Sara Ege

This story is disturbing, and shocking, of a mother who, it would appear, beat her own son to death for failing to learn his Koran reading properly. There are a number of disturbing aspects that should alert us all.

Firstly, if you believe that your scriptures are important, then it does make a lot of sense to learn them, and learn them by heart. In the church, I think it is fair to say that we tend to neglect this idea, because our Sunday schools are much less focused on rote learning. This story points to one of the reasons for this.

Secondly, it is very easy to assume that this is an issue purely for "religious people", but in truth, it isn't. The same concepts apply whatever your core belief texts are. Belief is not limited to religion, which is why there are lessons for people who would not claim a particular religious affiliation.

What really hit me is that this mother was so insistent on her son learning the Koran by heart, while - it would appear - not actually knowing the contents herself. Killing your own children is not in keeping with the teaching of the Koran. This is the core problem with this sort of learning, that it is easy to learn the words without learning the meaning. This is the reason that it is not so popular these days in teaching, because learning like this is not necessarily any use in applying the learning. If the "learning" is the core essence of what drives your life, it is critical to understand it and be able to apply it, not just know the words.

Of course, even without this rote learning, it is easy to know the tenets of your faith, without really having the understanding to apply it. That is a challenge to everyone - do you know your ideas, or do you know how to apply them? In fact, being able to recite your personal creed is less important than being able to discuss, explore, work it out in situations, understand what the implications of it are, and be prepared to have it challenged and then renewed. And yes, this is challenging and difficult.

The other real issue is that a mother would be driven to beat her own son to death, of course. This is particularly shocking because it was not neglect, not sexual, none of the normal indicators for abuse (although he was, apparently, often bruised and had clearly been beaten previously). It is also not an "accidental" over-reaction - a parent losing it and doing something they would instantly regret later whatever the results. This was a systematic beating, followed by burning of the body to hide the evidence of the abuse.

This mother is clearly in need of help. She failed in her core maternal role to protect her children. Her religion is unrelated to this, but it didn't stay her hand, it didn't change her to being a better person. In that, her religion failed. I don't mean Islam, I mean her interpretation of faith.