Islamic community looks to scouting for values

by Kenneth Todd Ruiz
Editor in Chief

Muslim girls and boys are swearing new oaths and donning new uniforms at the Islamic Center of Claremont where the first Muslim Boy and Girl scout groups in the area started last month.

Almost 80 children have signed up for the program, which started last month for the boys and tomorrow for the girls.

“Scouts teach a good message,” said Lisa Kahler, who started the scout program at the mosque and is now cubmaster of the pack.

“There is nothing contrary to Islam. They have religion in mind.”

She said that her goal with the program at the mosque is to provide fun social interaction and learning opportunities for the girls and boys in the framework of an Islamic environment.

Scouting is a worldwide youth organization that, in addition to tying knots and hiking, combines secularism and spirituality in a way that can be adapted to any monotheistic tradition.

For Salah Habib, scouting is more essential today than it was in the 1960s and 70s when he was a scout in Libya.

He said that when he was a child he could wander the streets with his friends in safety, but that he is more worried today.

“Boy scouts provides a safe place for kids to have fun,” Habib said, adding that the prevalence of video games and television is even more reason to get his 6-year-old son Kareem outdoors.

On Saturday, Cub Scout Pack 444 raced handmade wooden cars down a wood ramp in the mosque’s first “pinewood derby,” a scouting tradition.

What they lacked in experience they made up for in enthusiasm. The 39 Tigers, Wolves, Bears and Weebolos screamed and hollered as they ran a series of heats to find the fastest car.

Whereas scouts and parents usually share an oral tradition of pinewood wisdom on the secrets to a fast car, everything was new to the parents assembled in the parking lot of the mosque.

Martin Cardenas, cubmaster of a Diamond Bar scouting pack, brought the racetrack to the mosque, set it up and stayed to officiate the derby.

Kahler said she has been overwhelmed by the support the Boy Scout organization has provided.

“We’re Muslim, they have no reason to help us,” Kahler said. “But they came to us.”

Cardenas said that is just how scouting works.

“I believe in scouts so much I wanted to help out,” he said. “I wanted to make sure those kids had fun.”

Soon enough, parents and scouts discovered the secrets of pinewood victory for themselves, that heavier cars move faster.

Soon every scout had glued rocks and quarters to their cars while a tube of graphite dust was passed around to lubricate axles.

Standing nearby, Hala Hafuda wore the hijab, or headscarf, and a neck-to-ankle length kaftan.

Stitched onto the canvas-colored garment, all the badges, patches and insignia of a scout leader.

Intercepting both winners and losers as the race continued, Hafuda hugged and kissed both telling them, “You both did a great job!”

Tiger Cub Tarik Gibani of Phillips Ranch claimed the day with his purple, orange and red hotrod. The diminutive Gibani was one big smile and summarized his feelings in one word, “Happy!”

Although this was the third biweekly meeting for the boys that comprise Cub Scout Pack 444, the girls will meet for the first time tomorrow.

Eager parents at the mosque filled most of the available space soon after Kahler announced the program.

More than a social club for their children, scouting is an opportunity for the sometimes-insular group to connect to the larger community while maintaining their principles.

Many of Saturday’s racers were taking their cars to a competition with other packs held on Sunday.

Ibrahim Alomari, a parent volunteer, said that he enrolled his 6-year-old son because scouting offered “fun, values and leadership.”
This is the only youth group that really holds our values,” he said.

Kahler said that after parents found out about the plans for the boys, they wanted to get their daughters involved.

“By the time we put the first flyer up, the first grade group was almost full,” Kahler said of the Girl Scouts.

She said the Girl Scouts program will adhere to the Girl Scouts of America standard.

The influence for the girls will be on leadership and independence,” Kahler said. “The boys focus more on building skills.” She added that building confidence and improving speaking abilities are part of the Girl Scout mission.

Some tweaking with the formula was necessary to tailor the scouting experience to Islam. Although the mottos, promises and oaths remain unchanged, meetings open and close with verses from the Koran.

The National Islamic Committee on Girl Scouting was founded in 1988 to address the needs of Muslim scouts.

The group promotes tenets of compassion and service and scouts can earn several Islam specific emblems by committing to learn and practice their religion.