Treating the Students Kindly and Applying Good Teaching Methods

the prophet, peace be upon him, was treating people gently and kindly and was considering their psychological and physical conditions. he said: ((whenever kindness is used in dealing with any matter, everything will be fine, and whenever kindness is not used in dealing with any matter, everything will be defective)). he said also: ((allah the almighty loves that you deal kindly with all matters)). kindness means leniency, forbearance, tolerance and facilitating everything for others. it is totally against violence. the human beings, by nature, like to be treated kindly and gently. all people hate toughness and severity. therefore, the teachers should take this into consideration while teaching their students.

dealing severely with the students will cause negative results, especially for children because severity makes the students feel compulsion and uneasiness. such feeling will make the student inactive and liar because he will say things against the truth in order to avoid the severe treatment of the teacher.

the prophet, peace be upon him, was the best example in dealing kindly and gently with his companions, and here are some  examples:

anas, may allah be pleased with him, said: while we were in the masjed with the prophet, peace be upon him, a bedouin man came and urinated in the masjed. seeing that, the companions of the prophet, peace be upon him, said: stop! stop! the prophet, peace be upon him, said: "don't interrupt him, let him finish". the companions let him until he finished. then the prophet, peace be upon him, called him and said: "these masjed's are not meant to be places for urinating or dirt, it is places for remembrance of allah, prayers and reading koran". then the prophet, peace be upon him, ordered a man to bring a bucket of water and poured it over. narrated by muslim. in another narration by ahmad and ibn majah, the following addition was mentioned: "after the bedouin man understood the matter, he said: the prophet, peace be upon him and may my life be a sacrifice for him, did not scold, blame or beat me.

this hadith demonstrates how the prophet, peace be upon him, treated the bedouin man with kindness and tolerance. the bedouin man was ignorant about such issue; therefore, the prophet, peace be upon him, did not deal with him severely or blame him; contrary, he taught him the right manner kindly.

seeing such human and kind treatment, the bedouin man felt how great was the prophet, peace be upon him, because although he committed a wrong action, the prophet, peace be upon him, treated him with so much kindness and taught him the right manners with high tolerance.

al-hafiz bin hajar said: this hadith demonstrates that we should be kind enough with the ignorant people and we should teach them the right things with tolerance following the example of the prophet, peace be upon him, who was tolerant and lenient with the ignorant people.

2. mu'awiyah bin al-hakam as-salami said: while i was praying with the prophet, peace be upon him, a person sneezed, so i said "may allah grant you mercy" during the prayer. hearing that, the people who were praying with us stared at me as a sign to stop speaking during the prayer. seeing that, i feared them and said: why you look at me like this? but they began knocking their thighs as a sign to stop talking again during the prayer. at this time, i kept silence and continued the prayer. when the prophet, peace be upon him, finished the prayer, he did not scold, beat or abuse me; contrary, he called me and said: "it is not allowed to speak during the prayer other than glorifying allah and reading koran … etc). mu'awiyah said also: i was having a maid shepherding my sheep in uhud and jowaniyah. once a day, a wolf ravened a sheep of my cattle. knowing that, and as a human being, i felt anger and slapped her face. then i felt sorry and told the prophet, peace be upon him: shall i free her (as a penance for slapping her)? he said: bring her first. i brought her to the prophet, peace be upon him. the prophet then asked her: where is allah? she replied: over the heaven. he asked her: who am i? she replied: you are the prophet of allah. the prophet, peace be upon him, said: free her, she is a believer"

an-nawawi said, in explaining this hadith, the prophet, peace be upon him, was of high morals, high tolerance, and high mercy when dealing with people. he was very kind in teaching the ignorant people and rectifying their manners.

by comparing the two cases of mu'awiyah, we find that the prophet dealt with him in different ways in both cases:

in the first case, the prophet, peace be upon him, did not reproach or scold him because he was ignorant at that time. the evidence for that is the hadith narrated by al-bukhari and abu dawood, in which mu'awiyah said: i came to the prophet, peace be upon him and i learnt some of the islamic teachings. some of the things which i learnt were that the prophet told me: "if you sneeze say "all praise be to allah" and if you hear someone sneezing and praising allah, tell him "may allah grant you mercy". once a time, i was praying with the prophet, peace be upon him… etc).

in the second case, the prophet, peace be upon him, treated him in different manner. the prophet denied the action of mu'awiyah regarding slapping the maid. the reason of such different treatment may be one of the following: 

first: mu'awiyah is no longer ignorant and has good knowledge about islam and its teachings; therefore, the prophet, peace be upon him, did not treat him in the same manner of the first case, when mu'awiyah was ignorant.

second: the action of mu'awiyah may be one of things which are known as forbidden by all people; therefore, the prophet did not consider him ignorant and treated him accordingly.

summary:

1) the teacher should treat his student kindly when he is ignorant about any matter.

2) the teacher has the discretion to evaluate the mistake or wrong action of the student and he can judge whether such action can be excused for ignorance or not.

3) the teacher should follow the example of the prophet, peace be upon him, upon rectifying the actions or manners of the students. the prophet, peace be upon him, told the companions not to interrupt the bedouin man while he was urinating in the masjed so that he will not be harmed. then he ordered a man to bring a bucket of water and poured it over. afterwards, he called the bedouin man, explained to him the wrong action and told him how to behave correctly with high tolerance. the prophet, peace be upon him, treated mu'awiyah in the same manner and taught him how to pray correctly with high tolerance.

the teacher should exert all out efforts to help the student to rectify his actions by explaining the wrong action and guiding him to the method of correcting it as the prophet, peace be upon him, did with mu'awiyah. he encouraged mu'awyiah to free the maid in order to correct

Giving Sincere Advice to the Learners

some teachers think that their duty toward their students is limited to providing them with information and knowledge. but this is not true. there is another important matter which should be taken into consideration. it is providing sincere advice and guidance to the students. the teacher, in fact, is a guide, advisor and father. the student spends more than five or six hours a day at the school with his teachers which is more than the time he spends with his parents.  this means that the teacher will be surely familiar with some of the student’s behaviors and actions which are not known to the parents of the student. therefore, the teacher should exert all out efforts to guide the students, correct their ideas, and refine their behaviors and manners by providing them with constructive advices and instructions. giving advice is one of the primary principles of the islamic rules before being a principle in the education process.

1. tamim bin aws ad-dari (may allah be pleased with him) narrated that the prophet (peace be upon him) said: ((religion is sincerity and giving advice. upon this we said: for whom? he replied: for allah, his book, his messenger and for the leaders and the general muslims))

al-hafiz bin hajar said: giving advice to the general muslims includes sympathizing with them, benefiting them, teaching them, avoiding causing harm to them and wishing them good as he wishes for himself. the term "general muslims” includes the students.

2. jarir bin abdullah al-bujali said: i gave the pledge of allegiance to allah's messenger for to offer prayers perfectly, to pay zakat regularly, and to give good advice to every muslim.

anas, may allah be pleased with him, narrated that the prophet, peace be upon him, said: ((no one will be a true believer till he likes for his brother (other people) that which he loves for himself))

ibn rajab said: giving advice  to the muslims includes: protecting them from harm, helping  the poor, teaching them, guiding  the wrong doers to the truth kindly and treating them kindly when correcting their manners and behaviors. accordingly, the teacher should provide his students with advice as an islamic duty and as a duty in the education process. if the teacher wants to advise one student only, it is better to advise him individually so that he will be more responsive. giving advice openly means reproach implicitly. ibn rajab said: in the past, when our ancestors want to advise someone, they give him the advice secretly and it was known at that time that if you advise a person secretly, then such action is called “advice” but when you advise a person openly, such action is called “reproach”. the teacher should take these things into consideration if he wants to give advice to any student. the advice means also that the teacher should check and correct the homework of the students faithfully and should do all of his duties faithfully. the best thing which can standardize your advices in this regard is following this hadith: the prophet, peace be upon him, said: ((no one will be a true believer till he likes for his brother (other people) that which he loves for himself))

dear teacher, the parents put their children as trust with you. did you take care of such trust duly? what is your position?

summary:

1) giving advice and guidance is as important as the education process itself; therefore, take care of this aspect.

2)  giving advice is one of the primary principles of the islamic rules before being a principle in the education process.

3) it is the duty of the teacher to advise and guide the student to the right way and correct his manners and behaviors.

4) giving advice secretly encourages the student to accept the advice and to act accordingly.

Implanting the Right Belief and Enhancing Faith throughout the Learning Process

only few teachers implement this method. by this methodology, the teacher can enhance the right belief in the minds of the students when he teaches them the sciences, geography and other fields of knowledge. allah the almighty said: {and of his signs is that you see the earth stilled, but when we send down upon it rain, it quivers and grows. indeed, he who has given it life is the giver of life to the dead. indeed, he is over all things competent} (fussilat: 39). this verse demonstrates how allah the almighty sends down rain to a barren land to spread life again in it, just like his power in raising people from death in the hereafter. the good teacher should know how to link between the natural phenomena and the matters of belief as mentioned in the previous verse. allah the almighty demonstrated in that verse the condition of the land which needed rain since a long time and became barren due to the lack of rain. when allah sends down rain to such land, the life will appear again and the plants will grow. then, allah demonstrated to the people that the case of giving life again to such barren land is just like raising the dead people from their graves in the hereafter.  this explanation refutes the position of those who deny resurrection. similarly, if the teacher wants to speak about the mountains, it is recommended to demonstrate its benefits and how it fasten earth and prevent any movement. then he can mention the following verse: {have we not made the earth a resting place? and the mountains as stakes?}and the following verse: {then do they not look at the camels – how they are created? and at the sky – how it is raised? and at the mountains – how they are erected?}(al-ghashiyah: 17-19).

the holy koran is full of such examples. let's now see how the prophet, peace be upon him, was implanting the right belief in the minds of his companions, may allah be pleased with them:

abu huraira, may allah be pleased with him, said: the prophet, peace be upon him, said: (there is no effect for infection, no ground to take the month of safar as a bad omen, and no ground to take the owl as a bad omen). one of the public said: o prophet of allah, why then non infected camels get infected when it mixes with mangy camels? the prophet, peace be upon him answered: (then which camel caused infection to the first one?)

 al-hafez ibn hajar said: they were thinking that when a sick person mix with them they will get sick also; therefore, the islamic sharia denied and invalidated this thought. when one of the public asked the prophet, peace be upon him, about the infected camel, he answered: “then which camel caused infection to the first camel?” i.e. from where the manginess came? if it came from another camel, then from where the other camel got manginess? and so on until reaching the first infected camel. otherwise, if there is another reason it should be demonstrated. therefore, allah the almighty is the creator of everything.

summary:

1) it is recommended to implant the right belief by using the sciences, other than the islamic ones, as a mean to connect the muslim with his religion in all fields of life.

2) this method helps in enhancing the right belief in the minds of the students and helps in bringing up a generation with strong belief.

Consulting others

any teacher may face problematic issues and complicated matters for which he finds himself unsure or may stand unable to find a solution. he sometimes may find it difficult to understand certain matter or some of his students may ask him a question but he cannot find an answer for it. in this regard, the teacher may have several options: he may think deeply to find an answer, or may apologize and this is good because the teacher in this case will not speak about things which he doesn't know. but some teachers may speak and answer the issue without having prior knowledge about it and this is not good because it spoils the ideas of the students rather than correcting them. the teacher may also search for the answer by making researches and reading or by requesting the consultancy of experienced person.

allah the almighty said: {and consult them in the matter}(ali-imran: 159). ibn sa'di said: we should consult others in the matters which need thinking and searching. asking for consultancy has several benefits such as: the consultancy enlightens our thinking and guides us to the right opinion. the one who consults will rarely commit mistakes, and even if he commits mistake, he will not be blamed. allah the almighty told his prophet, although he has the most perfect human mind {and consult them in the matter}, so, how about others?

1- ibn abbas, may allah be pleased with him, said: when this verse was revealed {and consult them in the matter}, the prophet, peace be upon him, said: "allah the almighty and his prophet are in no need for consultancy, but allah made it as a mercy for my people; therefore, the one who consults will be guided to the right and the one who does not consult may fall in the wrong".

this hadith demonstrates how taking consultancy supports to reach the truth and how leaving consultancy may lead to committing mistakes; therefore, it is better for each teacher to ask for consultancy from experienced persons regarding any problematic issue in order to find the truth, avoid mistakes and get rid of the pride which may prevent him from asking others. the teacher should ask about anything not known by him without feeling disregard; contrary, asking about unknown things is considered a sign of wisdom and logic.

summary:

1) consultancy helps the teacher in solving the problematic issues.

2) asking consultancy is not a sign of disregard or disrespect; contrary, it is a sign of wisdom and logic.

taking consultancy from others helps to reach the truth and avoid mistakes.

Avoiding the Use of Bad Language

using a foul language, swearing, cursing and mocking others are hateful attributes. any decent person with a benevolent kind spirit would detest such shameful attitudes. the teacher should be a role model for his students who look up to him. if the teacher is characterized by one these negative attributes then it would be a major vice in his character. if the teacher possesses all those unpleasant traits, it would be a major disaster because students get affected by their teacher whether positively or negatively. if the teacher has such personality, what would we expect his students to be like?! the point is that cursing, uttering a foul language and mocking degrades and contaminates the nature of the human, it breaks the morale, corrupts the spirits and tongues and leads to mutual hostility etc. what was mentioned above is on one hand of the issue. on the other hand, what makes it even more serious is that those bad attitudes are religiously prohibited and their doers are sinners and deemed to be punished by almighty allah.

explanation:

mockery


almighty allah says: “o you who believe! let not a group scoff at another group, it may be that the latter are better than the former; nor let (some) women scoff at other women, it may be that the latter are better than the former, nor defame one another, nor insult one another by nicknames. how bad is it, to insult one's brother after having faith [i.e. to call your muslim brother (a faithful believer) as: "o sinner", or "o wicked", etc.]. and whosoever does not repent, then such are indeed zalimun (wrong-doers, etc.). (suratal-hujurat: 11). the words of allah “let not a group scoff at another group” means any kind of ridicule whether with words, actions or deeds that despise his muslim brother or fellow human. it is a sinful prohibited deed that most likely reflects self-admiration. mockery is an attitude that comes from a heart full of the worst manners and intentions and void of benevolence. the prophet muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “it is enough of evil for a person to hold his brother muslim in contempt. all of a muslim is inviolable to another muslim: his blood, his wealth and his honor.” (recorded by muslim: 2564)


cursing and abuse:


narrated by abdullah ibn-mas'oud: the prophet (pbuh) said, "abusing a muslim is fusuq (an evil doing) and killing him is kufr (disbelief)." (sahih al-bukhary, the book of faith, hadith number: 48). this hadith reinforces the right of a muslim of not to be insulted as anyone who does such act without a reason or right would be committing fusuq (depravity).


 


narrated by anas bin malik: the prophet (pbuh) was not one who would abuse (others) or say obscene words, or curse (others), and if he wanted to admonish anyone of us, he used to say: "what is wrong with him, his forehead be dusted!" (sahih al-bukhary, the book of good manners, hadith number: 6100)


 


narrated by abu’d-darda’: the prophet (pbuh) said, “the cursers will not be intercessors or witnesses on the resurrection day”. (sahih muslim, hadith number: 2598).


this is a proof of the punishment of an abuser or curser due to the massive negative consequences of their wrong doing. all what has been mentioned is enough evidence for those who have been granted sound understanding and judgment from almighty allah.

obscenity and foul language


narrated by abdullah ibn masoud: the prophet (pbuh) said, “a believer is not a slanderer, a curser, an abuser, nor an impudent man.” [recorded by at-tirmidhy (no. 1977) and corrected by al albani]


conclusion:

the above dispraised traits offend other people and hurt them.


mocking others is a kind of contempt and disrespect towards them. it causes animosity and hatred. if a teacher has such negative characteristic, it would be a shame.


cursing is a repulsive attitude and the consequence is punishment to the curser if he does not repent to allah. uttering a foul language proves a contaminated nature and an impure intention.

Patience and the Possibility of Anger

patience semantically means prevention and confinement. it is a quality that can only be obtained by highly motivated people with pure spirits. anger is an inner rebellion that makes the person imbalanced. it leads him to misjudgment and the inability to differentiate between right and wrong. anger is a negative trait except when it is for the sake of allah as the prophet muhammad (peace be upon him) used to do. he did not get angry for something personal and never avenged for himself. he only got angry when sanctities of allah were violated.

the relation between what we said above about patience and education is the necessity of patience quality for the teacher. he deals with students of different natures and thoughts, some of them are good and others are bad. other missions of the teacher also include preparation of lessons, assessing and correcting tests and teaching during most of the daily classes, in addition to many other duties that are demanded from the teacher. all what was mentioned require patience and tolerance from the teacher. this patience is not easy to be attained as a quality, as it needs much practice till it becomes a second nature in the teacher. impatience of the teacher leads to facing a critical situation and embarrassment especially if it happens during teaching. the teacher deals with different mentalities in terms of perception, recognition, understanding and response etc. for example, the instructor can be teaching for a long time, and then a student may ask him trivial or irrelevant questions. he can even be in a situation when one of his students is sleeping or smiling while he is delivering the lesson. it can even be more shocking to the teacher when some of his students utter an offending or bad word to him. this is not strange or unexpected as students are different in nature, understanding and perception etc.

holding and controlling anger is a point of strength in the character of the teacher. it is not a sign of weakness at all, especially if the teacher is able and has the capacity to do what he wants to. abu huraira reported that the prophet muhammad (bpuh) said in this regard:  "the strong is not the one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the strong is the one who controls himself while in anger." (sahih al-bukhary, the book of good manners, hadith number: 6182, narrated by: abu-huraira). this kind of strength is reflected in the actions and sayings of the prophet muhammad (pbuh). he was the strongest human for he was the best controller of anger.

narrated by anas bin malik: “while i was walking with the prophet who was wearing a najrani outer garment with a thick hem, a bedouin came upon the prophet and pulled his garment so violently that i could recognize the impress of the hem of the garment on his shoulder, caused by the violence of his pull. then the bedouin said, "order for me something from allah's fortune which you have." the prophet turned to him and smiled, and ordered that a gift be given to him.” (sahih al-bukhary, the book of one-fifth of war booty, hadith number: 3185, narrated by: anas ibn-malik).

imam nuri commented on the hadith saying: it teaches to be patient with the ignorant and to avoid dealing with him in the same attitude, rather to respond to the bad manner with good manner. as for me i would say that no matter how bad the manners of a student to the teacher, it would certainly be a lot lesser than that of the bedouin to the prophet (pbuh)!!

 narrated by ibn mas'ud (may allah be pleased with him): once allah's apostle divided and distributed (the war booty). a man from al ansar said, "by allah! muhammad, by this distribution, did not intend to please allah." so i came to allah's apostle and informed him about it whereupon his face became changed with anger and he said, "may allah bestow his mercy on moses for he was hurt with more than this, yet he remained patient." (sahih al-bukhary, the book of good manners, hadith number: 6128, narrated by: abdullah ibn-mas'oud).


as for the effect of anger on the body, tongue, organs and heart, imam ghazali says in his major work “ihya 'ulum al-din” (the revival of religious sciences):

“some of the outer signs of anger are change of color, trembling limbs, unorganized reactions, disturbed movement and incoherent talking. this becomes clear in the face of the angry person. if an angry person sees his look while he is furious, he would have calmed down because of embarrassment. the effect of anger on the tongue is uttering obscene offending words which make any reasonable person ashamed when he relaxes and frees himself from anger. the mad person may also express the bad language in a disordered stammering manner. the effect of anger on organs is hitting, attacking, tearing, murdering and wounding when the angry person is under the influence of wrath. as for the effect of it on the heart, it causes animosity, envy, evil plotting, exulting over the opponent when he faces a plight or turmoil.

to heal anger we should resort to the divine and prophetic cure: the divine cure is remembering allah’s reward and praise on those who repress their anger, but not in resentment but rather in contentment to the degree of forgiving the wrongdoer angry person. almighty allah says: “those who spend [in allah's cause - deeds of charity, alms, etc.] in prosperity and in adversity, who repress anger, and who pardon men; verily, allah loves al-muhsinun (the good-doers)”(surat ali imran: 134)

as for the prophetic cure, the prophet muhammad (pbuh) treated anger in many ways, he teaches muslims to:

1) say “i seek refuge in allah from the cursed satan”

2) be silent and not to talk, as talking may lead the angry person to more wrath which would definitely make him err.

3) if the angry person is standing he should sit, and if he is still angry he should lay down.

4) to make wudu (ablution) like when he does for prayers, as water extinguishs anger like it does with fire.

ali ibn-thabit said:

the mind becomes ruined by self-admiration and anger

the money runs out by wastefulness and stealing

of all the enemies i have experienced

i have never seen a worse enemy than anger

conclusion:

patience is a strong element for the teacher’s success.


anger is an inner rebellion, imbalance and lack of recognition. the consequences of anger are destructive.


the skillfulness of the teacher lies in absorbing, repressing anger and controlling his nerves.


progression and practice grants the teacher strength and capacity to repress anger.


taking the initiative by curing anger when it occurs, the best healing is following the heavenly and prophetic cure.

The Teacher's sense of Humor

it is well known that scientific subjects are of a harsh nature. they require mental and psychological attentiveness. students concentrate and utilize all their senses to absorb the scientific lessons instructed by the teacher. no matter how skillful and professional the teacher is, the minds of the students have certain capacities in receiving information. that is why it is important to incorporate humor in the class so that to avoid boredom that might arise due to the continual instruction of scientific subjects.

one of the benefits of using humor in classes from time to time is preventing weariness and tiredness. it relaxes the mind and senses after paying too much attention while listening to the teacher. humor is also good for the teacher to have some quick rest from teaching. it refreshes the mind and sharpens the senses to be able to receive more information. humor loosens the atmosphere of the class that might have been dry...etc.

imam an-nawawy said: “the condemned kind of joking is the excessive exaggerated one. too much laughing can harden the heart and keeps off doing dhikr (the rememberance of allah) and thinking in relgious duties and matters. many times it turns from joking to mocking which causes harms and grudges. it might also make the joking person look disrespectful and less in status. the kind of humour that is encouraged is what allah’s apostole (peace be upon him) used in gatherings to be smiling and kind to soften the hearts of listeners. it is a recommended sunnah (the prophet’s tradition). so, this kind of humour is what is recommended and higly needed among us.

imam ghazali says in his major work “ihyaa’ 'ulum ad-din” (the revival of religious sciences): if you can do what allah’s apostle (pbuh) and his companions did which is to joke without telling a lie or harm a heart, without exaggeration and using humor only in gatherings, then no problem with that. a great mistake is to take humor as a profession and exaggerating in telling jokes, and then the person mistakenly thinks he is following the prophets’ example.

it was reported that the prophet muhammad (pbuh) joked with his household and companions. we will mention here a number of these situations if allah wills:

abu huraira-may allah be pleased with him- reported that they said: “messenger of allah, you make jokes with us!” he replied “except that i say nothing but the truth.” (at-tirmidhy and corrected by al albani)


imam ahmad reported from anas- may allah be pleased with him- that there was a man from the desert people whose name was zahir. he used to bring gifts from the desert to the prophet (pbuh), and in return the prophet (pbuh) would provide him with whatever he needed when he went out to fight. the prophet (pbuh) said, "zahir is our man of the desert, and we are his town-dwellers." the prophet (pbuh) loved him very much, and he (zahir) was an ugly man. one day the prophet (pbuh) came to him whilst he was selling some goods. he embraced him from behind. the man could not see him, so he said, "let me go! who is this?" then he turned around and recognized the prophet (pbuh), so he tried to move closer to him once he knew who it was. the prophet (pbuh) started to say, "who will buy this slave?" zahir said, "o messenger of allah, you will find me unsellable." the prophet (pbuh) said, "but in the sight of allah the almighty you are not unsellable," or he said, "but in the sight of allah you are valuable." (at-tirmidhy and corrected by al albani)


anas reported that once a man asked the prophet (pbuh) for an animal to ride. he replied that he would give him the baby of a she-camel to ride on. the man asked what he would do with a she-camel baby because of his weight. the prophet (pbuh) replied, "is there any camel which is not born of a she-camel?" (all camels are the babies of a mother camel, even adult camels). (at-tirmidhy and corrected by al albani)


conclusion:

the positive effect of humor on easing the academic atmosphere and ending the boredom of students.


not to exaggerate with joking so that things do not get out of control in the class which makes it useless and of no point to students.


too much joking makes the person less in status and disrespectful.


when we joke, we should only tell the truth and not to lie.


not to offend or hurt any student while joking.