Osama bin Laden became a commander of the Mujahideen, setting up a group called al- Qaeda, or ‘the base’ in 1988. Al- Qaeda is a network of Sunni Muslims, willing to use violence to achieve their aims. Ultimately al- Qaeda wanted an end to all foreign and secular influence in Muslim lands. 

Once the war in Afghanistan ended al- Qaeda carried out attacks on military and non- military Western targets.  Al- Qaeda were designated as a terrorist organisation. They generally carried out suicide attacks on targets. They argued that a Jewish- Christian alliance was trying to destroy Islam and therefore their attacks were permitted by Islam. They viewed non-Sunni and liberal Muslims as also targets for attack. 

On September 11^th 2001 al-Qaeda operatives flew planes into the Twin Towers and Pentagon, killing thousands and starting the ‘war on terror’. This moment changed the world.  Osama bin- Laden was assassinated by US forces in 2011 after hiding out in Pakistan since 2001. He was buried at sea.  

Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomenei was the Supreme Leader of Iran after the revolution in 1979 till his death in 1989. He lead the 1979 Iranian revolution and once victorious, founded the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Before the revolution Iran was ruled by a Shah, or king. The last Shah sought to Westernise Iran and develop close ties with Britiain and the US. 

Khomenei was a highly educated Islamic scholar and charismatic political leader. He strongly opposed the Shah of Iran, spending 15 years in exile. He argued that the only way to manage a country was according to Islamic teaching.

He led an Islamic revival, cuminating in the Iranian Revolution which brought Iran under Islamic rule. He described the US as the ‘great Satan’ and The USSR as the ‘lesser Satan’. Women were forced to wear modest, Islamic dress and the once liberal country became intolerant and conservative. He called for the murder of the novelist Salman Rushdie for his book The Satanic Verses. Thousands of political prisoners were hanged by his regime. 

The Iranian Revolution is a major event in the history of the modern world. The Islamic State of Iran has a huge impact on global politics. As a Shi’a country, Iran has tense relaitonships with the Sunni Saudi Arabia and conflict between the two Islamic powerhouses is a feature of Middle East and more widely.

2) Ask pupils to discuss why we only have a book about Muslims who are seen to have acted in a positive way. Discuss this question as a group.

3) Do pupils think we have a tendency to focus on people who inspire us, not just in relation to Muslims? Can pupils think of any books about people who could be seen to have a negative impact on the world (or partly negative)? 

4) Ask pupils if they think we should have a book called 'World's 10 Most Influential Muslims', even if they have caused conflict, or have faced tragedy and struggle, or who hold views some people see as unjust? 

5) Watch the video of Suhaiymah Manzoor Khan's poem. Make sure the subtitles are on. Play twice if necessary. 

6) Choose some of her phrases, such as 'Brit-ish' or 'love us when we're down...' . Write these on the board. Give pupils time to think about what they mean. 

7) Discuss how the poem feels to listen to. Do pupils feel upset? Hopeful? Angry? What do they think Suhaiymah wants to communicate to the audience?  

8) Read about Osama Bin Laden and Ayatollah Khomenei. Make a list of the ways they influenced the world. 

9) Talk about how it feels to learn about people involved in violence and conflict, especially Osama Bin Laden. Do pupils think this should be studied in school? Discuss this question.

10) Return to the question about why we tend to focus on people who have made a positive difference, discuss why pupils think this is.

The Jinns have free will, they can be benevolent, or not. They can be responsible for bad luck or illness. They can be bound to a sorcerer, they can inhabit dark, dinghy places. 

Jinn are mentioned 29 times in the Qur'an. Muhammad was sent as a prophet to both humans and the Jinn. 

Jinn are subject to God's laws, judgement and the afterlife. 

The Qur'an repeatedly warns readers of the prohibitions against “associating others with God” (shirk). This is often phrased as a prohibition on worshipping or serving (ʿabada) anything other than God. 

In a broad sense the worship of God involves fulfilling God’s law and submitting to God. ‘Submission’ in Arabic is ‘islam’.  Submission could therefore be seen as the fundamental message of the Qur'an; for humans to worship God alone. 

The Islamic rulers had to manage the many cultures they came into contact with. Islamic teaching however is consistently aniconic (non-representational).  

Shah Tahmasp I (1514- 1576) was the second Shah of Safavid Iran. He maintained the Safavif empire in Persia/ Iran. 

He promoted and celebrated the arts. He built a royal house for painters, calligraphers and poets. He studied painting himself. This was not strictly acceptable in Islam, due to the fear of idolatry. Later, Shah Tahmasp turned against the arts, sending poets to exile in India. 

Tahmasp's father, Ismail, who ruled Persia before him, insisted any Sunni Muslims in the empire converted to Shi'a Islam. He made Shi'a Islam the official religion of the empire. Sunni scholars were given the choice of conversion, death or exile. Sunni Sufi orders were disbanded. 

Tahmasp came to the throne when he was ten, under a guardianship. He eventually took the throne and managed to stablise the empire despite conflict with the neighbouring Ottoman empire. He saw himself as a pious Shi'a king. His late father was seen as a saviour and worshipped by some. Tahmasp was encouraged by advisers to continue this tradition but after a spiritual experience and felt strongly that this was wrong and banned the practice. He became more religious, following a Shi’a Sufi path. He built houses and mosques for Sufi orders to carry out mystical ceremonies. He connected the Safavid kingship with custody of the Hidden Imam, combining religious and political power. This is still evident in Iran today.

Before his religious experience Tahmasp encouraged Persian miniature paintings. He provided rooms and materials for artists, including gold and lapis lazuli. During Tahmasp’s reign the Shahnameh was produced, named after him (the shah). This is one of the world’s most treasured illustrated manuscripts containing 258 miniature paintings. 

You can find many pictures of the Alhambra online. It is a palace built in the mountains outside the city with intricate Islamic designs on many walls. It is very famous and very beatiful.

Ask pupils if they think these lions are idolatrous, if Muslim artists should not be creating representations of real animals or people.

Information about this topic is given in the section below. You could separate it into small cards and ask pupils to choose two or three cards to answer the question: Is the fountain of the lions idolatrous?

Pupils should highlight one or two pieces of information that they use to answer the question. They should write their answer to the quesiotn using this information and be prepared to explain to the class.

In advance of this analysis, you might want to define some key words from the information: polytheism, monotheism, shirk, idolatry and representaiton.

Suggestions for wider learning:

• Look at more images of Moorish Spain, such as the cities of Granada and Cordoba, especially the mosque in Cordoba. This is a beautiful mixture of Arabic and European architecture.

• Read the passage from Exodus that forbids images.

'You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.' (Exodus 20:4)

Talk about why pupils think this is a commandment. Make links between Jews, Christians and Muslims in this key belief. 

• Find images online of Protestant churches which are very plain with no images or statues and plain walls and windows. Talk about how they are also concerned to avoid idolatry.

• Teach that as the Protestant church was growing in Europe, many traditional churches (Catholic churches) were ransacked and their images and statues damaged or destroyed. This happened in England and Scotland in many churches.

• Show the interior of a Catholic church. Children will see lots of colour, art, stained glass, images and statues. Catholic churches also use music, chanting and incense. Ask children why they think this is the case. In the Catholic tradition all the senses are engaged to help people focus and connect to the mystery and wonder of God. Images would also serve the purpose of teaching an illiterate congregation about the Bible and how they should live.

• Discuss why some Protestant reformers would go to the extent of destroying statues and images in a church. What is pupils' reaction to this? 

• Teach that when the Prophet Muhammad finally won Makkah for the Muslim community, after years of fighting, he entered the Ka'ba and destroyed all statues of other gods, seen as false gods, or idols. 

• Talk about the relationship between these two worldviews: whether to engage the senses or avoid distraction.

Who were the Moors?
The ‘Moors’ were the Muslims who ruled Morocco, Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Spain and Portugal. They also occupied Southern France, Sicily, Southern Italy and Malta for periods of time.

In 711 CE, the Moors conquered Christian Spain. Tariq ibn-Ziyad, the leader, brought most of Spain under Islamic rule in an eight-year campaign. The Moors moved north into France but were stopped by the Frank (Frenchman) Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers in 732.

The Moors called their Spanish territory Al-Andalus, an area comprising Gibraltar, most of Spain and Portugal, and part of France.

The term “Moors” has been used in Europe in a broader sense to refer to Muslims, especially those of Arab or African descent. The word originally comes from ‘Morocco’. They are culturally Berber, a North African ethnic group, with Arabian cultural influences since they adopted Islam.

Art in the Alhambra
Although a huge variety of cultures have accommodated Islam over the centuries, generally Islamic art is non-figurative. This means Islamic artists and architects do not depict figures of humans or animals. Plants or floral patterns are usually acceptable. Even if there is some figurative representation, depicting God or prophets is forbidden. Geometric patterns and Arabic calligraphy are used instead. 

There are two main reasons for this. The first reason is the fear of idolatry which is widespread across all the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Idolatry is worshipping something other than God, or a so-called ‘idol’. In Islam this is called shirk and is seen as an extremely serious sin against God. Shirk translates as ‘polytheism’, or the idea that different gods share divine attributes. In Islam Allah is seen as containing all divine powers. Jews and Muslims do not have any representative images in places of worship in case they make the mistake of worshipping them instead of God. This comes from the Jewish bible: ‘You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.’ (Exodus 20: 4). Protestant Christians also avoid images in churches for the same reason. 

The second reason is the idea that God alone has the power of creation. God is referred to in the Qur'an as musawwir, or ‘maker of forms’, so artists and sculptures do not want to challenge God by also making ‘forms’. Some artists or weavers would design an imperfection into a pattern so as not to challenge God’s creative powers.

The gardens in the Alhambra echo Qur'anic verses about heaven as a cool garden with shade and many fruit trees.  The many rooms of the Alhambra are covered with Arabic inscriptions, such as ‘"wa la ghalib illa-llah" or ‘And there is no conqueror but God’. There are also repeat patterns of floral designs and coloured mosaic tiles.

The lion statues around the fountain in the ‘Court of the Lions’ are believed to have been the creation of earlier stone masons, possibly at the site of an earlier palace. Legend has it they were commissioned by a Jewish vizier and each lion represents a tribe of Israel, but this is not confirmed. Although the Moorish rulers avoided images of animals and humans, the lions’ position under the water basin is deemed to show their submission to God. 

The lion fountain is part of an advanced hydraulic system allowing water to run around the palace. The palace rooms are angled to receive the sun in winter but not summer. They are well-ventilated to keep cool in summer. The upstairs rooms are smaller and well insulated to keep warm in winter. 

Ruh Al-Alam is a British artist whose family originally came from Bangladesh. He is a Muslim who loves the traditions associated with classical Muslim cultures and he spent years in Cairo learning Arabic and studying calligraphy. 

He thinks that many Muslim traditions and beliefs are thought of as old fashioned and he wants to make them modern and up to date. He takes Islamic ideas and uses them to make pictures or to decorate objects that Muslims can use in their everyday life.

He wants to make calligraphy and Muslim art for a modern audience and one way he does this is through making special designs for prayer mats. Some of the prayer mats have calligraphy on them. They are beautiful objects that can be used by Muslims when they pray.

Why are prayer mats important to Muslims?

Many Muslims payer five times a day, at set times, depending on the place of the sun in the sky. When Muslims pray it is tradition that they bow down on the floor. Because Muslims are on the floor when they pray they use a prayer mat so that the space where they pray to God is clean. 

Ruh Al -Alam  thought that many prayer mats were ugly or badly designed. He wanted to create prayer mats that were so beautiful that they made praying even more special.

Some of the prayer mats that Ruh Al-Alam makes are made of leather or they use geometric designs. 

She says that when she was growing up there were not many artists that looked like her or who were Muslim and so she is very proud that she is an artist who has work shown in galleries. 

Why is her work so colourful?

In Pakistan even everyday objects like trucks or buildings are sometimes made to look bright and very beautiful. She loves the idea that you can take very normal, ordinary objects and make them wonderful by using colours.  

What is her work about?

Usarae’s work explores what it means to live in lots of communities. In her work she tries to answer the question -What is it like to be a Muslim and come from South Asia and live in Manchester? Her part of Manchester is busy and full of shops that sell food from India and Pakistan and there is a large mosque. She says that sometimes she thinks that other people in England don’t really know what it’s like for immigrants or Muslims and she wants to find a place where images of her community can be seen. 

Usarae's art is about lots of different things but she loves to show how it feels to be woman that is British and Pakistani and a Muslim all at the same time. Her work is a celebration of her heritage and her beliefs. Usarae is an immigrant, this means that although she lives in this country right now, originally she came from another part of the world. Many Muslims in this country are immigrants or they are the children and grandchildren of immigrants.

There is an important idea for many `Muslims, this is the `ummah,' the idea that there is a community of Muslims, that is like an international brotherhood/sisterhood that means wherever you are in the world you are a part of that community. When you are part of the Ummah you are not just British or Pakistani, or white or brown or male of female, you belong to something bigger. Sometimes in her work she shows objects from different cultures and communities. 

Mohammed Ali was born in Birmingham. He makes art in public places, like streets, walls and shopping centres. His nickname used to be “Aerosol Arabic’ because he painted on walls using an aerosol spray can.
Why does he paint on Walls?
When people paint or draw on walls this is called graffiti. Usually graffiti is against the law – you’re not allowed to paint on other people’s property!  But graffiti can be very beautiful or it can communicate an important message. Some artists paint on walls because lots of people will see the work. When Mohammad paints on walls he makes sure that he always has permission from the owners. 
Mohammad tells stories about places, beliefs and people. He thinks that some voices never get a chance to be heard and by painting on walls in public spaces he can tell those stories. He thinks that if art is in a gallery most people will never see it so painting on walls is a good way to share the stories.

Some people have called him the Muslim Banksy. Banksy is a very famous artist who paints on walls, the sides of buildings and sometimes on the floor. 

What are his paintings about – submission and beauty?

Sometimes Mohammed uses geometric patterns or Arabic writing. Some of his pictures are about Birmingham and the heritage of the city as a centre of creativity and industry. He believes that as humans we have a duty to make a positive change to the world we live in. He doesn’t like to preach or tell people what to believe but he does think there are universal values of peace and love that are at the heart of Islam and which all people share. 

The word Islam means 'submit' or 'submission'. Submission means when you allow and accept the authority and beliefs of something else. For most Muslims this means not just obeying the laws of Allah but wanting to obey them. Most Muslims believe that when they are at one with Allah they have peace and that submission is the best way to experience this peace. For Mohammed the peace that submission to Allah brings is also about making connections between communities so that they can share their love of beauty and work together as a shared community. 

A lot of his work is in the city of Birmingham and he thinks that if people can see his work as they go about their everyday business it might make them feel happy or it might make them ask them important questions about their life. 

- Talk about Ruh's idea of updating a traditional object that Muslims use all the time, as well as making it beautiful. Are there other objects that pupils can think about updating in this way?

- Does it make a difference that the prayer mats are a key part of a religious activity? Are prayer mats themselves religious objects, like a holy book or icon? 

- Do pupils think some Muslims might welcome an artistic focus on the humble prayer mat, or might some feel the prayer mat is too close too the sacred and there are dangers in artistic experimentation?

- Ask pupils to think about whether art is a universal language. does it matter what country or culture the artist comes from, is art accesible to people who speak any language? 

- Look for images online of colourful buses and trucks in Pakistan. Why does Usarae use lots of colour in her work. Think about what colours can symbolise, such as the Pride flag, the Ukraine flag, red for 'stop' and green for 'go', the white of purity, or black for mourning.

- Usarae wants to represent both the British and Pakistani dimensions of her experience. Do pupils in the class have dual heritage? Think about the benefits of knowing two (or more) languages, places and cultures.

- Think about what might be difficult, you might want to revisit words like 'Unglish' and 'Brit-ish'. 

- Learn the word 'ummah', meaning the worldwide Muslim community. Print pictures of Manchester and Pakistan- food, city streets, people, the natural world. Use these images to collage a poster saying 'ummah'. Add to the poster some information about Usarae's art.

- Look at the video of Mohammed Ali's work. Talk about why he paints on walls. Do pupils think that more people are more likely to see his art than if it is in a gallery? Do pupils think galleries could be off-putting for some people? Talk about if pupils have ever been to an art gallery. Would they prefer to go to a gallery or encounter art by surprise in the street?

- As you will learn in the information, one meaning of the word 'Islam' is 'submission' to God. Talk about why Mohammed Ali uses calligraphy and geometric patterns. Is this a form of submission? 

- Write the word 'submission' on the board. Ask pupils to suggest information about Ali's beliefs about God, art and other people/ society. Add these words to the board. 

- Print out some blank geometric pattern sheets. Pupils choose a pattern and add any words from the board they want to within the pattern. They can choose single words or phrases. They must fit them somehow into the pattern. They can add colour too if they want.