Chapeter 4

WHAT SHOULD BE ACQUIRED FROM THE TEACHER

ADAB

Unfortunately I myself have not fulfilled the rights of my teachers as I should have. It is easy to advise others but hard to put into practice on one's own. Insha-Allah the advice will benefit both the writer and the reader.

Adab is one of the hidden treasures of doing hifz because it enables one to learn it (Adab) directly from the teacher. In western institutions there is often a disregard for this, if not a total lack of it.

In Islam, one should always be mindful of the teacher, and associate with him in a respectable manner otherwise one will not be able to benefit from him.

Although in reality Adab is only learned by associating with the teacher, by way of introduction, following is some pertinent advice regarding Adab from Hadrat Ali t:

“It is the right of a teacher that you do not put too many questions to him and do not put him to the hardship of answering. Don’t insist upon him when he avoids (answering). Don’t clutch his clothes when he may be feeling tiredness. Neither gesture towards him with hand nor wink at him. Don’t put to him a question in his majlis nor seek his disgrace. Should he commit a lapse, give him time to retract and accept his retraction. Don’t tell him that such and such a person has said contrary to his statement. Don’t disclose his secret and don’t backbite against anyone before him. Guard him in his presence and in his absence. Salute all the audience and salute him particularly and sit before him. Should he need anything, make yourself ready to serve him earlier than all other men…” (Hayat-us-Sahabah Volume III)

Adab is generally looked upon as servitude by an unfortunate few who have been inculcated with the mannerisms of the West. If they were to glance at the glorious history of Islam they would find even crown princes striving to serve their teacher.

Maulana Maseehullah Khan (rah) writes:

“All are familiar with the name of Khalifa Haroon Rashid. His kingdom stretched from the Sea of Sindh to Spain. His two sons were acquiring knowledge from the Arabic grammar master, Farraa. On one occasion when the Ustaadh arose after having imparted the lesson, both sons of the Khalifa rushed to put in position the shoes of their Ustaadh. Both reached the shoes together and a dispute developed between them who was to have the honour of bringing the shoes to the Ustaadh. Finally, they resolved the dispute. Each carried one shoe so that both may obtain the honour of having rendered service to the Ustaadh."

"The palace spies immediately notified the Khalifa of this incident. The Ustaadh was called to the royal court."

Haroon Rashid asked: “Who today on earth has the highest rank and is the most honored, Farraa?”

“Who can be more honourable than Ameerul Mumineen” the Ustaadh replied.

“No! He is the most honorable, over whose shoes even princes dispute.” Haroon Rashid replied.

The Khalifa, in gratitude and happiness awarded each son ten thousand silver coins for their high moral character and ten thousand silver coins to the Ustaadh for the beauty of his instruction to the princes.

Another story is told about how a crown prince was sent to be tutored by Al-Asmai, a famous grammarian. During their studies the Khalifa stopped by and found his son pouring the water for ablution (Wudu) while Al-Asmai washed his own feet. When the Khalifa saw this he said: “I have sent him to learn Adab also so let him hold the water with one hand and wash your feet with the other.”

If the Khalifa of the then Islamic empire saw it as imperative for his sons, the heirs to his throne, to learn Adab by serving their teacher in this manner then what about the average person?

May Allah U enable all of us to serve our teachers in a like manner. Ameen.

TAJWEED

Learning Tajweed is obligatory whether one does hifz or not, because it prevents from reciting the words of the Quran incorrectly. One letter mispronounced can vastly change the meaning of the Quran.

Take for example قلب (heart). If the ق is changed to ك, the result will be كلب (dog). Since both ق and ك are pronounced alike by many people, a common mistake is that the heart is changed to a dog or vice-versa.

There are many other examples like this, so its important, that regardless of whether one does hifz or not he should atleast fix his Tajweed. This way their reading (Nazirah) of the Quran is corrected.

Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rah) writes:

“Tajweed is that science by which one pronounces the letters from their correct articulation points (makhaarij) while observing the characteristics of each letter.” (Jamal-ul-Quran)

My sincere advice is that tajweed should be started immediately, even if one intends to begin hifz a couple of months later. This is because if one is from a background which is not Arabic-speaking it will take a while for one to correctly pronounce the letters from their correct articulation points (makhaarij).

I narrate my own example as a case of what not to do. When I started hifz it was Monday through Thursday, at a house in Skokie where Maulana Akbar (db) came to teach. He immediately impressed upon me to learn Tajweed. My response was: “What is Tajweed?”

That was the first time I had heard of the word. Due to the small amount of time he had, and his obligations to other students in teaching them reading (Nazirah), he was unable to teach me. However I continued to memorize the first juz under him and then in the the summer he directed me towards the Jamia Masjid where a full time hifz class was in session. There the Ustaadh would have more time to teach me Tajweed.

Summer came and I went to the Jamia Masjid. There I met Maulana Qari Abdul Mannan Saab (db) who was to be my future hifz teacher and under whom I am presently doing the Alim course. When I recited to him my first juz it was pretty solid, and I was clearly hoping to hear how impressed he was, that I had managed to memorize one whole juz part-time in two months.

His response was: “I can't even understand what you are reading,” he paused “You will have to learn Tajweed”. Its very difficult for a Qari to listen to somebody make so many Tajweed mistakes. I look back upon this incident and think, he was extremely patient in listening to me although I felt very embarassed at the time.

Well after this wake-up call, I practiced Tajweed a lot. Even at break time, I used to practice with the other students. I even wrote down the rules in the back of my Quran to review when I was free from memorizing.

Tajweed is hard work, and much like a language. It requires constant practice. Patience is key also. Making Tajweed a top priority when beginning hifz can save a lot of time and frustration.

REPUTATION

Building a reputation with the teacher is very important and necessary for the teacher to regard the student as being serious. This is because the teacher recognizes that hifz is not a thing to be taken lightly, and from his own experience of doing hifz understands the sacrifices that need to be made in order to complete it.

The best way to build one's reputation is to be punctual with the schedule that one has set. One cannot expect the teacher to have much confidence if the student doesn’t even show up regularly. Once it is demonstrated that the student is serious, then the teacher will also take his task of teaching seriously.

In addition, time must be spent outside of class memorizing the new lesson (Sabaq), and reviewing what one has previously learnt. This will keep one’s Quran solid, and demonstrate to the teacher one's willingness to sacrifice time at home in order to have his lesson ready for the teacher to listen to.

The result of a good reputation with a teacher creates an ideal atmosphere of memorizing. The teacher will show interest in the student’s hifz and go beyond his responsibilities as a teacher to assist the student in successfully completing his hifz. This is because teachers are never jealous of their students, rather they see them as an extension of themselves, and if a student were to surpass his teacher it would only make the teacher happier.

When the student sees the teacher interested in his progress he will respond with increased enthusiasm also, and the process of hifz will become much, much easier.

If however, the student does not do so, the teacher will come to disregard him which will result in the student feeling slighted. Then Shaytaan and his Nafs will intervene and cause the student to stop coming to class, and this process will continue to build up until he will not only stop hifz but stop it with the thought that it was his teacher’s lack of attention that brought an end to his hifz. That will be a very harmful stage, because one will then entertain unfounded suspicion about a person who is 1.) Muslim 2.) Hafiz and 3.) His teacher.

Regarding suspicion, Allah U says:

إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ

“Indeed some suspicion is sin” (49:12)

In addition, one can well imagine what that will do to his future educational endeavors in any field of Islam, because Shaytaan will now have a loophole to derail the student from the path of Knowledge (Ilm).