cold, sitting on a wet rock, he would wait outside his teacher's door for hours, waiting for him to come out so he could ask him a question. That was imām Malik as a child, whose hunger for learning kept him there and respect for his shaykh deterred him from knocking on his door lest he disturbed him. That was a time when teachers of Qurʾān were held in such high esteem. Unfortunately now the roles are reversed and we find teachers chasing students, calling them and waiting while they find their hijab, make wuḍūʼ or drag their feet to Qurʾān class. They get the eye roll when the students are stopped if making a mistake. The empty stares, moms bribing kids to read one more page, mushafs are left in the car only to be hastily looked at for a few minutes before class. The same mistakes of madd, over and over again.
“The best of you are those who learn the Qurʾān and teach it to others.”
Despite this hadith being so familiar to most of us, I can not tell you how many times I have heard a Qurʾān teacher being referred to in derogatory terms – in some Muslim countries they are treated like servants, worse that the children's nanny. If you don't respect them personally than please respect the Kalam of Allāh that they teach and give them honor based solely on the majesty of what they teach: the Qurʾān.
The following is advice that Amir Al-Mu'mineen, Ali bin Abi Talib, may Allāh be pleased with him, gave: “From the rights of the learned over you is that you do not ask too many questions, you do not divulge his secrets, you do not backbite about him to anyone, you do not look for error in him, if he made a mistake you accept his excuse. It is incumbent upon you to respect and magnify him as long as he keeps Allāh's orders; you should not sit in front of him; if he has a need the people should race to serve him.”
In a hadith related by At-Tirmithi the Messenger of Allāh, (saw) said, “He is not of us who does not respect our elderly, is merciful to our youth, and knows the rights of those who teach us.”
Qurʾān lessons are a combination of effort on behalf of the children, the teachers and the parents. Many of us have played one of these roles, I have played all three. I feel many times the teacher, the child or the parent want to say the following things to each other but don't out of humility, cultural taboos, or just can't be bothered. Hope this will spark some very important conversations.
What a Qurʾān teacher wishes s/he could say to the parents:
What a child wishes s/he could tell their Qurʾān teacher:
What a parent wishes the Qurʾān teacher knew:
Despite this hadith being so familiar to most of us, I can not tell you how many times I have heard a Qurʾān teacher being referred to in derogatory terms – in some Muslim countries they are treated like servants, worse that the children's nanny. If you don't respect them personally than please respect the Kalam of Allāh that they teach and give them honor based solely on the majesty of what they teach: the Qurʾān.
The following is advice that Amir Al-Mu'mineen, Ali bin Abi Talib, may Allāh be pleased with him, gave: “From the rights of the learned over you is that you do not ask too many questions, you do not divulge his secrets, you do not backbite about him to anyone, you do not look for error in him, if he made a mistake you accept his excuse. It is incumbent upon you to respect and magnify him as long as he keeps Allāh's orders; you should not sit in front of him; if he has a need the people should race to serve him.”
In a hadith related by At-Tirmithi the Messenger of Allāh, (saw) said, “He is not of us who does not respect our elderly, is merciful to our youth, and knows the rights of those who teach us.”
Qurʾān lessons are a combination of effort on behalf of the children, the teachers and the parents. Many of us have played one of these roles, I have played all three. I feel many times the teacher, the child or the parent want to say the following things to each other but don't out of humility, cultural taboos, or just can't be bothered. Hope this will spark some very important conversations.
What a Qurʾān teacher wishes s/he could say to the parents:
- We are human beings and your child's teachers, please accord us more respect or at least the same that you would give to you child's secular teachers.
- If you are paying us, please treat it like any other bill and pay us promptly – we would not charge for this noble cause unless our homes did not run on this money.
- Please be punctual – value our time, especially when we teach without payment as it is usually time we take away from our own families.
- Inform us in advance if you are canceling the class.
- Have the students use the bathroom and make wuḍūʼ before lesson time as valuable time is wasted.
- Have your child dress appropriately for Qurʾān class – the adab is head/satr covered, no faces or bad language on clothing.
- Please teach your children to respect us – if you call us names at home they will internalize this attitude, too.
- Revise the lesson at home especially if your child only comes a few times a week.
- If we have moved them back from one lesson to another it is usually because they haven't completely learned the skills in that particular lesson.
- Don't be offended or take it personally if your child is not performing well and we talk to you about it – we have their best interests at heart.
- If you are unhappy about anything please talk to us without your child present – it weakens our authority when your child knows that you do not respect us.
- Many parents question why the child is spending so much time on the “Qaidah” or “Yassarnal Qurʾān.” Let the teacher spend the time required to learn the foundations, if the makharij are messed up then it takes a lot of work to fix them at a later stage.
- Please don't tell me how to do my job…Memorizing a few surahs is not the same as memorizing the whole Qurʾān.
- I am a teacher, not a miracle worker.
- Don't enforce your selfish expectations on your children. Accept them for who they are and I guarantee they will perform better.
- Please do this for the sake of Allāh and not as a status symbol. You're affecting your child's education in ways you do not know.
- Your child will not die because he has the sniffles…Don't make him miss days unnecessarily.
- If you don't make sure they learn their lesson at night…..you can't expect them to become hafidh.
- Do not make long term plans, they do not work…make short term realistic plans.
- Please do exactly as I tell you, or else don't blame me when things are not going well.
- I love my students very much and we have a very deep bond…that is why I am hard on them; not because I have a bad temper.
What a child wishes s/he could tell their Qurʾān teacher:- Please do not hit me if I do not know my lesson.
- Smell good it is hard to learn when the teacher doesn't smell good.
- Tell me if I did a good job – it motivates me.
- Please do not humiliate me in front of the whole class.
- Urge me to read more even if I am being lazy, sometimes I just need an extra push.
- Please do not take me back all the way to the beginning of the Qaidah or Qurʾān if I have already done it – it is so discouraging – maybe you can review the past lessons AND give me new lessons too.
- Tell me your rules upfront because every teacher is different and sometimes I may do something because my previous teachers let me.
What a parent wishes the Qurʾān teacher knew:
- Please do not hit my child to enforce a lesson – they will start hating coming to your class and in turn have horrible memories associated with learning the beautiful book of Allāh.
- Please give my child proper attention and inculcate the love of Allāh's Book by being kind and gentle with them.
- Keep us in the loop – let me know if my child is being rude or not performing properly.
- As a parent I know my child better – please listen to our input about their learning styles or issues.
- Encourage my child and reward him/her with positive feedback especially when they did well or learnt their lesson properly.
- Let us know in advance if you are canceling a class.
- Please be sincere and do not treat this like a money-making scheme.
Tagged with: Education Hena Zuberi hifdh Islam Islamic Education manners muslims relationships Respect for teachers Respect for the Quran Students allah imam quran wudu
About Hena Zuberi
Kamis, 07 November 2013
Print On Demand (Arkan)
SG Photo
Do you love to write? Do you
want to write your own book or already have a draft ready to be sent to a book
publisher? In the competition between professional writers or beginner writers,
the process of submitting your draft to a publisher can take a long time.
Print on demand or self-publishing could be one solution, so that your book can immediately be accessed by everyone. Ahmad Arkan Ichsan, student of HighScope published his own book by print on demand. “Innocent Fast Forward” is about the kids who lived in the World War II era.
Arkan also admitted that he was inspired by his own life story while he was bullied by some of his friends in his old school, so he preferred spending his time with a laptop and doing a lot of research in order to write his book to hang out with friends. He is also interested in history, especially the world war. And he put these ideas together and wrote a book.
“I also worry that my book would not be accepted by the Indonesian market. However, I think there are too many Indonesian writers who write their books in Bahasa Indonesia, in my opinion if I write my own book in English, it won't only be sold in Indonesia, but also the international market,” said Arkan.
“For now, I published the book myself and then print them at the regular printer. I am also selling these o friends before going to market. I promote my book on social media and my friends seem curious with my book, although so far there are only 5 people who have bought it,” Arkan added.
According to him, he sells his book for Rp 94.000,00/copy which is the typical price at bookstores. Arkan also said that book interest among Indonesian youngsters is relative and depends on the current trend.
“For example, The Hobbit, the book when it is released along with the film, there are many people who buy it. I think, when a book is filmed like Harry Potter, the fans think that the book version is better than the film, it can give the audience a wild imagination.”
Print on demand or self-publishing could be one solution, so that your book can immediately be accessed by everyone. Ahmad Arkan Ichsan, student of HighScope published his own book by print on demand. “Innocent Fast Forward” is about the kids who lived in the World War II era.
Arkan also admitted that he was inspired by his own life story while he was bullied by some of his friends in his old school, so he preferred spending his time with a laptop and doing a lot of research in order to write his book to hang out with friends. He is also interested in history, especially the world war. And he put these ideas together and wrote a book.
“I also worry that my book would not be accepted by the Indonesian market. However, I think there are too many Indonesian writers who write their books in Bahasa Indonesia, in my opinion if I write my own book in English, it won't only be sold in Indonesia, but also the international market,” said Arkan.
“For now, I published the book myself and then print them at the regular printer. I am also selling these o friends before going to market. I promote my book on social media and my friends seem curious with my book, although so far there are only 5 people who have bought it,” Arkan added.
According to him, he sells his book for Rp 94.000,00/copy which is the typical price at bookstores. Arkan also said that book interest among Indonesian youngsters is relative and depends on the current trend.
“For example, The Hobbit, the book when it is released along with the film, there are many people who buy it. I think, when a book is filmed like Harry Potter, the fans think that the book version is better than the film, it can give the audience a wild imagination.”
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