Teaching Kids the Holy Quran…with Legos!

Last updated on: March 14, 2012 at 11:47 am by Patheos Daily Reflections

Teaching Kids the Holy Quran…with Legos! 2012-03-14T11:47:03-05:00 Patheos Daily Reflections

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’ve blogged on occasion about Legos. You might remember me mentioning The Brick Testament,which retells a number of famous (and in some cases shocking) stories from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Well, I appear to be the last person in the Islamophere to notice the wonderful blog Teaching Kids the Holy Quran, which aims to do the same for the Quran, but with some innovative twists.

I love this glimpse of a Lego Jahannam (Hell) from Chapter 72/Surah Al-Jinn:

The emphasis is on lessons as opposed to stories, and these lessons drawn from the Quran are often embedded in a real world settings (e.g., an imam giving a sermon, a father and son discussing a doctrinal matter over a barbeque), an approach that sounds strange but actually works quite well for these purposes. It’s a great explanatory device and one that’s particularly well suited to the Quran, I think.

Due to its complex and often iterative narrative structure and interweaving of genres—a fact that leads some observers to mistakenly claim it to be random or incomprehensible a la Thomas Carlye; were these critics to read a scholarly treatment of the aesthetics of the Quran, like Michael Sell’s very insightful Approaching the Qur’an, they’d realize that the Quran’s rich language and subtle deployment of themes operate simultaneously on multiple aesthetic and intellectual registers; to judge it simply by whether or not it is linear in narrative is to really utterly miss the point, however understandable that instinct may be for the uninitiated—to try to portray it in a single, seamless narrative would be confusing. Its structure lends itself well to shorter stories and lessons. And there are, of course, a number of “controversial” verses that are often misunderstood and/or misrepresented that these short takes are perfect for glossing in a highly accessible and unintimidating manner.

I wonder if this innovative use of both Legos, scriptural exposition and web technology has indeed succeeded in reaching children who otherwise might not learn about the Quran. On the one hand, Legos are presumably an appealing and unintimidating medium for instruction to children; on the other, I wonder how many kids young enough to be swayed by the choice of Legos for the medium would sit still and scroll down a web page to read these stories. Or is this perhaps really targeting adolescents? In any case, it’s an intriguing formula.

Previous Post

February 5, 2012

Skewering racism on public radio

Next Post

March 7, 2012 Tikkun Daily: “Think the NYPD is infiltrating Pat Robertson’s church?”

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category American Politics Animals in Islam Anti-Semitism Christian Jihadism Christianity Culture & the Arts Current Affairs Denmark Dogs in Islam Family life Film Gender Great MP3s Hate in America Imam W.D. Mohammed Interfaith Dialogue International Affairs Islam and the Left Islamic Thought Islamophobia Jihad Judaism Legos Link of the Day Marriage Misc Modernity/Post-Modernity Mormonism Multiculturalism Music Muslims in the Melting Pot Must-Listen Podcasts Non-Muslims and Islam Pakistan Pictures Pigs in Islam Polygamy Pork Progressive Muslims Race Relations Really Important Stuff Religion Required Reading Robert Spencer Scandinavia Science Science Fiction Sex in Islam So-called Globalization South Asia Star Trek Strange but True Studying Arabic Stupid Muslim Tricks Sufism/Tasawwuf Television The "Miami 7" hoopla The Corporate Media The Danish cartoons The GWOT The Jihad against Islam The Middle East Vikings! Wahhabism/Salafism Washington and the Middle East Web/Tech Women in Islam

Select a Month March 2014 February 2014 November 2013 September 2013 July 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 September 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did the Israelites build while Moses was on Mount Sinai?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A tower A temple An altar A golden calf