator). Koullah is the name of the educator in this Madrassah. This Madrassah is one of the oldest Madrassah in Selea. In fact most of the religious intellectuals from Selea have gained their basic Islamic knowledge from this Madrassah. The Madrassah was originated and initiated by Foundi Ahmed Abdou, who is Koullah’s father. He taught in this Madrassah for more than 40 decades. He Currently handed the responsibility of teaching to his son, who graduated from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.

Foundi Ahmed Abdou is one of the most prominent Muslims academic in the Village of Selea.

He played a very significant role in the process of educating most of the citizens of Selea about the religion of Islam. He is indeed one of the most well known educator in the community. Without shadow of doubt, the fruits of his works efforts can be identified by everyone, who obtained the chance to visit Selea.

Foundi Ahmed Abdou made positive changes in many young people’s lives in Selea and other young people from different Villages in all regions of grand Comore. He is a well known educationalist and a charismatic speaker in religious gatherings and occasions. He enjoys and loves educating those, who value and understand the purpose of Islamic education in this life and the life after.

The team of www.bangazoselea-surleweb.org is proud to have such an honorable and exemplary person within our community.

We pray that God will protect him and give him the strength to continue offering his Islamic knowledge and good understanding of the religious of Islam to our community.

We would like to dedicate this article to him by showing our appreciation for his courage, determination and fortitude on the importance of the role he has been playing for so many years.

His time and efforts to educate the citizens of Selea and citizens of other Villages and Town in Grand Comore will be treasured by many of us.

They are learning well and behaving respectively.