Submission to Allah

One of the most important things for students to understand about Islam is that it requires its adherents to submit entirely to the will of Allah. This is seen as a positive step in the religion, with many benefits to be derived from such practice. For Muslims, Allah is the supreme being in the universe – it is therefore necessary to be completely subservient to Him.

By the end of this unit:

• most of your students will know that the core belief in Islam is that God, known as Allah, is the creator and sustainer of all things
• some students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of tawhid and the importance of submitting to Allah’s will
• a few students will be able to explain that, in order to express their understanding of and relationship to Allah, there are 99 names which Muslims chant in prayer.

Prepare by reading the support material below. (You may also wish to provide this material for your more able learners.)

Submission to Allah

Starter

In the sport of wrestling, a person is said to have won if they cause their opponent to ‘submit’. This means surrendering or giving in to the superior power. Explain to the students that, for a Muslim, religious observance is about surrendering to a cosmic power that is greater than any that can be found on Earth.

Activity

Read through the support material for this unit with the students. Once you are familiar with the material yourself, you should begin to work on the activity sheet below carefully with the class. Use the material to move student learning forward but deal with the questions that will undoubtedly arise from their reading of the text. This should prove to be quite a challenging session because students may have grown up being encouraged not to submit to anyone or anything. There are several AT2-type lessons to be drawn from this activity. Some examples might be: respecting a higher metaphysical authority, that truth may reside outside the normal knowledge domain, and so on.

Submission to Allah activity sheet

Plenary

Ask students how they would respond to the requirement to submit completely to the will of Allah. Be careful how you handle this. Some Muslims will find it difficult to have their central belief challenged. In such circumstances, ask them to explain how it works for them.

Homework activity

Ask the students to write 50 words saying why they think Islam is represented by a crescent moon and a star.