Aqidah Lesson on Divine Attributes and a Parent's Complaint
A weekend school teacher of 14-16 year-olds presents the divine attributes using the formula 'we affirm them without asking how' (bi-la kayf). A parent trained in a different theological school complains that the phrase evades the lesson and that the teacher's handout, which lists attributes with their apparent meanings, will confuse students preparing for university. The teacher has one 45-minute session left before exams and a syllabus that requires coverage of the attributes of knowledge, hearing, sight, and speech. The class includes students from three different family backgrounds, and one student has begun quoting polemical videos at home. The principal asks the teacher to resolve the complaint without changing the syllabus content.
1. Explain how the teacher can teach the four attributes while honoring the bi-la kayf formula and the syllabus.
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The teacher can present the attributes in three layers. First, the revealed texts: cite the verses and hadith that affirm knowledge, hearing, sight and speech, and have students read them aloud. Second, the consensus: all schools affirm that God knows, hears, sees and speaks, and that these are real attributes, not metaphors for ignorance or impotence. Third, the limit: the modality (kayfiyyah) is unknown, because it belongs to God's uniqueness, and the formula bi-la kayf marks that limit rather than dodging the lesson. The handout should distinguish 'what is affirmed' (the attribute and its reality) from 'what is denied' (resemblance to creatures) from 'what is not discussed' (the how). That structure covers the required content and teaches students why the formula exists: it prevents both likening God to creation and denying what God affirmed. The teacher can use an analogy carefully framed as analogy only: we know a person hears, but we do not know the mode of God's hearing, and the disanalogy is stated. The syllabus is fully covered; the method is clarified.
2. How should the teacher respond to the parent, and how should the polemical-video student be handled?
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With the parent, the teacher should first listen and restate the concern accurately: the worry is that a bare formula leaves students unable to answer objections. Then explain the three-layer structure and show the revised handout, inviting the parent to review it. The teacher should not concede that the syllabus teaches a particular school's partisan view; the aim is to teach the shared affirmations and the agreed limits, and to note honestly where schools differ in expression. If the parent remains unconvinced, escalate to the principal with the materials, not with accusations. With the student who quotes polemical videos, the teacher should avoid public confrontation and instead ask him, in class, to present the strongest version of the objection and then work through it with the class using the texts. Giving him a structured role channels the energy, and the class learns to evaluate claims rather than absorb them. The teacher should also contact the parents to coordinate, and set a class norm: claims about God are tested against revealed texts and scholarly consensus, not against anonymous clips.
3. The principal asks for a one-page rationale the board can read. What should it say about why the school does not simply adopt one theological school's formulation?
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The rationale should state the school's educational aim: students should know what Muslims agree on, understand why the limits exist, and recognize where differences are differences of expression rather than of creed. It should list the agreed affirmations, the texts used, and the explicit statement that the modality is not known. It should explain that adopting one school's technical vocabulary as the school's official creed would exclude families from other backgrounds and turn a shared lesson into a partisan one, while the school remains committed to orthodox belief in God's transcendence and attributes. It should note the assessment: students can state the four attributes, cite a text for each, explain the bi-la kayf limit, and distinguish affirmation from likening. Finally, it should describe the complaint procedure: parents review materials, teachers escalate unresolved concerns, and the board reviews the syllabus annually. That gives the board a defensible, transparent document without requiring the teacher to alter required content.