To teach or to not teach?
31 03 2007
This is the first post I ever wrote, but never posted it because I was unsure of myself. I think I will now and its to my own teacher:
‘Teach’ is one of the words I’m uncomfortable with because I feel its misused.
By ‘teach’ we generally mean to convey a thought or method from one being to another. Teaching is really a two-way street. For it to work there must be a message that is conveyed in such a way that it can be understood, and a mind and heart that can receive the message with clarity and locate it in a wider understanding of the world.
Neither of these is guaranteed, oftentimes one or the other is flawed, but I claim to teach.
As a teacher I claim to teach students every day. Every day I wonder how much they are actually learning from me. No doubt they are picking up some knowledge and skills, and they are learning much more than they *might* if they weren’t in a classroom, but how much of this will they actually carry with them into the future? How deeply has this knowledge actually sunk into their minds and hearts?
These sentiments are undoubtedly shaped by my present circumstances and past experiences. I am new to the teaching profession and I have had some of the best learning experiences which don’t compare to those I provide for my own students.
Much of the learning I have ever done happened through experience. It didn’t happen through one or two lessons in a classroom or by memorizing the lines from a book or a teacher. By experience I mean living with or living in a situation where I can freely observe and absorb information, and can work things out for myself.Â
Allah 
’s messengers and prophets (AS) were men who taught gradually, with examples, and catered their messages to the experiences and qualities of their companions. This was experiential learning. This is how their companions came to understand their deen.
Students may learn when I teach, but do I really teach? There is a Chinese proverb that says, ‘to teach is to learn.’ More than any subject material, I am realizing very quickly that teaching is a far greater feat than I ever thought it would be.  Â
jazaakumullahu khayran for sharing your insights. please continue, and please keep us in your du’aa.
assalamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu,
wa iyyakum. I was just about to take this down…
Assalamualaykum
SubhanAllah you just put my entire outlook on teaching into words :)
I’m an islamic studies teacher, and I usually get alot of harsh words for my teaching methods of preferable experience than “teaching”.
JazakumAllah Khair for the insight its nice to read another teachers reflections :)
Ma’assalam
Assalamu Alaikum
I suggest you read the book Prophet Muhammad
, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam: The Teacher and His Teaching Methodologies by Shaykh Abu Ghuddah Abdul Fattah.
http://www.albalagh.net/bookstore/?action=view&item=0721
It is a wonderful book discussing general aspects of Rasulullah’s Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam teaching and different ways in which he taught. A lot of very practical advice that has worked on us as students in modern age.
# 24. Rasulullah, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, repeats his words three times in order to emphasise his subject matter
# 9. Rasulullah, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, teaches by similes and examples
Thank you very much for the recommendation! I will definitely check it out insha Allah
!