1. What inspired you to write Quran Primers and Curriculum?

Quran itself inspired me to write Quran Primer and Curriculum. When I was in Faculty of Islamic Law, I was thinking of making series of books to learn and understand the Quran better. Especially, when I started to teach at Mercy School Institute ten years ago, eventually, I felt the necessity of Quran primers and curriculum for my own students at Islamic school also, and my private class students who were going to Public schools.

2. How does your education curriculum differ from others currently on the market?

I have eagerly searched to find a complete curriculum on the market, but unfortunately I couldn’t find well organized curriculum and primers. My primers are different than others currently on the market. My primers consider five cognitive levels as awareness, novice, intermediate, advanced, and mastery levels. Each level is also divided into three cognitive levels such as level one, level two, level three, representing low, medium and high levels to make learning process easy and step-by-step.

Additionally, there are more than six thousand examples in this collection, and all are taken from the Quran. An effort has been made to present every single tajweed rule relating to the Quran.

3. If you could choose to be amongst any scholar in time who would that be and why?

I respect all past and contemporary scholars. If I could choose to be amongst any scholar it would be dear Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) because he is the one who inspired all the scholars. He is my role model as in person. Also, I really believe that the Quran itself is the greatest scholar. I took the Quran as my role model. I describe the Quran as an immense ocean of knowledge that never ceases in its wisdom, no matter how much someone studies it.

4. What was your favourite book as a child?

My favourite book as a child was Hero’s of Badr a story of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). When I was little older I started to read Zubtadul Bukhari; it was a summary of Al Bukhari with beautiful commentaries in Turkish and Arabic.

5. If you could be any character in a book, who would you choose?

I’d like to make our world a better world so I would choose to be Ibrahim, Abraham.

6. I understand that this is your first children’s book – you must be delighted with the response it’s received in the States and now in the UK. Do you think you have found your place writing educational content for children?

I feel delighted with the response but I just started to blossom. I have many other projects and educational content for children and in general all responsible believers.

7. What other subjects would you like to write about?

I’ve already developed higher level primers in addition to my first primer as an Awareness, Intermediate, Advanced and Mastery levels. Also, I am working to prepare other primers about the meaning of Quran words with curriculum. Similarly, Hadeeth word primers in the future. For the last seven years, I have been giving lectures and khutbah’s to the school children, I would like to write beautifully illustrated inspiring books about stories taken from the Quran and the life story of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

8. When you are not writing what do you do?

I am a Martial Arts Instructor. I play and teach Taekwondo and Aikido.

Also, I am pursuing my Ph.D. in Educational Studies so, I read a lot of educational articles and follow up events concerning the Muslim world. I like surfing the internet about educational issues. I like to spend time with my family such as recreational activities, watching movies, going to the lake etc.

9. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

First, they must become a Talibul ilm that means Aspirant of knowledge/willing to learn.

Second, they have to read a lot to educate and train themselves. I also, advise them to continue learning and investigating the Quran looking for new perspectives, challenges and insights.

10. What type of subjects would you like to see in today’s Islamic literature market?

I would like to see the Quran and Seerah stories adapted to solve contemporary world’s pragmatic issues.

11. Are you working on any other educational books as future projects?

I am working on higher level Quran primers and meaning of Quran words primer. I am also going to prepare Islamic stories.

Cemil, thank you for your interview!

Cemil Gulseven is currently pursuing a Ph.D in Educational Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Being a graduate of Islamic Shariah Law, he went onto become a teacher by profession and a Black Belt holder of Taekwondo in his spare time! He has taught for over a decade in Islamic Studies and Physical Education alongside developing his Quran Primer series. The Primer series is different to anything currently on the market. It considers five cognitive levels; awareness, novice, intermediate, advanced, and mastery levels. Each level is divided into three cognitive levels ranging fromsuch as levels one, level two, and level three. These represent low, medium, and high levels to make the learning process easy and step-by-step.

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