Lesson video

Hi, my name is Miss Speakman, and I'm a religious education teacher in Kent, but I'm also teaching the Islamic beliefs and teachings unity for Oak National Academy, and I'm so excited because I love teaching, but I especially love teaching Islam.

So I really hope you enjoy lesson one of 14, which today is focused on the Abrahamic origins of Islam.

Now, in this lesson, we're going to look at the story of Ibrahim, Ishmael, Sarah, and Hagar, and the influence this has had on the origins of Islam.

Now, interestingly, I've used the word there, haven't I? Origins of Islam.

If we spoke to a Muslim, or we considered what Islam says, many Muslims would say that Islam is it an eternal religion, and therefore, there are the origins of Islam.

Let's say then look at this from a historical perspective.

Historically, what have been some really pivotal moments in Islam becoming the religion that is today.

And one of those stories is it Ibrahim, Ishmael, Sarah, and Hagar.

Now to make sure we're ready for our lesson, please, can we have a pen or a pencil, a piece of paper or an exercise book, and a different colour pen ready for corrections.

As well as this, we're going to need a nice, clear working space.

So nice and quiet, TV and music off, phone to one side with notifications off if it's going to distract you, and you're not using it for your lesson, but also that you've got a clear space to be working from and you're in the right frame of mind.

If you thinking suddenly, "Oops, forgotten a pen, silly me." Let's pause the video, get ourselves ready, and then un-pause when you're ready to learn.

Okay.

Ready to learn? Brilliant, because I'm ready to teach.

So Abrahamic origins, where do we begin? Let's get some things really clear first of all, Islam is what we call a monotheistic religion.

Let's break that word down then.

Mono, what does it mean? If I have, if I have a mono-brow, how many eyebrows? One, yeah, let's just check.

Nope.

Two eyebrows, so not a mono-brow.

However, yes, mono means one.

The what's theism means belief in God.

Let's squish those two words together.

Monotheism is therefore the belief in one God.

Islam is a monotheistic religion.

Now I see loads and loads of times, people writing about Islam, and they'll say, "Islams believe." And I say, no, that's not correct.

The religion is Islam, which comes from the Arabic word, Salaam, which means peace, and people who follow the religion of Islam are called Muslims. Muslim means one who submits.

The idea of submission is the idea that you essentially accept that something or someone is a higher power than you.

So in Islam, it's Muslims accepting that Allah is who they submit to.

It's a higher power than them.

Then we're looking at Abraham.

We're going to use the name Ibrahim throughout the lessons throughout the unit.

That is because it's the Arabic name for Abraham.

So Ibrahim or Ibrahim, if you hear it pronounced differently, Arabic name for Abraham.

Muslims believe that Abraham, Ibrahim is one of the first to fully submit to the idea of there being one God.

And so much of the story in today's lesson will be focusing on Ibrahim showing his submission.

Submitting to the idea of one God.

Now to make sure that we are completely ready for more information, I'm going to do what I call a quick-fire question round with you.

This is where we really get to grips some of those things I've just said.

You'll see, in a moment, a question on your screen with two possible answers.

I'm going to ask you to either to say out loud, the answer, or point to your screen after I've done a countdown of three seconds.

This is a really good way of to snappily making sure that we know these things straight away.

It's okay if you get it wrong, because some of these things might be new to you, but it's a good way of me saying, "Okay, this is the answer.

Ready to move on.

Got these things, great." Okay, so I'm going to disappear, and then you'll see some questions.

I want you to have a go even if it seems a little bit silly to say something out loud or to point your screen, I'm telling you it really works in helping to learn things.

So you ready? What does mono mean? Is it one or many? So you're going to point your screen or say it out loud.

One, two, three.

Good, it's one.

What does Muslim mean? One who commits, or one who submits? One, two, three.

Good, one who submits.

What does submission actually mean though when we speak of Islam? Because there are lots of different interpretations of this word submission.

Is it when you hand in work, or when you accept something as a higher power.

Three, two, one.

Good, it's when you accept something as a higher power.

Of course we might submit something, and it's been when we hand in work, et cetera, when we speak about it in Islam, it's when you accept something as a higher power.

Submitting to the will of God.

And last one.

What is the Arabic name for Abraham? Is it Ibrahim or Muhammad? Three, two, one.

Ibrahim.

Well done, super impressed if you've got all of those correct.

It's okay if you didn't get them all correct.

We're learning, aren't we? These are some things that we've introduced to you very, very quickly, so it's fine if you didn't get all the answers correct, but we're going to be keeping on looking over these things in the lesson today.

So I'm going to pop back up.

It's going to eventually happen.

There's a little bit of a time where it just takes a little bit of time to get it going.

It's taking more time today, but that's okay.

We're going to spare that.

So we're going to talk about Ibrahim and his family first.

Sort of talk about how we get to this idea of Ibrahim being the first to fully submit to God, because Muslims would say that Ibrahim was the first to fully submit to God.

To have this idea of belief in one God.

So Ibrahim lived in what we call a polytheistic society.

Polytheism means they believe in many gods.

Poly means many.

So Ibrahim from a very young age was very sure that he believed that there was one God, and he disagreed with the way that his community worshipped idols.

He didn't like that.

He didn't see any point to worshipping idols.

When he's community one day were away from their idols, he decided to destroy all of them, to show you shouldn't be following these.

And he was, you know, showing it's one God you should be believing in.

His community obviously are angry.

It's really difficult sometimes to be told that you're wrong, or to be told that someone disagrees with you.

And so his community were angry.

And so what they do, is they condemn him to death by burning at the stake.

They say, "We've got to get rid of him." And so Ibrahim was put on this burning stake.

So like essentially in a fire, burnt at the stake.

And the flames don't hurt him, and the community are thinking, "Wow, what's happening? Ibrahim's supposed to be burning to death here, and he's not." And Muslims would say, this is a miracle.

Allah protected him from the flames.

And on that day, many people then were convinced by what Ibrahim had been saying about there only being one God, as they thought, "Well, if Ibrahim was preaching this, and we condemned him to death for this, and now he's been burned at the stake, and it's not actually burning him, it means a miracle must've occurred.

And perhaps, maybe he's right." So Ibrahim grew up in a very different situation.

Polytheistic family of who he really disagreed with.

And what I would like us to consider then, is why would a Muslim believe this story is a miracle? So what I would like you to do, is to answer that question, spend about two minutes on it.

On your piece of paper, writing down an answer.

This story about Abraham and the burning of the stake, why would a Muslim believe that this is a miracle? So I want you to pause the video and have a go doing that now for me please.

Okay.

You written an answer down? If you've un-paused then I'm assuming you have.

So of course, obviously we can talk about the idea that if you're being burned at the stake, you should, that as horrible as it may seem, you should be burning at the stake, and there'd be nothing left of you.

Ibrahim is not harmed by the fire, and therefore, it is a miracle.

It's something that breaks the laws of nature.

So a Muslim would believe that this was a miracle performed by Allah.

Well done if you wrote down some very similar to that.

The next part of our story concerns four people.

So not just Ibrahim, but his wife, Sarah, his wife Hagar, and his son Ishmael.

Now, originally, it was just Abraham and Sarah, and they really, really wanted a child, but it just wasn't happening.

And so then Ibrahim marries Hagar, and has a child with Hagar, who is called Ishmael.

So Muslims believe that Ishmael is the first son, and the heir for Ibrahim.

So we have this person, Ibrahim, who cannot have a child with his wife, Sarah.

It doesn't seem to be happening.

He has a child with Hagar instead, and then she birth to Ishmael.

Need to go away for this, don't I? All right.

So, let's just make sure that we understand all of that.

So what did Ibrahim, sorry, what do Abraham and Sarah want? Is it a child or is it money? Three, two, one.

Brilliant, they want a child.

What do Muslims believe Ibrahim had- Who, sorry.

Who do Muslims believe Ibrahim had a child with first? Is it Sarah or Hagar? Three, two, one.

Hagar.

Brilliant, well done.

And last one.

What is the name of Abraham and Hagar son? Is it Isaac or Ishmael? Three, two, one.

Ishmael, very good.

If you'd said Isaac, that is a son of Ibrahim's, but that is the son he then later has with Sarah.

You might recognise that from some other stories you might know about Abraham, Ibrahim.

But the son of Ibrahim and Hagar is called Ishmael.

Well done if you've got all of those correct.

What we're going to do, is now move on to having a look at the story of what happens next.

So we have Ibrahim, Sarah, Hagar, and the son, Ishmael.

What then happens which leads to an influence on the religion of Islam? So we've established that Ibrahim and Hagar have a son called Ishmael.

The next part of our story talks about a test of faith of Ibrahim.

Allah asked Ibrahim to send Hagar and Ishmael out to a barren piece of land.

Barren means there's nothing there at all, so there would be no shade, no water, no food.

It's very much like a desert.

And this is said to be on the outskirts of Mecca.

Mecca being the holiest city in Islam, which we'll talk about more when we look at Muhammad in another lesson, lesson two.

So Ibrahim, as we know, Muslims believe was the first to fully submit to God.

So being loyal and devoted to God, Ibrahim agrees, and sends Hagar and Ishmael into the desert with a skin of water and a bag of dates.

Now, skin of water, like an animal skin full of water, Hadar becomes really desperate, because she cannot find food, she cannot find water, and the supplies run out pretty quickly.

So in her desperation, she starts to run between two hills, which Muslims called Safa and Marwa.

So she runs between these two hills, desperately looking for water, and when she returns to Ishmael, obviously with no water, she sees an angel standing nearby.

This angel digs into the ground, and water comes gushing out.

And this is now the site of the well of Zamzam, which Muslims visit as part of their pilgrimage to Mecca.

So Muslims would believe that it is clear here that as a test of faith of Ibrahim's submission, he provides for Hagar and Ishmael.

So essentially, Ibrahim passes that test of faith.

He's willing to put Allah first, even above that son he was waiting so many years for.

So I've got a question for you based on this.

And that question is, why do Muslims believe Ibrahim tested in this way? Why does Allah test him by asking him to send his son out to the desert? So I want you to spend about two minutes on this question, and answer it on your piece of paper.

Try your best, have a go, and then pause the video and then un-pause when you are ready to begin and look through the answer.

Okay, if you had to go, it's a little bit of a tricky question, but I think you've had a good go, so well done.

So Muslims believe that Ibrahim is tested in this way to test his submission.

As the person who obviously preached about there being the one God, Allah is testing his faith to see whether he's truly submitting.

Whether Allah truly does come first.

And Ibrahim, as we can see, passes that test because he's willing to do whatever God commands him, even if it might seem strange, or something that he wouldn't really want to do.

He trusts in Allah.

And so he therefore passes this test of faith.

What we're going to do, is now bring quite a lot of that together.

And we're going to now sort of move forward in time.

Because obviously we've talked about Ibrahim, who's quite a few thousand years before Islam begins, as in historical perspective.

Now we have what we call the Ishmaelites.

Now the Israelites, all the 12 tribes of Ishmael.

These are the descendants of Ishmael.

One of those descendants is the prophet Muhammad.

So the prophet Muhammad, the final prophet in Islam, the most important prophet in Islam, is a descendant of Ibrahim and Ishmael.

And you will notice actually, and you might be thinking, "Miss Speakman, why have included these sort of calligraphy pictures, rather than a picture of a Ibrahim, or a picture of Muhammad, because this is a calligraphy representation of Muhammad's name?" In Islam, it's very common for Muslims to believe that as a mark of respect, they should not depict the faces of profits or important people, or God, as a mark of respect.

So that is why I have chosen to use the calligraphy, as I believe is something that especially Muslims would say, as a majority, we should not be depicting their faces.

So we have here this idea that Ibrahim and Ishmael, thousands of years before Islam began historically, has this massive influence, and a direct link to the prophet Muhammad, as Muhammad is a direct descendant of Ishmael.

Now what we're going to do is bring that all together now, and answer some questions.

So I'm going to disappear, so I can tell you your instructions.

What I'm going to ask you to do, is to pause the video on the next slide, and you're going to answer some questions based on what we've done today.

So hopefully going to bring it all together, and hopefully it won't be something you find too difficult.

But of course, if there's something that you do need to go back to, you are more than welcome to rewind the video and listen to bits again that might help you.

So you've got six questions on the slide now, which I'd like you to answer in, on your paper in your exercise books in full sentences please.

So why do Muslims believe Ibrahim is important? Why was Abraham different to his family and his community? What happened it for him because of this? Want you to briefly explained what happened with Ibrahim, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael.

What did Ibrahim and Ishmael build, and why is this important? And who are the Ishmaelites, and how are they connected to Muhammad? Now it's worth me noting very quickly as well, that as well as the well of Zamzam, that picture of the Kaaba in Mecca is also something that Ibrahim and Ishmael built.

I apologise, that wasn't very clear earlier.

But Ibrahim and Ishmael build the first house of God, a place of worship.

And what we'll do, is we'll talk that, through that in a moment if that's not quite clear.

So to pause the video please, and then I want you to un-pause when you are ready to go through corrections.

Okay.

I'm going to assume then that you are ready to go through corrections.

Let me just appear quickly.

So I'm assuming you have, you've got different colour pen out ready for correcting that'd be absolutely fantastic please.

If you feel you need to go back to any of the questions, please do so now by pausing then rewinding to go back to the questions.

Before we go through the corrections, I just want to make a, like a very, very quick explanation.

Something that perhaps maybe wasn't very clear in the beginning.

So that picture of the black box in the centre of Mecca is known as the Kaaba.

The Kaaba is the first house of God, the first place of worship.

This is something that Ibrahim and Ishmael build after the test of faith.

So this is something that still exists in Mecca today, and which all Muslims pray towards, and all Muslims hope to visit on their harsh pilgrimage.

So I apologise that wasn't really that clear beforehand.

Hopefully that's cleared up now, and we'll go through it as well with the corrections in your answers.

I going to disappear again so we can go through the corrections together.

So why do Muslims believe Ibrahim is important? Well they believe he was the first to fully submit to one God.

So the importance of that is the idea that he's the first to fully submit.

Ibrahim's different to his family because they were polytheists.

They believed in more than one God, and he was a monotheist, so he believed in one God.

What happened to Ibrahim because of this? Well his community sentenced him to death by burning at the stake, but when he was put in the fire, it didn't burn him.

If you need to make any corrections on this slide, can you please pause the video now and do so.

It doesn't have to be in full sentences, and it doesn't have to be exactly the same as mine, but I would like you to have those key points written down in your corrections please.

Okay.

So, hopefully now we're ready to move on to the next couple of questions.

Briefly explain what happened with Ibrahim, Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael.

We know that Ibrahim and Sarah could not have a child, so Ibrahim had a child with him servant or wife, intending on interpretation, Hagar.

Allah tests Ibrahim's faith, and commands Hagar and Ishmael to be taken to the desert with limited supplies.

Whilst Hagar searched for water, an angel appears and water comes gushing out of the ground.

Ibrahim and Ishmael build the Kaaba, which is a place of worship.

The house of God.

Which of course, we need to make sure we have got down as a correction, as it's something I hadn't made entirely clear earlier on.

And then the Ishmaelites and how they're connected to Muhammad.

They are the 12 tribes of the descendants of Ishmael.

Muhammad is a descendant of one of those tribes, and he's the final prophet in Islam.

So again, if you need to make any corrections, please, on those slides, especially number five please, can you make sure you do that now please, by pausing the video, and un-pause when you're ready.

So yes, a huge thank you for working so, so hard.

Obviously this is at the beginning of the unit on Islamic beliefs and teachings, and I really hope that you found it interesting, enjoyable, and also that you've learned lots today.

I'm going to give you, give yourself a pat on the back for working so hard.

And what I really hope is that you tune in to some of the other lessons if you found this really useful.

Can you please make sure you complete the end of lesson quiz.

And of course, if you would like to share your work on social media, please ask your parent or your carer to do that for you.

If you wanted to be like, "Yeah, look at my work, it's amazing." With #LearnwithOak.

So again, like I said, a huge thank you.

Well done for working so hard.

I'm really impressed with how hard you've worked today.

So I will see you hopefully soon.