All praise belongs to Allah Jalla wa 'AIa alone and salutations be upon the final Prophet, Muhammad [S.A.W]. Masjid Ibrahim Maktab thanks you for enrolling your child at our maktab. Placing your child under another's religious care is a major milestone. Bearing this in mind, it is the aim of Masjid Ibrahim Maktab to make each parent feel part oftheir chiId’s learning process. Parent commitment will enhance each child's Masjid lbrahim Maktab experience and in the process will assist in upholding the Islamic Sprit we all so desire. May Almighty Allah make this task an easy one for us, Ameen.

The key aspects of our involvement as parents are commitment, communication and support. Educating our children is a three-pronged approach between the institution, the teacher and the parent. Therefore commitment to your child's religious upbringing, communication with the institution on your child's progress and support at home by creating an environment through adopting a religious philosophy within the home environment are three integral aspects of your involvement as parents.

The aim of this website is to introduce you to Masjid Ibrahim Maktab as an institute. With this information at hand it will enable you as parents to recognize how we can best play an active part in our children's religious learning process. May Almighty Allah accept this endeavour.

Ameen.

The Maktab* system was developed in South Africa in 1923 when as a Muslim minority in a secular system, the need for educating young children arose. ln 1961 a unified syllabus was formulated and adopted by a large percentage of Maktabs. Operating after normal school hours, for about 2 hours a day, the system created some two generations later, a Muslim ummah [community] in harmony with itself and the community around it, thereby moulding people around it into becoming positive contributors in every sphere of life. The system has proved so popular that it has been revised and republished numerous times and is being used the world over in many English-speaking countries. It has also been translated into the major languages of the world like Spanish, Urdu & Thai.

* Maktab is Arabic for school. It more commonly refers to Islamic classes held outside of regular school hours.

The world is currently experiencing an unprecedented explosion of information, technology and knowledge. As Muslims living in a secular world, it becomes imperative for us to foster in our leaders of tomorrow a ‘full education‘. An integral part of this ‘full education’ is a sound religious education, not restricted to one sphere of religious education but one encompassing all aspects of the religion. The extent

to which we succeed in this will see us a Muslim minority hold on to our true religion without allowing alien forces to divide, marginalize, misrepresent or misinterpret our noble religion. More then any other time in the history of Muslims in our country, there is a need for solidarity and brotherhood. As such, all of us as parents and office-bearers and role-players in society need to take note that our Muslim youth need to be sufficiently conscientised about the environment they live in and to ensure that they get a balanced perspective regarding normal academic education and wholesome Maktab education.