NPR takes a look at the Al Fatih Academy in Reston, VA, an Islamic that serves elementary and middle school grades. Established in 1999, the school “cultivate and nurtures a thriving American Muslim identity that balances religious, academic and cultural knowledge and imparts the importance of civic involvement and charitable work.”
The school combines traditional classes with Islamic instruction — students learn Arabic, recite from the Quran, and are taught how to pray. “When you’re learning about the stars and the planets, when you’re learning about science, you’re doing it through the rubric of, ‘This is how God created the world,’” comments Shad Imam whose children go to the school. “This is how we, as Muslims, understand the world to exist. I find that very powerful, because often, I think, religion is relegated to a compartmentalized part of society.”
According to the Council for American Private Education (CAPE), there are currently 300 elementary and secondary Islamic schools across the country. Joe McTighe, CAPE’s executive director, says that Islamic schools, along with other religious schools, have a mission that goes beyond the academic. “Religious schools see education as much more than that,” says Mr. McTighe. “They look at the aesthetic dimension, the spiritual dimension, the ethical and moral. They look at the whole child, in body and soul.”
The curriculum at Al Fatih Academy closely follows state guidelines. 8th grade is the highest level taught here, and most of the students will go on to public high school including Fateeha Syed who is set to graduate this year. She says her education at Al Fatih has prepared her for the future. “Here we learn to be ourselves,” says the 8th grader. “And we go off to public school where we can be ourselves with other people. It gives me the confidence.”
