Ramadan . What’s that?
“What is Zakat?
“What does Hajj mean?
These are some of the questions young Tarek and Jana Bakkar had running through their minds while growing up. Faced with more and more questions, their mother, Mennah Bakkar, was inspired to write the first series of children’s books explaining the five pillars of Islam.
“I didn’t have a background as an author, I never wrote anything before but my kids sort of geared me into it. They would see me pray, they would see their father pray and they’d ask: ‘What does that mean?’ ‘Where is God? He is not in front of you, so how can you talk to him?’ Bakkar told Daily News Egypt in an interview.
Bakkar first went on a search for books about Islam to feed her children’s curiosity, but all she found were books about the Prophet Mohamed, stories about other prophets and nothing much about Islam.
“The books I did find were in Arabic and our children were raised in foreign schools, American schools and a very westernized culture and I couldn’t find anything that addressed them according to their mentality, she explained.
The books available in the market, Bakkar discovered, handled the subject matter with an intimidating approach and had no pictures – a turn-off for children.
“Even those with pictures showed people in ancient times, wearing galabeyyas, with long beards, living in tents, in the desert with camels. Our children can’t relate to images like these because they don’t live in that kind of setting anymore.
This is when Bakkar decided to write a children’s book series called “Little Moslems, and started the process by taking an intensive round of Islam classes.
“I wrote the books then I sat down again with these religious bodies to perfect every bit of information, to make sure that there are no words that could be misinterpreted or any word that could insinuate something that wasn’t 100 percent religiously correct, explained Bakkar.
It took her six months to write the book and a year to fact-check and edit. It was the illustrations though that proved to be the real challenge.
“Religion in general requires a lot of believing without seeing, it requires a lot of faith and there are a lot of taboos, said Bakkar, “You can’t depict God, you can’t depict angels; you can’t depict the Prophet – so the challenge was to make these books interesting for children with a lot of illustrations without crossing the line.
Bakkar found the perfect catch in illustrator Rena Karanouh who managed to bring the books to life in spite of these confinements. “She understood all the taboos and she came up with really creative [ideas], added Bakkar.
The series was completed in three and a half years and all five books were released together in 2006.
The two protagonists of the series are six-year-old twins, Tarek and Jana, named after Bakkar’s children. “I wanted them to be the main characters, Bakkar admitted, “One, to encourage them to understand their religion and two, I was doing it for them – I wanted to do something that they would be proud of.
Bakkar didn’t take any courses for children’s writing, relying instead on her children and their friends to understand what kind of information they were looking for.
“I used to sit down with them and their friends and ask them all sorts of questions. They didn’t realize they were being researched; we would just sit down and talk about God and angels, recalls Bakkar.
Bakkar was determined to make the stories as real as possible so that children could relate to Tarek and Jana.
“It’s the life of every child, even the terminology we use is very westernized terminology because at the end of the day Islam is Islam regardless of where you live or what background you come from or what nationality you are.
Religion is universal but again we did not go into issues that require an explanation of the variations, said Bakkar.
Bakkar also kept in mind that there are several sects in Islam with members of each performing the five pillars in their own way. She found out that there are slight variations in the way the five pillars are performed, yet the know-how or reason behind them is constant.
“These books are not meant to teach you how to pray or how to fast because then you would have to, out of fairness to all the sects, accommodate all the differences. The purpose of the books is to teach children the why behind each and every pillar, said Bakkar.
Bakkar’s initial target was children. However, after the series’ release, several parents confessed to her that they were unaware of some of the information in the books. Most people today, she said, are hooked on the ritualistic facet of the pillars. Those who purchased the book found it to contain a lucid explanation of the logic behind religious acts.
The main reason behind the success of the books is Bakkar’s enthusiastic and forthcoming approach. “[I discussed everything] in the books without dwelling on [the idea that] if you don’t so this, you will be punished, and do the right thing so you are rewarded.
“It’s an encouraging approach which I believe in and most schools today use; reward is a better motive than [intimidation], she added.
The introduction to the books is written by popular televangelist Amr Khaled. “This book has been written with a modern insight conforming to the world around us today, Khaled writes, “Yet, it maintains the required basics and values of Islam that our children can relate to and apply during their everyday lives, as Allah the almighty has intended.
Having a polarizing personality like Khaled endorsing the book may seem like a risky move, but Bakkar believes otherwise.
“While listening to him [Khaled], I personally felt that he is a moderate person: he spoke our language, he understood how in today’s world it is so easy to be misguided, how our environment can distract us from performing our religious duties.
“I personally don’t see him as an extremist, his moderate approach is in line with what I had in mind when I was writing the book . that’s why I felt he was the best person to write the introduction, she explained.
The series has been a hit all over the Arab world, even in Saudi Arabia where books of “Little Moslems’ ilk were deemed too modern for such a traditional market not too long ago.
Bakkar is currently working on her next series about the six pillars of faith.
“I was unsure of what to write about next but I discovered that the most appropriate thing for me to write about would be the six pillars of faith, which is God, the angels, His prophets, His holy books, judgment day and fate.
“Little Moslems are currently available in bookstores in Egypt and across the Middle East.
