Islamic Education Using iPads: part 3
The Importance of Prayer
The religion of Islam is based upon five pillars, the second of which is prayer. Muslims are required to pray five times a day and learning how to pray is an exciting experience for every young Muslim. Today’s children do not know a world without the iPad and so what better way to teach your young students to pray than with an app!
3D Salah by App Pilot is an incredibly informative app that has everything a young one needs to know about how to pray. From the pronunciation of the Arabic words to the steps that you perform in prayer, this app has it all! What makes this app especially great for young ones is that it includes transliteration, showing how the Arabic words are spelt in English.
It begins with going over the different types of prayer such as compulsory, recommended and optional. From there it goes into an example of how to pray 2 rakahs of prayer.
The detailing in this app is superb, from where to place your hands in each step of the prayer, to what to say and most importantly teaching children the meaning of what is being said. The pronunciation of the Arabic phrases is clear making it easy to understand and follow. Once you are all done and ready to perform the prayer you can tap the video icon and it will lead you through a full prayer. A great tool for young ones to have being played on the side as they begin to learn how to pray.
What Else Can I Do?
Option 1 – Create a Prayer Chart
SAMR Level - A
Create a prayer chart that helps students keep track of what prayers they have prayed. Have students set goals and if they reach them maybe give them a prize. Get parents involved too and have them reinforce the ideas learned in school at home.
Option 2 – What Other Prayers Should Muslims Observe
SAMR Level - R
Divide students into groups and have them talk about different types of prayers such as Salatul Tasbeeh, Salatul Jumu’ah or Eid Prayer. They can make an iMovie or create an Explain Everything showing how to perform these prayers.
Option 3 – Teaching the Importance of Prayer
SAMR Level - R
Have students create characters using Tellagami to talk about the importance of prayer with one another.
Option 4 – Combining the Power of Apps!
SAMR Level - R
Want to have your students do some app smashing? Have students create a Tellagami character that talks about the importance of the prayers the students chose in option 1 and explain how to perform them. Have the students insert the Tellagami and the video of how to perform the prayer into iMovie for some brilliant app smashing!
The above activities can be used alongside
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I Love Islam – Level Three – Unit C
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I Love Islam – Level Four – Unit C
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I Love Islam – Level 5 – Unit D
For her third feature in this series, Sabba takes a unique approach to teaching about prayer.
Sabba will return soon with the next part of this series.
In the meantime, click on the link below to view a recording of a recent webinar she hosted on integrating technology into Islamic Studies:
