In the Footsteps of the Perfect Teacher:
Allah says in the Qur’an:
هُوَ الَّذِي بَعَثَ فِي الْأُمِّيِّينَ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَإِن كَانُوا مِن قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ
“It is He who has sent among
the unlettered a Messenger from themselves reciting to them His verses and
purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom although they were before
in clear error”.
[Suratul Jumu'ah, verse 2]
Allah sent Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) to do four things:
1. Recite the verses of the
Qur’an
2. Teach the Qur’an
3. Teach the Wisdom (sunnah)
4. Purify his followers.
The Prophet
(صلى الله عليه و سلم) nurtured his companions and taught them in such a way that the
whole of Arabia drastically changed in a matter of 23 years. He
had six amazing qualities of teaching that
inshaAllah we can implement and follow as teachers, parents, siblings and any
other roles we have in our communities.
Mu’awiyah ibn Al-Hakam said, “I have never seen a teacher before
him (Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) or after him better in
teaching than he.”
The attributes of a good teacher:
1. Being concerned about the
goodness for students: In surah At-Tawbah, Allah
says, in the translation of ayah 128, “There has certainly come to you a Messenger
from among yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer; [he is] concerned
over you and to the believers is kind and merciful.” Rasulullah
(صلى الله عليه و سلم) also advised Abu Dhar (رضي الله عنه), “I see that you are weak,
and I love for you like I love for myself, so if someone gives you a position
of leadership, don’t take it”.
2. Kindness: Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said, “Allah is Kind
(Rafeeq) and He loves kindness, and confers upon kindness which He does not
confer upon severity, and does not confer upon any thing besides it
(kindness).” [Muslim] We see his kindness throughout his life (صلى الله عليه و سلم), when he would pass by children
in the street he would play with them–unlike nowadays, where people think it is
righteousness to never smile. Anas ibn Malik (رضي الله عنه) narrated that whenever the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) would pass by children he
would smile fondly and greet them. [Bukhari and Muslim].Anas also narrated, “I
served him for ten years, and he never said “uff” (an expression of disgust) to
me. He never said, ‘why did you do that?’ for something I had done, nor did he
ever say ‘why did you not do such and such’ for something I had not done.”
[Bukhari and Muslim].
3. Hikmah (wisdom): Hikmah is defined as saying the right thing at the right time to
the right people in the right manner. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said, “Help your brother,
whether he is an oppressor or is oppressed.” A man inquired: “O Messenger of
Allah! I help him when he is oppressed, but how can I help him when he is an
oppressor?” He (صلى
الله عليه و سلم) said, “You can keep him
from committing oppression. That will be your help to him.” [Bukhari]. Another
example is the story of the bedoin who urinated in the masjid. SubhanAllah,
while all of the sahaba ran to admonition him and beat him, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) simply said, “Leave him
alone and pour a bucket of water over it. You have been sent to make things
easy and not to make them difficult.” [Bukhari]
4. Humilty and humbleness: Abu Rifa’a (رضي
الله عنه) narrated that, “I came towards the Prophet
(صلى الله عليه و سلم) while he was giving the
khutba. I said ‘O Messenger of Allah, an estranged man has come asking about
his religion, he does not know what his religion is.’ The Messenger of Allah
came towards me and left his khutba until he reached me, and was brought a
chair, I thought the legs were made of iron. The Prophet sat on it and started
teaching me from what Allah had taught him. Then he returned to his khutba and
completed it.” [Bukhari]
5. Openness – Saying “I don’t
know” if you don’t know the answer: Rasulullah (صلى
الله عليه و سلم) would only answer a
question if Qur’an had been revealed answering it, or he would wait for
revelation. Once, Jaabir ibn Abdillah (رضي
الله عنه) came and asked the
Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سل) about inheritance, and
Rasulullah (صلى
الله عليه و سلم) stayed quiet until Allah
(سبحانه وتعالى) revealed the ayah in
Surah an-Nisaa.
6. Speaking slowly: ‘Aishah (رضي
الله عنها) reported that the Prophet
(صلى الله عليه و سلم) did not summarize his
speech, and he spoke in such a way that if one were to count his words, they
could be counted. [Bukhari] Anas ibn Malik also reported that Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) would repeat his words
three times.
These are only a few of the qualities of Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) as a teacher, indeed in him we have an excellent pattern–as Allah Himself says:
لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا
“There has
certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who]
remembers Allah often.” [Surah Ahzab, verse 21].
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