I grew up in Southern California, born to Pakistani parents who moved to the USA in the mid-80’s. I am 25 now. I have two young­er sisters and one younger brother, all of whom were homeschooled at some point in their lives.
My education began at home, with my mother teaching me to read the Quran and English before I joined school. I then attended OrangeCrescent School, a private Islamic school in California un­til Grade 5. While in school, I started to memorise the Quran. I completed the 30th Juz in the third grade and in the fifth, I decided to continue and hoped to memorise the whole Quran.

Dilemma & Solution
Over time, I found that combining Hifz with full-time school was not work­ing. I tried to memorise whenever I got a chance, averaging a few Ayahs a day, but in one year, I only managed about four Ajzaa, with much difficulty. So my par­ents decided on homeschooling, which allowed for flexible hours and more ef­ficient use of time.

California has a special program for homeschoolers called the California Home Education Program (CHEP). This program provides free materials and assistance to homeschoolers. An ed­ucation facilitator is assigned to the fam­ily to monitor monthly lesson plans and progress. The program also arranges for participation in annual state-wide testing.
The subjects and courses were roughly the same as those in public school. How­ever, the program allowed us to choose from a variety of approved textbooks. My parents supplemented those with re­sources that they had acquired (esp. for Science and Social Studies), making it a truly customised and unique experience.

I spent several hours in the morning, memorising a set portion of the Quran, and reviewing previous Ajzaa. After memorising, I recited to my mother, and then started on the day’s homework. Initially, one sister homeschooled with me. Other siblings joined in subsequent years. I studied mostly on my own, with parental supervision. In the beginning, my mother checked my work. Then, my father checked it in the afternoon upon returning from work.
After Maghrib, I attended the Quran class in the Masjid for several hours, where I would prepare and recite to my Quran teacher. When the days were longer, I spent some time in the after­noons playing basketball with friends. In this way, I managed to memorise the Quran in two years, while staying on course with the subjects that students my age were studying.

Nurturing Other Facets
In the meantime, I also developed a love for computer programming, which I started as a hobby on the side. I helped my father manage an online website, called albalagh.net. After running the site solely as an e-journal, Albalagh Bookstore was launched in late 2001, when I was in Grade 10. I had done all the online and offline programming for the website.

My siblings and I had a very positive homeschooling experience. The bond with our parents was strengthened im­mensely. The television had been re­moved from the home since our early childhood years, so homeschooling al­lowed us to study in an environment free of the Fitan that come with popular cul­ture and the public school environment.

I stayed ahead of my peers in worldly education – I received high scores in the College Board SAT and AP examina­tions, which led to an admission with full scholarship to the University of California, Irvine in 2004. I graduated three years later with honours with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science when I was 21.

Current Pursuits & Future Plans
Currently, I am pursuing Islamic stud­ies in Pakistan at Jamiah Dar-ul-Uloom, Karachi. I am in the last year of the Alim course.

The environment here is very clean and positive with a great emphasis on Tarbiyah, and the teachers friendly and pious. This has been a marked relief from the Fitnah-filled environment back at UCI. Further, the subjects taught here and the keys that this education provides to our classical legacy are very difficult to obtain elsewhere.

However, there are differences be­tween universities and Madaris, some of which demanded adjustment. Universi­ties in the West pride themselves on an unchained, free exploration of “truth” and moral values, where almost nothing is unquestionable, besides the hegemo­ny of the intellect. Professors taught us to question everything, to be sceptical, and often asked questions which they claimed had no right answer. This can lead to much moral confusion, but it did foster an academic environment, where we were discouraged from regurgitat­ing memorised facts and encouraged to use our minds critically to arrive at new meanings and ideas. In contrast, since Madaris deal with matters of Wahy and revealed knowledge, they tend to have the completely opposite approach in this regard.

I plan, In Sha Allah, to return to Cali­fornia and work for the Deen, by con­ducting classes and writing articles.

Muneeb is the son of Br. Khalid Baig, author and Editor, Albalagh E-Journal.

I was born in 1963 and spent my early childhood in Dacca. I moved to Karachi just before the fall of East Pakistan in 1971. I have three older brothers and a younger brother and sister. My father (late Khurram Murad)** had made a commitment with Allah to work for the cause of Islam – this was the only way, he believed, one could be a true Muslim. The whole purpose of education to him was to instil this mindset in us. My mother and her immediate family had the same mission in life.

My parents home educated us in the initial 7-8 years. It was probably the norm among my father’s family members, who were highly educated and successful. The primary reason for homeschooling was to give us the knowledge and sound understanding of Islam. He believed that children should learn the Quran and other branches of Islamic knowledge, including Seerah stories, before they start formal schooling. This would shape their thoughts and personalities, while providing a good foundation for future learning.

Homeschooling was very informal, and yet, full of learning. There were no regular lessons, except our Quran recitation classes with a ‘maulvi sahib’. Great importance was given to these classes. We all managed to finish the Quran at 7, Alhamdulillah, and our achievements were always celebrated.

My mother played a very important role in our home education. She inculcated in us the love for Allah and His Messenger. She was well-versed in Iqbal and Urdu poetry and literature and would teach these to us regularly.

Passionate about our education, my father taught us simple mathematics and language when we were young. He also suggested books, then encouraged us to share our learning with others in the house and asked thought-provoking questions. Thus, I was able to read a great deal of Islamic literature, like ‘Khutbaat’ by Sayyid Maududi. We did not have a television and this was most likely why the stories of the Sahaba captivated us and had a lifelong impact on us.

After my father was taken as a POW in the 1971 Indo-Pak War, he used to write us letters from the prison. These contained invaluable advice. Once, he wrote, "...no matter how long we live together here (in dunya), this union will end. We need to work for a union which will last forever."

There were two major plus points in homeschooling. Firstly, unlike school, where every grade has a fixed curriculum, we were motivated to learn a variety of things. Teaching life skills at a young age is more important than teaching the shapes! Being at home, watching my mother, I grew fond of various crafts and chores. I learnt to embroider, knit, sew and cook. These skills have benefitted me a lot to this day. I also remember when I had almost finished the Quran – my mother gave me few lessons in Urdu and within a few weeks, I was able to read on my own. Thus, homeschooling allows one to learn faster.

Secondly, children imitate the values of their parents. Therefore, it is important that they be kept in their families' protective environment. My parents deemed tarbiyah at home to be very important. I learnt a great deal from their personalities and the environment that they established, which was influenced by my father's da'wah activities. We unconsciously learnt from his day-to-day living that service in the path of Allah has the highest priority. As children, we cherished the Islamic programs held in our home and were greatly influenced by our mother who was always supportive and patient.

My father strongly believed that children should have the opportunity to interact with all sorts of people and thus, be able to understand them. After all, in working for the deen, we have to deal with a broad spectrum of society. My father's social circle reflected that – he mixed with his colleagues at the workplace and visited them, not limiting himself to Jamaat members only. Similarly, our relatives were a diverse lot. My father attached great importance to maintaining social ties with all sorts of people, though friendship and bonding can be with the likeminded only.

When we started school, education was taken as something which would help us achieve our goals for the aakhira and not merely for success in this life. Imparting this to children will have a profound effect on their vision.



* The author is a mother of five. She has a BSc honours in Mathematics and Physics, and is involved in the Young Muslims weekend programme for children aged 4 - 12.
** The late Khurram Murad (1932–1996) – a thinker, da’ee and leading player in the Islamic movement in Asia, Europe and Africa. He penned many books in English and Urdu and served as the head of Islamic Foundation, UK.