CANYON’S ISLAMIC SCHOOL PRESERVES IDENTITY

        California, 9 Syawwal 1434/16 Agustus 2013 (MINA) – Offering Muslim students a rare Islamic education, a Muslim group in the American Canyon, California, has announced its plans to construct a full-time Islamic school to preserve Muslim student’s identity and provide a common ground for all faiths.

        “We believe in good, solid, strong American freedoms; at same time we want to keep our religious identity,” Yousef Congestio, chairman of Solano County Islamic Center (SCIC), Onislam quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“Everybody is welcome.”

         The school plans were first announced in 2011 after SCIC purchased a 1.3-acre lot on Melvin Road to construct the Islamic Center which will also include a full time school.

         Congestio said the new two-story building will be constructed on a 15,000-square-foot.

         He urged the Muslim community to donate money to fulfill their dream school which will provide safe learning environment for Muslim students.

        Congestio, 56, who was raised Catholic in Los Angeles, added that many people are looking for disciplined alternatives to avoid problems of public schools.

        The Muslim leader added that his adult son confessed to trying marijuana for the first time at age 9 in public school.

       “That was 20 years ago,” Congestio said, “so you can imagine what’s going on now.”

        Depending on Muslim donations, the time frame for completion of the school is still unknown.

       “It could be two years, it could be 20,” Congestio said by phone Tuesday.

Religious Education

       Along with the full-time school, the plans include establishing a religious school to offer Islamic subjects over the weekends.

       “We teach the core of Islam: the Quran and the teachings of the prophet Mohammed; nothing else,” Dr. Mervat Elaraby, a microbiologist and member of the SCIC board of directors, said.

       Elaraby, a native Egyptian who has lived in the US for more than 20 years, began teaching Islam to three students in her Vacaville home 10 years ago.

       She emphasized that the Islamic Sunday school focuses strictly on nonpolitical religious beliefs.

      The United States is home to an estimated Muslim minority of seven to eight million.

      Estimates show that American Muslims increasingly favor enrolling their children in Islamic schools.

      There are nearly 40,000 students enrolled in estimated 240 to 250 Islamic schools in the United States, a 25 percent increase from 2006.

       Students at Islamic schools study standard curricula adopted from public schools, in addition to Arabic and study of the Noble Qur’an. (T/P013/E1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)