Sr. Amal A. Ileiwat - Technology Teacher

I hold my Bachelors and Masters from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Information Systems Management. 

I have been teaching for the past 5 years.  Previous to working in the teaching field, I designed and developed software for 5 years.

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Sr. Heba Ahmed - Physical Education Teacher

Br. Yusuf Aci - Physical Education Teacher

This is my first year at Al-Hikmah elementary. I am a native of the city of Paterson though I was born in Turkey and am the son of two loving Turkish parents.  We moved here when I was an 8 month old toddler in my mothers arms.

Alhamdulillah, they understood the necessity to raise me and my siblings with a sound Islamic education; when my father noticed that a house had entered the market in 1990, he was interested but when he considered it's proximity to the masjid, the house was sold! I am grateful to Allah for having blessed me with such a caring mother and  father who saw the importance of preserving our identity as Muslims and would see to it that we visited our homeland once every 3 to 4 years. The sound of the athan ringing from a digital clock sounds great but nothing compares to the sound of this most noble and peerless call resonating throughout the streets.

I have my share of knowledge pertaining to Islam however I am a far cry of ever proclaiming myself a scholar. I learned the Arabic alphabet as a child and have made khitm of Quran several times. I'm fluent in English and Turkish and have studied Arabic as a foreign language in college as well as on my personal time. I earned my bachelors degree a few years ago in the field of Business Administration but have decided to pursue what I initially set out for and that is to become a teacher. I was fortunate in having a substantial number of mentors and teachers in my life who went the extra mile to see to it that I achieve my full potential and to never settle for anything less. Teachers have always had my utmost respect and therefor I hope to give back to my community and society as a whole by reinforcing the beautiful principles which are found in Islam.  My particular status as the Phys. Ed. teacher here at Al-Hikmah gives me a unique opportunity to show the kids how sports and their emphasis on discipline and good sportsmanship as well as a need to work together are also the key ingredients we need to achieve success both individually and for our success collectively as an ummah. I ask that Allah makes us all of those who are successful in this life and most importantly, the hereafter. Ameen   

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