I start with an axiom which I believe is that any progress or success that our school may achieve is inevitably the result of the combined efforts of many. On this occasion, I would like to begin by thanking my family, my wife, and my children for their unconditional support. I also thank our virtuous teachers for their hard work and dedication in serving the educational process, and tonight’s event would not have been possible without our committed students, parents, and teachers.
Since we established our school in 2016, we have presented an annual speech at the end of each school year. These entail details about our story, our inspirations, goals, future plans, and successes. This year we will not prolong our speech too much as all of our previous speeches with these details can be accessed on our website.
www.hoodannoor.com.au
However, we constantly remind ourselves of our duties and responsibilities, in which we recall what was recommended to us by the Honourable Sheikh Mahmoud Merhej (may Allah have mercy and blessings on him), who visited Australia in 1980 and resided here for several years and did an unforgettable favour to the education and renaissance of our community here. We quote from his statement the following:
“We (immigrants and parents) in this expatriation must focus our attention on our children who are the products of the family and are the growing buds. We should look after them with so much care and sincerity because we’re their guardians and trustees. It is our duty to teach them: our language, rituals, customs and worshiping. This is the national heritage that was passed on to us by our forefathers…”
The entire commandment is found on the school website, and we make the effort to remind ourselves and the community of it by attaching it to the calendar we create for the holy month of Ramadan.
We also listen with great attention to what Sheikh Tammam Ahmad (may Allah save him and prolong his honourable life) has said:
“He who abandons his language, will lose his heritage, civilization, and identity.”
This statement alongside many others by our dear scholars have awakened our passions, and endeavours to strengthen the connection to our roots. This has been evident through our pride in our origins, our actions, knowledge of history, our mission to preserve our identity for the future and above all, our love for the Arabic language.
For that, at Hoodan-Noor Guidance of the Light Arabic and Religion school, we devote all our energy, time, and efforts, to guide our students towards learning the Arabic language and practicing it in their everyday lives. Tonight’s ceremony, and course of events are part of our contributions to engage our students interactively with the Arabic Language.
With the blessing of Allah almighty, we keep working sincerely to the best of our ability. We are constantly developing and innovating our modern curriculum to take into account the necessary considerations to successfully teach Arabic to both native and non-native speakers.
Regarding our school’s learning curriculum, it is still our primary concern. In the past 7 years, we have been constantly developing our skills so that we can provide effective learning materials that others can benefit from. By doing so, we aim to ensure our finished result is unique and valuable for the generations to come, God willing.
This great language will enable our children to inherit their forefathers’ identity, well know their history, and receive the right scientific, literary, and religious heritage, which is an essential element of human civilizations and a treasure to all humanity. In addition, Learning Arabic is also a valuable asset that will help our children in the success of their jobs as globalisation expands throughout the world.
At our school, we also strive to strengthen the bonds within our community as much as possible, by organising recreational activities outside the classroom, where our students’ parents, relatives and friends can meet and experience wonderful memories together.
It also provides students with the opportunities to meet other students and form healthy relationships with their teachers outside of a classroom setting prompting our students to further enjoy attending lessons and learning the Arabic language. Thankfully, this year we were able to host our first picnic day in a two years for our community, which had an amazing turnout. We hope we will be able to host many of these outside of the classroom gatherings in the years to come.
Our ambitions are great, and our enthusiasm is high, and this is all with the help of our beloved parents who are constantly cooperating and collaborating with our staff. The support of the parents allows our goals to become reality and for that we are forever grateful.
What increases our pride this year is that we have brought together people from Mesopotamia, the land of knowledge and civilization. In addition, to our beloved students who are of Lebanese and Syrian origin, beloved students of Iraqi origin have also joined us. It is admirable how we and others can connect worldwide because of a single drive to learn the Arabic language. Thank you to all our students and families for your trust which is dear to our hearts, we are keen to meet and exceed your expectations.
Our sincere love and greatest gratitude remain for our country, Australia, in which we are all gathered in and whose laws allow us to preserve the identity of our parents and practice our beliefs freely and equitably. Hence, we will certainly thank the officials of the NSW Department of Education, who strive to support the teaching of various languages, and flourish multiculturism within Australia through various material and moral means, including the establishment of educational courses in partnership with the University of Sydney to develop the expertise of teachers, conferences with professors and specialists, and preparing educational workshops that develop teaching skills.
And after all the consistent support from the Department of Education, we see how they devote their time to attend this ceremony with us today. Our every greeting of love, respect, and appreciation to you.
This year, Mrs. Huda, Mrs. Boushra, and Mrs. Zahra, successfully completed the foundation course at the University of Sydney that taught them the science behind how new languages are understood, engaging ways to interest children in extending their cultural abilities, plan effective lessons and develop resource that work with a range of students.
I would like ,here ,to congratulate our hard-working teachers for constantly broadening their skills to improve the quality of teaching in the classroom. Your efforts do not go unnoticed, and we appreciate your additions to our team.
At Hoodan-Noor Guidance of the Light Arabic and Religion School, the health and safety of our students is number one priority and to ensure our team is qualified in administrating medical attention to our students in case of emergencies, all of our teachers as a team partook in renewing or receiving their first aid certificate and CPR training through “Wave learning”.
In summation, we kindly ask all of you to pray for our success, and we promise you, in return, to be faithful to our plan, and to continue our journey, for the good and benefit of our students in both this life and afterlife. May praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and may His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and his pure family.
Abu Iskandar Suleiman Mouin Al.Harbouki
Sydney – Australia 16-11-2022
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate