Photos of ISNA Education Forum 2011

IQRA’ INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION PARTICIPATES IN THIS WEEKEND’S
12TH ANNUAL ISNA EDUCATION FORUMThis weekend the Islamic Society of North America held its 12th annual education forum, where issues pertinent to Islamic education are addressed and reviewed. Over 500 educators from both full-time and weekend Muslim schools were in attendance.
Chicago’s own IQRA’ International Educational Foundation held a major presence at this year’s conference, being one of the leading champions of Islamic education in the world today. IQRA’ has played a leading role in the development of Islamic religious textbooks and educational programs for over a quarter of a century.

IQRA’s role in the forum began Friday night at the opening dinner. During the dinner honorable mention was made of two pioneer Muslim American educators who returned to their Lord this past year: Dawood Tawhidi, the director of Crescent Academy International, and Dr. Muhammad Abdul Wahid Fakhri, a founding member and former president of IQRA’. The current executive director of IQRA’, the respected Dr. Abidullah A. Ghazi, was called upon to say a few words in regards to his longtime friend and colleague, the late Dr. Fakhri. Dr. Ghazi described Dr. Fakhri’s endearing qualities of devotion, discipline and dedication displayed over his lifetime towards education in general and Islamic education in particular. Dr. Ghazi also mentioned the role that IQRA’ has continued to play in charting out a by now well-trodden course that three generations of Muslim Americans have taken in educating themselves in their Deen.

Saturday found participants flocking around IQRA’s table in the vendors’ section of the conference. There IQRA’s sales team, under the management of Hafiz Ikhlas Ansari and Shahab Khan, provided valuable direction to purchasers of IQRA’s high-quality textbooks and workbooks. The team also unveiled a number of IQRA’s new titles.

The director of IQRA’s program development committee, Dr. Tasneema Ghazi, presented a well-attended workshop on effective teaching practices in Islamic Studies. With over 75 people in attendance, Dr. Tasneema communicated the importance of teachers having a complete grasp of instructional methodologies of their job as well as full knowledge of the subject areas they are teaching.

Overall the conference was a success and given the positive feedback IQRA’ received on its continued work in Islamic education it is hoped that the coming generations of Muslim American will be able to preserve their religious, spiritual and moral identities well into the future, inshallah.