(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Ummul Al-Qura Islamic Foundation recently began a month’s Islamic studies course for over 149 orphans, drawn from different parts of the Gambia.
The course is the 5th edition since it was initiated and sponsored by the Sheikh Eid Bin Muhammad Al-Thani Charity Association, a charitable organisation based in Qatar. This association is operating in 18 countries across the globe, within 32 Islamic organisations and has also covered training for 7000 orphans worldwide.
A fundamental objective of the course is to bring the orphans together and have them trained to become good citizens and to be self-reliant. Speaking at the beginning of the training, Fallu Sowe, deputy director of the Department of Social Welfare, who was also the guest speaker at the occasion, said the government of the Gambia through the Department of Social Welfare, attaches great importance to the education, wellbeing, and protection of children especially orphans, and other vulnerable children.
Childhood, he posited, is the period for children to be loved, cared for and educated. “Those tender years offer the most appropriate season for moulding of children and more importantly to inculcate knowledge and wisdom in them. This is the time also when parent, care givers and teachers should inculcate love for oneself, one's country, discipline and attitude to care and respect for one another in children,” he added.
According to him, a human being who is uneducated and indisciplined is like a wild animal and therefore dangerous for the society. Sowe went on: “Holy Prophet Muhammed (SAW) said in a hadith that ‘to acquire knowledge is obligatory upon all Muslims, whether male or female’ and he again said, ‘a father gives his son nothing better than a good education”.
He commended the organisers for organising such a noble course for the orphans. Sowe further stressed that children are adults' most precious gift from God, filled with treasures and miracles. “They are also the successors of today's leaders, Imams, parents, teachers, and professionals of different disciplines. These children must be given the opportunity to be educated, be guided and genuinely loved, cherished, respected and appreciated for the good society, as the Holy Prophet advised us to respect our children and inculcate in them the best of manners,” he remarked.
He therefore challenged care givers and teachers, especially, to be kind and caring to orphans, as well as to treat them like their biological children, in order to make their journey of childhood enjoyable and worthwhile.
He said that there is misconception about child rights, saying that it is unfortunate that many blame the institution of child rights for children's indiscipline. Child right, he pointed out is nothing but giving children what they need in order to grow and become responsible citizens and contribute to the development of their societies, citing education and discipline as fundamental factors of child right.
He finally commended the Ummul Al Qura Islamic Foundation for complementing government's efforts in fulfilling the rights of vulnerable children and also thanked the family committee of Sheikh Eid Charity Association in Doha, Qatar for sponsoring this noble course in the Gambia.
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The course is the 5th edition since it was initiated and sponsored by the Sheikh Eid Bin Muhammad Al-Thani Charity Association, a charitable organisation based in Qatar. This association is operating in 18 countries across the globe, within 32 Islamic organisations and has also covered training for 7000 orphans worldwide.
A fundamental objective of the course is to bring the orphans together and have them trained to become good citizens and to be self-reliant. Speaking at the beginning of the training, Fallu Sowe, deputy director of the Department of Social Welfare, who was also the guest speaker at the occasion, said the government of the Gambia through the Department of Social Welfare, attaches great importance to the education, wellbeing, and protection of children especially orphans, and other vulnerable children.
Childhood, he posited, is the period for children to be loved, cared for and educated. “Those tender years offer the most appropriate season for moulding of children and more importantly to inculcate knowledge and wisdom in them. This is the time also when parent, care givers and teachers should inculcate love for oneself, one's country, discipline and attitude to care and respect for one another in children,” he added.
According to him, a human being who is uneducated and indisciplined is like a wild animal and therefore dangerous for the society. Sowe went on: “Holy Prophet Muhammed (SAW) said in a hadith that ‘to acquire knowledge is obligatory upon all Muslims, whether male or female’ and he again said, ‘a father gives his son nothing better than a good education”.
He commended the organisers for organising such a noble course for the orphans. Sowe further stressed that children are adults' most precious gift from God, filled with treasures and miracles. “They are also the successors of today's leaders, Imams, parents, teachers, and professionals of different disciplines. These children must be given the opportunity to be educated, be guided and genuinely loved, cherished, respected and appreciated for the good society, as the Holy Prophet advised us to respect our children and inculcate in them the best of manners,” he remarked.
He therefore challenged care givers and teachers, especially, to be kind and caring to orphans, as well as to treat them like their biological children, in order to make their journey of childhood enjoyable and worthwhile.
He said that there is misconception about child rights, saying that it is unfortunate that many blame the institution of child rights for children's indiscipline. Child right, he pointed out is nothing but giving children what they need in order to grow and become responsible citizens and contribute to the development of their societies, citing education and discipline as fundamental factors of child right.
He finally commended the Ummul Al Qura Islamic Foundation for complementing government's efforts in fulfilling the rights of vulnerable children and also thanked the family committee of Sheikh Eid Charity Association in Doha, Qatar for sponsoring this noble course in the Gambia.
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