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It was on March 27, 2013 that the conference hall of the Islamic Cultural Center of “Alraid” located in Simferopol hosted the fifth All-Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Conference “Esthetic development of individuals: a source for spiritual and moral education of children and student youth in the contemporary society”, organized for teachers from secondary, pre-school and out-of-school education institutions of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (ARC). Its organizers are “Alraid” jointly with the ARC Ministry for Education and Science, Youth and Sports , and several Crimean higher education institutions.

The conference was contributed by professionals in school, pre-school and out-of-school education, and secondary school teachers engaged in tests of the program “Philosophy for children”.

Prof.Muhiddin Hayruddinov who opened the forum said that it was for the fifth time that “Alraid” hosted a merited and important event like this, and that issues related with esthetic education of young generation really concerned our society, teachers, tutors and parents alike, people of various political and confessional stranding.

Esthetic education of children: a continuous process

Mrs. Valentina Boyko, chief of the department for pre-school and out-of-school education at the ARC Ministry for Education and Science, Youth and Sports, thanked conference organizers and “Alraid” administration. According to her, “esthetic education of youth is a continuous process, and our conference is another contribution in education of the new generation”.

Mrs. Arina Novoselskaya, deputy-minister of culture, says that the Ministry of Culture has organized many events jointly with “Alraid”, devoted to methods of good education of young generation, and the Ministry readily offers methodical and practical assistance.

In his welcoming address Mr.Ali Mohammad Taha, “Alraid” chairman, highly appreciated the immense contribution of teachers in education of young generation. He said that beauty is God-created, cited the words of Prophet Muhammad: “Allah is beautiful, and He is pleased with beauty”, and continued: “And we also should perfect our inner beauty. Our Cultural Center has become a floor for dialogue between cultures and confessions, for joining the effort in issues and problems our community concerned with”.

Why school leavers understate themselves?

Dr.Eugeny Cherny, dean of psychology faculty at the Tavrichesky State University, raised an important issue of why school leavers understate themselves. Mrs. Adelina Arslanova, a school teacher, told about her experience in introducing the project “Philosophy for children”. She says that small children learned to see a friend around them by answering questions of what is a friend, what are his qualities, what are ways to distinguish between a true friend and just a familiar one.

Mr.Seyran Arifov, chairman of the “Alraid” auditory commission, highlighted in his speech the unity of inner harmony and external beauty of a human. He says that spiritual inner beauty of a human in Islam is integrated with inner harmony of his/her personality.

Mr.Said Ismagilov, Mufti of the Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine (RAMU) “Ummah”, spoke about differentiated approach to interpreting the beauty and the beautiful in various cultures and religions. What is considered beautiful and spiritually elevated in one culture may not be so in another one, but it cannot give rise to derogatory treatment of other opinions. Teachers should remember this and teach pupils to treat ideas of beauty, which differ from theirs, as something natural and valid.

“You see no incongruity in the creation of the Beneficent Allah; then look again, can you see any disorder?”

Mr.Muslim Dervishev, chairman of the Public Organization “Emel”, says that faith in shown in the Koran beautifully and through beauty. Allah says in surah 67(Al-Mulk)“You see no incongruity in the creation of the Beneficent Allah; then look again, can you see any disorder?”

Apart from physical strength, human culture fostered the vision of moral or spiritual beauty. This category applies to humans irrespective of age or gender and denotes perception of human’s wisdom, honesty, balance or decency.

Islamic esthetics differs from secular esthetics by its clear-cut criteria and compliance with human nature and human conscience. While the former has roots in the universal, eternal and indissoluble Divine conception, the latter has no universal meaningful conception, being interpreted merely as a set of abstract canons originating from abstract ideals and conditional values, which tend to change with kaleidoscopic rapidity depending on the whims of volatile fashions.