Driving transformational change is the most difficult of tasks, but the most rewarding. If we take the two Ahadith that are quoted on this subject, in one Rasoolullahﷺ said: وَإِنَّمَا بُعِثْتُ مُعَلِّمًا and in the other: بُعِثْتُ لِأُتَمِّمَ حُسْنَ الْأَخْلَاقِ
We can say from these two that he was sent as a teacher to transform society. Allahﷻ called the teacher – Rasoolullahﷺ His blessing on the people. We write books to be read. Allahﷻ’s Book came to be taught. Not simply to be read and understood according to the capacity of the reader. The Book was sent to the teacher. The teacher to the people, to teach them to live the Book.
تَبَارَكَ ٱلَّذِى نَزَّلَ ٱلْفُرْقَانَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِۦ لِيَكُونَ لِلْعَـٰلَمِينَ نَذِيرًا
Furqan 25: 1 Blessed is the One Who sent down the Standard to His servant, so that he may be a warner to the whole world.
Which explains the role and critical importance of the teacher as the medium between the message and the recipient…it was a verbal message. Without the Messengerﷺ we cannot understand the message. There is no Sahabi on record who claimed to understand the Qur’an on his own without the agency of Rasoolullahﷺ. For example, Aboo Bakr (RA) one time said, “What earth would give me place to live and what sky would shade me if I should speak about the Qur’an with my opinion or by something I do not know.” `Umar ibn al Khattaab (RA), also said, “Beware of using your opinion in religious matters.” Ibn `Abbaas (RA), the one who Rasoolullahﷺ made dua, for him to understand the Qur’an, to get the understanding of the Deen, and to be given by Allahﷻ the Ta’weel or the understanding of the Qur’an, he also said, “All that there is to follow and obey is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messengerﷺ. Whoever makes any statement after these two according to his opinion, then I do not know if you’ll find it among his good deeds or among his sins.” This is the style of Ibn `Abbaas (RA), meaning that even if what you did looks like something good, you will find it among your sins.
This humility and turning to the teacher with humbleness are fundamental conditions of learning. That is why Allahﷻ gave Rasoolullahﷺ four related tasks which are a Teacher’s Checklist. Tilawatil Qur’an, Tazkiyyatun Nafs, Taaleem ul Quran, Hikma. Inform, Purify, Explain, Wisdom. This is the key to teaching anything. WHAT > PREPARE > HOW > WHY.
That is why in our tradition of scholarship whenever any scholar is mentioned, they don’t ask how many followers he/she has but who their teachers are. Followers, especially in today’s world of virtual followers, mean nothing and add no value to you. On the contrary, popularity is a big test of Ikhlaas and a slide into Ar-Riya (Shirk) for the unwary, when the person starts believing what people say about him. That is why I advise myself to look in the mirror. It is teachers who add real value. A person without teachers in Deen remains ignorant. The teacher is critical to learning. That is how the Sahaba are distinguished, and recognized and blessed because of their teacher, Rasoolullahﷺ and not vice versa.
We recognize the importance of the teacher in all bodies of knowledge that impact lives. Nobody becomes a pilot or surgeon or physician by reading books on aerodynamics or surgery, pharmacology or physiology. Reading is important but to qualify, the student must practice under the guidance of a teacher until the teacher is satisfied. Not the student. But when it comes to sacred knowledge that impacts not only the life of this world but much more importantly, the Aakhira, we imagine that reading some books, watching some videos, some pseudo-intellectual discussion, we have become experts and set ourselves up as teachers. I remind myself and you that as in life, so also with Allahﷻ, when you become a teacher, the rules change. You become accountable and culpable. Students are excused. Not teachers. So, be careful.
Reading is important but it takes you only to the first step, Information. To truly benefit, we need the human agency of the teacher. We need humility to go to the teacher, accept that we need to learn and put ourselves under his tutelage. Develop the attitude to enable learning. Accept that we do not know. Accept that the teacher has something of value to impart which we desperately need and cannot get except from the teacher. Accept that it is OUR need to learn and not the teacher’s need to teach us. Be like a patient going to the doctor. You feel the pain. You need to get relief from the pain. You need the doctor. The doctor doesn’t need you. If you don’t get to a doctor, you will die. In the case of spiritual illness, you will suffer endlessly in the Aakhira.
The doctor is doing you a favor by giving you his time and sharing his knowledge and prescribing medicine. So be humble, be eager to learn, be grateful. Learn the Adaab of learning before you try to learn Islam. Adaab are the password into the Database. Without that you may own the Database, but you will not have access to it. Allahﷻ said about Rasoolullahﷺ:
لَقَدْ مَنَّ ٱللَّهُ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ بَعَثَ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ يَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَإِن كَانُوا۟ مِن قَبْلُ لَفِى ضَلَـٰلٍ مُّبِينٍ
A’al Imraan 3: 164 Indeed, Allah has done the believers a ˹great˺ favor by raising a messenger from among them—reciting to them His revelations, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom. For indeed they had previously been clearly astray (misguided, ignorant).
Allahﷻ emphasized two things; the fact that the sending of His Messengerﷺ who was human, is a double blessing and that before the coming of the Messengerﷺ the believers had been misguided. This is the most certain evidence that guidance is only in the way of and through Muhammadﷺ and that all other ways that do not come from him or bypass him are misguided.
It is critical that we do three things: Believe IN Muhammadﷺ, Believe Muhammadﷺ (whatever he told us) and follow him (obey and emulate – Ita’at wa Ittiba). All three are critical to being Muslim. That is the foundation. Allahﷻ sent Rasoolullahﷺ with four connected duties.
Another way to understand this is to see these four as progressive stages of teaching and learning. Four steps to Jannah. These four are: Recite, Purify, Teach, Demonstrate. For the audience, these steps would be: Listen, Submit, Learn, Practice. These four are not independent of each other but a continuum like a staircase which takes you to the top. We must experience each of these to benefit. If we leave out a stage, we will fail. Let’s see how that works.
Listening is different from hearing. Listening implies a level of interest, a relationship and an effect of the words. Imagine you are a mother with an infant, who is sleeping in the next room, while you are with some guests in the living room. Your child makes a little sound. Will you hear it? What will it do to your heart? Will you continue your conversations or instantly get up and go to the infant? Now listen here: (Ayatul Kursi). What happened? If nothing happened, then you didn’t listen. You only heard. The Sahaba listened, that is why the Qur’an changed their lives. We only hear, so it does nothing. That is the first step. Learn to listen. Learn to monitor your heart to see the effect of the Qur’an. Allahﷻ mentioned the condition of our hearts and responsiveness to His Word as the criteria of true believers. Not how much or how well we can recite the Qur’an. But when we teach or learn the Qur’an, what do we concentrate on? What do we monitor? What do we examine our students on? And most importantly, do we question ourselves about our own condition?
This shows how skewed our focus is. This must change as Allahﷻ said:
إِنَّمَا ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ ٱلَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ ٱللَّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـٰتُهُۥ زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَـٰنًا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ
ٱلَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَـٰهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ
أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ حَقًّا لَّهُمْ دَرَجَـٰتٌ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ وَرِزْقٌ كَرِيمٌ
Anfaal 8:2-4 The ˹true˺ believers are only those whose hearts tremble at the remembrance of Allah, whose faith increases when His revelations are recited to them, and who put their trust in their Rabb. ˹They are˺ those who establish prayer and donate from what We have provided for them. It is they who are the true believers. They will have elevated ranks, forgiveness, and an honorable provision from their Rabb.
We must listen. We must monitor the effect of the Kalaam of Allahﷻ on our hearts. Then we must change our lives to make them compatible with what Allahﷻ wants from us. That is why we have the story of Abdullah ibn Omar (RA) who took 8 years to memorize Sura Al-Baqara and then gave a Walima to celebrate. When he was asked why it took him so long, he said, “This is how the Sahaba learnt the Qur’an from Rasoolullahﷺ. We would take 10 Ayaat, memorize them, reflect on them, practice what is mentioned in them, clarify any doubts and only when we were satisfied would we go for the next 10.” The Sahaba learnt the Qur’an to practice. To live by it.
They didn’t learn the Qur’an for entertainment or to debate or intellectualize or for any reason other than to listen and obey. To practice it in their lives and to modify and mould their lives according to it. The Qur’an came as the spoken word. It affected hearts and minds and transformed lives. It still has the same power. But only for those who approach it as the Sahaba approached it. We changed that approach and so we got nothing. That is why Allahﷻ called the whole life of Rasoolullahﷺ, not only his words, an excellent example.
لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِى رَسُولِ ٱللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱلْيَوْمَ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَ وَذَكَرَ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرًا
Ahzab 33: 21 Indeed, in the Messenger of Allah you have an excellent example for whoever has hope in Allah and the Last Day and remembers Allah a great deal.
Allahﷻ caused the blessed life of Rasoolullahﷺ to be carefully preserved to the smallest detail by those who loved him more than their own lives, so that those who came after could practice every little detail in their own lives. From the appearance of Rasoolullahﷺ, his likes and dislikes, his facial expressions on different occasions, to the way he cut his nails, what the soles of his feet were like, how much water he used for Wudhu, how and what he ate and drank, slept, walked and talked, how he treated friends and enemies, how he administered justice, how he behaved in all kinds of situations, have all been carefully preserved. All of them are the recipe for a life and success that has no parallel in place and time. We have the blueprint and the field book. We just need to follow it to succeed. Allahﷻ commanded:
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ ٱللَّهَ فَٱتَّبِعُونِى يُحْبِبْكُمُ ٱللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَٱللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
A’al Imraan 3: 31 Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “If you ˹sincerely˺ love Allah, then follow (emulate) me; Allah will love you and forgive your sins. For Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
Emulation is the sincerest expression of love. Not speech but emulation, imitation. So, it is not how many Nasheeds we know or can sing which makes a difference. It is whether we emulated Rasoolullahﷺ or not. Whether our appearance, behavior, dealings, manners, and above all, the why we do anything – our motivations, which Allahﷻ will look at. Emulation is independent of directive and includes everything. Little children emulate their parents. People emulate so-called ‘Influencers’, most of whom are case studies in what NOT to do. People buy what Brand ambassadors tell them to buy, knowing full well that the Brand ambassadors are paid to say it. I say to you, my brothers and sisters, we must follow, so follow Muhammadﷺ because the reward is that Allahﷻ will love us. Reflect on this statement of Allahﷻ’s that He will love the one who emulates; not only obeys but emulates, His Messengerﷺ. Think about this. Feel it in your heart. What does it mean to be someone who Allahﷻ loves? What is the benefit of that. The one who truly loves, doesn’t do it for the benefit or even thinks of the benefit. But I say, start anywhere, but do it because that is the road to Jannah.
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