The Islamic Foundation and AIMA^®

The Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis (IFGSTL, also known as “the Islamic Foundation”) is a non-profit organization established in 1974, which serves the greater St. Louis-area Muslim community through the operation of two masjids: Daar-ul-Islam and Masjid Bilal. One of the many services the IFGSTL provides is an Islamic school: Al Salam Day School (ADS). ADS is a co-educational (gender-separate), Islamic school for elementary, middle and high school students through Grade 12. In addition, ADS operates an Early Childhood Center (ECC), which is designed for children from infancy through the kindergarten year.

The Islamic Foundation recognized the imperative need for quality Islamic education during the most impressionable and formative, early years of life. In its wisdom and foresight, the IFGSTL took decisive action in 2017 to initiate the transformation of the ECC from a traditional preschool to a Montessori preschool – this, at a time when Islamic education in the U.S. was almost exclusively focused on the elementary, middle and high school levels. The Islamic Foundation, resolute in its decision, invested both money and time to support the ECC Faculty through Montessori teacher education and training. This bold move was rewarded, subhanAllah; and the transformation of the program at the ECC has been, by all accounts, nothing short of stellar. Parents and educators alike have been witness to the incredible synergy resulting from the implementation of Montessori education at the early childhood level – and our children are thriving as never before.

Through this effort, emerged an awareness of the need for a professional membership organization, specifically designed to support the efforts of Muslim educators and Islamic schools and to elevate the quality of their early childhood programs by practicing the Montessori Method. This imperative sparked the conceptualization of the American Islamic Montessori Association (AIMA^®), heralding the advent of second order change in Education, through the nascent science of Islamic Montessori Education (IME^®).

In the Autumn of 2017, a business plan and proposal, which included the rationale and long-term objectives of the AIMA^®, were presented to the Shura of the IFGSTL. The Shura embraced and unanimously endorsed the concept, enabling the launch of AIMA^® through the anchor of Al Salam Day School in St. Louis, Missouri. As a result, the Faculty of the ADS ECC comprise what is now known as the IME^® Advisory Council for AIMA^®; and the ECC itself holds the distinction as the first – and to date, the only – IME^® Teacher Internship Site in the United States.

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