KEY STAGE 2
Mid-term planning
Year 5: Unit 3 / Term:Spring 1 / Year:
Does the community of the Mosque help Muslims lead better lives?
Key Concepts:Mosque; Community; Ummah / Learning Objective:to explore how the Mosque is viewed and how it influences the life and belief of Muslims
Brief Background for teachers
The Mosque is the key place of worship for Muslims and is also the centre of the Muslim community or Ummah, which relates to the universal Muslim community. After home and workplace, it is the most frequented place for a Muslim. It is primarily a place of worship, but also serves as an education centre for all members of the family and has many other functions as well.It is usually led by a person known as the Imam, who is respected for his wide knowledge of Islam and the Quran. Traditionally, the Imam plays the role of a leader, teacher, advisor, and a judge in minor disputes. There will be some differences between Mosquesbecause Islam allows for some different interpretations as long as it is not in conflict with the sacred texts of the Qur’an. The tradition of Islamic communities building mosques goes back to the time of Muhammad, who built the mosques in Medina.These mosques introduced some of the features that are still common, including the niche at the front of the prayer space known as the mihrab and the tiered pulpit called the minbar.It was also constructed with a large courtyard, also common among mosques built since then.All the mosques have a similar orientation; the position of the Mihrab ensures that worshippers are facing towards Mecca. The most famous Mosque is the Ka’ba although that is said to predate Muhammad. According to Islamic tradition is was built or rebuilt by Abraham (Ibrahim) and Ishmael. It is one of the holiest sites of Islam. The architecture of the mosque reveals many key Muslim beliefs: there are no pictures, but the decorations are mostly based on Islamic calligraphy because of the rule forbidding the making of images of people and living creatures. Men and women are usually kept separate in the mosque, with women often not required to attend and seated upstairs with the young children. The Qur’an is not kept wrapped on a high shelf in the Mosque as the whole building is considered holy. The main worship hall is organised in such a way as to ensure that worshippers face the same direction, close together so that they move almost in unison during the prayer rituals. There are places for ritual washing – performing wudu is essential before offering prayers. During Islamic festivals (Eid al Fitr and Eid al Adhu) the mosques is the focus for special morning prayers, During Ramadan many mosques will provide food before the early morning prayers and the Iftar that breaks the fast each day. It is also the place to which Muslims bring their charity gift (Zakat) at the end of Ramadan. Many mosques also contain madrassas or Islamic schools, where children and adults learn more about Islam. It is also the focus on Fridays for the 5 daily prayers; during the week many people will pray at home or in the work place, but make an effort to attend the mosque on the Friday for the teaching as well as the prayers.
Expected Learning
Pupils will be able to describe the key features of a mosque and be able to identify the key differences that they might find between a mosque and a church or a synagogue or a mandir. They will know how a mosque is used by Muslims and be able to give reasons for the key features, referring to Islamic teaching where appropriate. They will know that the term Ummah applies to all Muslims and refers to the unity of Islam. They will evaluate the position of the Mosque in the life of a Muslim
Developing
Pupils will know that the Mosque is the Islamic place of worship and be able to identify and describe some of the key features, especially identifying the most important features and functions. / Excelling
Pupils will be able to identify the importance a devout Muslim may place on the mosque and the significance of the mosque for the Ummah and identity of the Muslim community. They will evaluate the significance of the Ummah in the life of a Muslim
Engage:
- Explore the concept of community using a mind map – what would an ideal community look like?
- Pupils could design their own ideal community – what rules would there be? What would people have to do? What would the aim of the community be? Would the community need a special place to meet? What would that place be like? Is it possible to be part of a community if there is no central place to meet?
Enquire & Explore:(AT1)
- Visit a Mosque to see the life of the community in action, paying particular attention to Muslim teaching about Ummah and community. Look at and watch video clips of the life of the Mosque in action.
- Explore the call to prayer and the main Friday teaching. Look at the division between men and women in the lives of some Mosques. Explore the way that Muslims face when the pray, the fact that they pray five times a day and the Five Pillars of Islam. Explore the architecture of the Mosque and what this communicates to Muslims about Allah and their beliefs. Look at the Mosque in Jerusalem or the Ka’aba for a global perspective.
- Watch worship in the Mosque, and suggest how this might help Muslims to live good lives.
Evaluate: (AT2 Impersonal)
- Compare the Mosque with the synagogue, the mandir and the church. Which one promotes community more effectively? Describe the ideal community with reference to Islamic teaching. Write an advert or a leaflet about the life in the Mosque showing all the community features. What is it that makes the Mosque a community?
- Does the community of the Mosque help people to live better lives? Does the community they live in help them to live better lives?
ReflectCommunicate: (AT2 Personal)
- How does community affect their lives? What would they do to make their community better? Are they influenced by the community they live in? Are there things they have learned from the Mosque that make them want to change their community? What would those things be? Make some suggestions about the sorts of things they might do to make the school more of a community?
Evaluation:
- What went well?
- Even better if:
Some suggested resources:
- Visit to a Mosque – online visit if actual visit not possible
- RE Today publications: Opening Up Islam
- BBC clips online especially my life, my religion clips
- Verses from the Qur’an
- Islamic Prayer mat, beads, clock
- Picture of the Ka’aba and the mosques in Medina
RE SCHEME OF WORK
CLASS RECORD SHEET
Assessment opportunities & activities
Year 5: Unit 3 / Term: Spring 1 / Year:
Does the community of the Mosque help Muslims lead better lives?
Many pupils will have made more progress and be able to use a developing religious vocabulary to:
- Describe how the Mosque influences the daily lives of Muslims, linking to Qur’anic verses and stories
- Describe how the concept of Ummah applies to Muslim life, making links to the building of the Mosque and its features
- Design a Mosque, linking the symbolism used to Islamic beliefs
- Devise four good questions to ask a Muslim at the Mosque about their understanding of the links between the building and Islamic beliefs
- Suggest the answers that a Muslim might give about the importance of the Mosque to the Islamic community
- Write a letter to the leader of a community they are part of, suggesting improvements that would give the community more cohesion
Most Pupils will be able to use a developing religious vocabulary to:
- Describe three things that Muslims believe and how these beliefs are shown in the Mosque - linking pictures to verses from the Qur’an perhaps
- Make a link between the Mosque/Ka’aba and the way that Muslims behave towards each other – annotating a picture for example
- List four ways in which Muslims show respect for the Mosque and the community
- Describe a community they are part of, indicating how the group influences them
- Plan some good questions to ask at the Mosque about the issues of community and behaviour
- Design an ideal community, making links to Islamic teaching
Pupils who have made less progress will be able to use religious words and phrases to:
- Label a Mosque, identifying the features a Muslim would value the most
- Compare two Mosques, looking for similarities and differences
- Choose the most important feature of a Mosque, suggesting a meaning that feature would have for a Muslim
- Plan questions to ask at the Mosque about how Muslims use the place and how it makes them feel
- Suggest some features that a community should have to make it effective