Bismillah Rahman Raheem, In the name of Allah Most Merciful the compassionate.
Here is South Africa we have two major Curriculum for Islam:
- Madarasa
- Darul Ulum
Madarasa
Madarasa is attended daily as basic education about Islam by children after attending normal school. The government regulation time for normal school close at 2:00, children are released going back home. Children start attending Madarasa at so many Masques or Masaajid from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The major basic education they children learn in Madarasa is Quran reading and memorization, other basic Islamic Knowledge including Salah, Ahadith, etc. This is the time when children are attending Primary and college. Teachers of madarasa are Imams and muadhins of the Masjid, its most of the time free for children who can not afford to pay.
Darul Ulum
Darul Ulum according to South African Muslim Community is the advanced level of Learning after Metric examination, a student may choose to join University or join Darul Ulum to become Mufti, Moulala, etc. Students enrolled in darul Ulum Must stay at school until completion of a course that takes six years. Courses taught include Alim course and Mufti course. Those who qualify becomes Imams who teach in Madarasa. This is typically Indian based Islam Curriculum imported to South Africa, they put much emphasis on teaching the six books of Ahadith commonly known as:
- Sahih Bukhar,
- Sahih Muslim,
- Jami Tirimidh
- Masnad Imam Ahmad
- Imam Abu Dawooda
- Ibn Maajah.
Development of an Internationally recognized Curriculum
Curriculum mean syllabus or set of knowledge that must be acquired by a particular student according to particular age limit with in specific time. in Islam , we can only develop a curriculum for our children and adults to make it easier for them learn Islam in the most simplest way. but as Sharia of Islam we do not have a particular curriculum that depends on age and what capacity of knowledge that must be taught, simply because , Islam started as revelation from heaven to both men and women, young and Adults.
Islam is simply message and information that must be shared and transferred to reach every one who may need to know any where in the world. So the methodology of transferring message of Islam and delivery is what we may call curriculum of Islam.
Depending on the kind of society , a curriculum is developed to help them understand what they learn, and in the process of developing curriculum , learners are classified according particular ratio of ages to be taught particular kind of knowledge.
For South Africa, particular organisations developed their own curriculum to teach their children knowledge of Islam according to their ages. you will get different curriculum for Indian community and different curriculum for Malaysian community who are the main dominant of Islam in South Africa. Then you will find Somalian community different curriculum, and Turkish with different Curriculum. This is mostly at lower level classes.
So it is work of department of education to develop a uniform curriculum for learners of different communities , but this is the biggest challenge we have encountered. Simply because , Muslim communities in South Africa live according to the color of their skin and back ground, this means different schools of Islam , each community with different Curriculum determined with different Madhab.
Only one thing is the same, the holy Quran. The department is working on starting with Quran curriculum for all Madarasas of South Africa and schools by recommendation.
The available organisations that has developed Curriculum for Indian-Pakistan communities is Jamitulm Ulama, and Muslim Judicial Council ( MJC) for Malaysian Muslim Communities. Alhamdu-llah we thank their managements for efforts to make Islamic services available to Muslim Community such us Madarasa at every Mosque, but still their operations are limited to their Indian, Pakistan-Malaysian-Indonesian communities, Turkish, Somalian, Ethipian Communities, less effort is being put on black South Africa Muslim communities simply because of historical back ground of apartheid that separated people according to their skin colors.
The integration of black people of South Africa who embrace Islam with Indian-Turkish-Somalian Muslim Communities is the only solution but it is almost impossible because of the nature of the people involved. Human beings are naturally racist they will never associate them selves with black people freely as you can see no interracial marriages happening between black and Indians in South Africa as it Happened with Arabs in other countries as history records, This was the main tool of spreading Islam by Arabs when they freely inter married with black African people and an Islamic generation was developed in Africa known as Swahili speaking people who are largely dominated with Islam found mostly in East Africa, majorly in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, even a non Muslim will also behave like a Muslim, women cover themselves and wear almost Islamic way.
As for South Africa this has not happened and caused a dangerous set back for Islam of South Africa to grow and has become a stumbling block for any other communication between black and Indians. This is not only about money but its also about sacrificing their Indian traditions of racism and adopt fully the Islamic way of life.
The benefit they will get as Indians of South Africans is to triumph in their establishments of Islam that included building mosques, madarasa, etc, but if they do not adopt this no choice integration, its only a matter of time for bomb shell that will result into a very dangerous civil war between Indian people and black people accusing them of being racist. Indian-Pakistan freely marry a black woman but they do not allow their daughters to marry a black man freely as a family. if it happens, the family will isolate married couple with no any kind of help as they are regarded not family members.
This interracial marriage of Indian, Somalian, Turkish and black people will enable development of accepted curriculum for all since they will be sharing blood and families.