Unit title	Year	Background notes
Why is Muhammad important to Muslims?	5	In the breadth and depth of material covered, this unit is challenging for pupils and teachers alike. As a preliminary to exploring the story of the first revelation to Muhammad, it begins by inviting pupils to reflect on the need for quiet times in life. It then moves on to look at why the Qur’an is so important to Muslims as well as how what Muhammad said and did have affected the ways in which Muslims live their lives today. Link with QCA unit 5A, Why is Muhammad important to Muslims? and unit 6D What is the Qur'an and why is it important to Muslims?

Key questions	Concept/s	Learning outcomes	Suggested activities	Resources
How important is it to find times of quiet in our lives?	Peace Contemplation	To be able to identify times when it is important to find quiet To understand how being in a peaceful and quiet place can help people	· Make two lists together, one about times when it is good to be noisy, the other about when it is good to be peaceful. Decide why it is important to have the second list: what does peace and quiet enable us to do? · In pairs, share any memories of peaceful times and peaceful places · Draw a peaceful place where people could go to help them think about problems in life or design/make a peaceful area in the classroom where children can go to think about things that are concerning them
What do Muslims believe happened when the first words of the Qur'an were revealed to Muhammad?	Revelation Message Messenger Transformation	To understand why the story of the 'Night of Power' is so important to Muslims To understand why Muslims traditionally do not represent living forms in art To show a personal response to the Muslim story of the First Revelation to Muhammad To understand why Muslims refer to Muhammad as the final Messenger of God	· Tell the story of the first revelation of the Qur'an, reminding pupils that Muhammad used to go to a cave on Mount Hira, near Makkah, to reflect and pray · Discuss Muslim belief that only God creates life and that Muslims traditionally do not represent living forms in art · Either Using collage, show the moment of the first revelation to Muhammad at Mount Hira, using Islamic traditions for art. (The prophet Muhammad, Allah or the angel Jibril must not be depicted in figures in this picture. Consider with the class how the holiness could be shown, eg using special gold paper to show light of the angel. Make clear that no people should be seen in this collage, but there has to be a sense of something extraordinary happening at Mount Hira) or write Khadijah's account of what happened to her husband and her feelings about the amazing event · Research Muhammad's life and events at the time he was living, using text books and ICT · Write and gather together a selection of messages for different purposes. Discuss how a message differs from other texts. Think about what Muslims mean by calling Muhammad ‘Messenger of God’	For a simple version of this story, see Scholastic Curriculum Bank RE, Bk 1, p133 Art materials suitable for collage, including glitter pens, shining paper
Why is the Qur'an important to Muslims?	Holy book Compassion Mercy Respect	To produce a personal response to the idea of 99 Names for God To understand what revelation means To be able to explain how Muslims treat the Qur'an and why	· Listen to a recording of a recitation of the Qur'an, listening out for the phrase 'Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem' (Arabic for 'In the name of Allah, the compassionate and merciful' and which begins each section of the Qur’an) · Show children any newspaper cuttings, tell a short story, give a quotation or show a picture that depicts the qualities of compassion or mercy · Explain that Muslims have 99 Names for God, including The Compassionate and The Merciful. Share any other names which could be used for God. Each pupil chooses a word and decorates it in a style that would be acceptable to Muslims, using ICT if possible · Explain how Muslims believe that the Qur'an contains God’s words which were revealed directly to Muhammad. Explore how the Qur'an should be treated, with this in mind · Put the Qur'an on to the stand, showing how it is brought from a high shelf and placed carefully on the stand. Ask why the stand is used. Remind pupils how Muslims prepare themselves for reading the Qur'an. Think about why Muslims learn to recite the Qur'an by heart in Arabic. · Watch a schools programme about the Qur'an (eg BBC Pathways of Belief) · Write rules about handling the Qur'an for teachers of RE	BBC Pathways of Belief video on Islam Qur'an and Qur'an stand Muslim children who attend mosque school
How have Muhammad's words and actions affected the way Muslims lead their lives?	Guidance Role model Commitment	To understand how the life of the Prophet Muhammad affects how Muslims live today	· Explain that many things which Muslims do today are based on what Muhammad himself did eg how to pray, how to wash, how to eat, how to treat guests, appearance (eg modesty of dress, men wearing a beard) · Discuss what Muhammad might have meant when he said: ‘Food for two is sufficient for three, and food for three is sufficient for four’; ‘Allah is not merciful to the person who is not merciful to other people’; and ‘The strong person is not the one who is strong in wrestling, but the one who controls himself in anger’ · If possible, invite a Muslim to answer questions about what Muhammad means for him/her and how what Muhammad said and did has affected their life · Either Reproduce one of Muhammad’s sayings using traditional Muslim styles of calligraphy and Arabesque or Write a story about a Muslim living today whose behaviour is influenced by remembering one of Muhammad’s sayings. This story could be acted out	Muslim visitor/s
Who has been the biggest influence on my life?	Role model Influence Values	To be able to identify people who have had a positive influence on them To be able to describe the values of the people they have chosen	· Share examples of people who have influenced them in their lives and why · Look more closely at these people, talking about the values they have communicated · Ask others at home, school or in the community (eg family members, teachers, midday assistants, religious teachers) to give examples of people who have influenced them throughout their lives. This could be done by research or by visitors coming and sharing their examples · Create a class tribute book of people who have been an influence through their positive values	Visitor/s

A glossary of religious, cultural and other terms used in this planning grid

Allah	Pronounced al-aar. The Muslim name for God. There is no plural form
Arabesque	The use of symmetrical patterns and swirls which is typical of much Muslim art.
BCE/CE	‘Before the Common Era’ and ‘Common Era’. In that the traditional abbreviations BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini – in the Year of Our Lord) imply a Christian framework of belief, the abbreviations BCE and CE (eg 772 BCE, 1611CE) are now preferred when studying different religions
Calligraphy	Literally, ‘beautiful writing’. There are many forms of calligraphy. Much Muslim calligraphy takes words from the Qur’an and writes them out with great artistic beauty. Panels of Arabic calligraphy can often be found inside and outside mosques.
Jibril	Arabic version of Gabriel. This was the angel who, according to Muslim belief, brought the first words of the Qur’an to Muhammad who was forty years old at the time.
Khadijah	Muhammad’s wife at the time when he received the first words of the Qur’an.
Muhammad (570-632 CE)	God, Muslims believe, sent different prophets (messengers) to different peoples at different times. The last of these prophets – the ‘Seal of the Prophets’ – was Muhammad, a native of Makkah in Arabia. Though he is greatly honoured by Muslims, he is not worshipped. For this reason, Muslims find it offensive to call their religion (Islam) ‘Muhammadanism’
Night of Power	The night when, according to Muslim tradition, the first words of the Qur’an were revealed to Muhammad. Muslims remember it every year towards the end of the month of Ramadan.
Qur’an (Older spelling – Koran)	Pronounced Core-aan. The Muslim holy book the words of which, Muslims believe, were revealed by God to Muhammad after the age of forty (even though, tradition says, he could not read). Muhammad then recited them to others who remembered them and wrote them down. For Muslims, the Qur’an must be in Arabic, the language in which the words were revealed to Muhammad.