Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Methods of teaching by Rasulullah (peace be upon him)

Assalamualaykum,

I was reading The Noble Life of The Prophet (peace be upon him) and I came across Rasulullah's methods of teaching to his companions.

One method for sure that all of us students would realize is the amount of time the teacher would spend to explain in which if it's too draggy, it could make the students bored. Well, Rasulullah (peace be upon him) was also moderate in his teaching. He chose an appropriate time and place to teach. The companions were normal human beings like us, i.e we tend to get bored or sleepy if we listen to a lecture for too long. When Rasulullah (peace be upon him) speaks, he spoke for a moderate length of time, fearing that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with all of them) would become restless. Ibn Mas'ood once said, "Rasulullah (peace be upon him) would carefully choose the day to advise us (i.e he (peace be upon him) would not do so everyday; instead he (peace be upon him) would choose the appropriate time and place to speak), fearing that we would become bored."

There are many methods that Rasullullah (peace be upon him) implemented but one method that caught my interest is Bringing Students to the Point where their Attention is Aroused (as the book points out). This means by talking about a topic that could engage the student's attention and then relate it with an important facts or truth. An example of this is as a narration related by Jaabir ibn Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him). The story is like this:

One day, Rasulullah (peace be upon him) passed by the marketplace, entering from an 'Aaliyah (one of the highlands of Al-Madeenah), and the people were standing to his side. He (peace be upon him) passed by a dead baby goat whose ears were small. Rasulullah (peace be upon him) picked it up and took hold of its ear. He (peace be upon him) then said, "Who among you would love to have this for a dirham?" Surprised, they answered, "We would not want to have it for any price. And what would we do with it?" Rasulullah (peace be upon him) said, "Would you love to have it?" They said, "By Allah, even it were alive, it would be (considered) defective, for it has small ears? Then what can it be worth when it is dead?" Rasulullah (peace be upon him) said, "Then by Allah, the world is more insignificant to Allah than this (dead baby goat) is to you."

Isn't it amazing the way Rasulullah (peace be upon him) taught his companions?? His main message was to tell us about the greatness of Allah that He is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Nourisher for His Creations. Without Him, we would be nothing. Allah doesn't need anything from this world as He doesn't benefit from it but He does what He wishes and what He wills. Just as how we look at the dead goat with a small ear. It worth nothing to us as for your information, we are not allowed to sell goat with defectives, like in this case a smaller ear than the other.

These are some of the methods that Rasulullah (peace be upon him) used to teach his Companions. Let's pray that Allah send blessings and peace upon our beloved Rasulullah (peace be upon him).

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