On Wednesday, 25th, February, 2009, SCHS's School for the Intellectually Disabled hosted Prof. Solaiman Abed Aziz Jibilan, who works in a mosque at Al qassam district in Saudi Arabia as an Imam, at Sharjah Cultural Palace. He gave a lecture entitled 'An Islamic perspective in relation to mental disability' as part of the third campaign about mental disability. The lecture received an enormous attendance by the workers of SCHS, parents, and people of interest. In his preface, Mr. Abed Nasser Darwesh, School's night supervisor, assured that SCHS has been organizing such activities and others in order to integrate people with special needs in the community and to view the subject from an Islamic perspective, which is considered the ultimate source of regulation in the Arab world.
Then, Prof. Solaiman gave a brief introduction to his lecture. Then, he said that Islam urged us to behave according to good manners. Muslims should respect human rights. According to Prophet Mohammed's (peace is upon him) teachings, people are blessed because of their vulnerable ones.
It is very important for a mentally disabled person to be surrounded with love, care and attention. He should be taught properly in order to develop his mind capabilities, which would make him a productive member in the society. Parents have the greatest role of providing a suitable amount of love and attention for their disabled child without making his brothers feel inferior. An over dosage of love by parents to their disabled child may make him dependent on them.
On the other hand, parents should not be cruel or harsh to their disabled son. This may destroy his personality for good. They should avoid using bad or slang language when addressing him. According to the holy Koran, people should use proper language when they speak about each other without any exceptions.
A mentally disabled child should be involved in his family socializing. He should not be isolated from others. This has very bad effects on him. Parents have the most important role in making the society accept their disabled child. And they should be rewarded for that by God the Almighty.
It is very important to teach the mentally disabled child properly in order to develop his mind capabilities. This is the responsibility of everyone in the community.
At the end of the lecture, Prof. Solaiman Abed Aziz Jibilan answered a few questions from the audience. For example, one of the mothers asked him about her son, who was beaten by other boys during his integration process. His answer was that this is the result of non-systematic integration. It is preferable to prepare a pre-ahead plan before involving the disabled in the integration process.
Another question was about the accountability of mentally disabled child in relation to the obligations which is imposed upon Muslims by their religion such as praying and fasting etc. the answer was that a mentally disabled person is not obligated to do such rituals. Furthermore, one of the audiences asked the lecturer if a mentally disabled woman should wear a veil. He said that the veil would honor and protect her from bad people.