Teach Like Rasul: Make Things Easy -

Prophet Muhammad shallallahu alaihi wassalam is the best role model for us. Not only in our worship to Allah, but also in our interaction with other people. As teachers, this includes our interaction with our students.

There are so many reasons that urge us to follow his footsteps in teaching, even my article Teach Like Rasul: A Big Why will never sufficiently cover all of them. This article is the second in the Teach Like Rasul series (So sorry for the time delay) that summarizes what I read from the book Rasulullah the Teacher by author Abdul Fattah Abu Ghuddah. In this article I will explain one Hadith related to the Prophet as teacher.

The first Hadith came from his wife ‘Aisyah radhiaallahuanha. The hadith was written in Kitab Ath-Thalaq (the Book of Divorce) in Shahih Muslim.

One day, the wives of Rasulullah demanded something that Rasul could not provide. Rasulullah shallallahu alaihi wassalam stayed away from them for several days because of that. Few days later, Rasulullah shallallahu alaihi wassalam came to ‘Aisyah radhiyallahu anha and gave her two options: to choose him or the worldly pleasure (get divorced). Of course, ‘Aisyah radhiyallahu anha chose to come back to him, but asking him not to tell other wives about her choice. Then Rasul said to ‘Aisyah:

“Allah did not send me to be harsh, or cause harm, but He has sent me to teach and make things easy.”

This beautiful story shows us, not only how to resolve problems between husband and wife, but also three other aspects that I would like to point out related with our duty as a teacher.

1. Rasul declare himself as a teacher

It is so beautiful when Rasulullah shallallahu alaihi wassalam declared himself as a teacher. And he said that this role as a teacher is assigned by the Most Gracious Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Owner of the Universe. “.. He (Allah) has sent me to teach…”

2. Speaking soft, even when correcting students

“Allah did not send me to be harsh, or cause harm…” Rasulullah shallallahu alaihi wasallam always speaks softly to everybody. Even to a person who made a mistake. It is an order from Allah, and also it must become the nature of Muslims. So, when we meet a student that makes a mistake, we must prevent ourselves from causing harm such as beating or speaking harshly. We must say softly to the student,”I am here to teach you.. I am here to help you…”

3. Make things easy

“.. He has sent me to teach and make things easy.” This phrase is especially mind-blowing for me. I have been thinking about what should be my purpose in teaching to students. For most students, physics is not an easy subject at all. Forcing them to study physics, let alone mastering the subject, most of the time becomes nonsense. Not all students are interested in physics, and not all students will need high level physics in their future life (although it is not clear what people will need in the future). But the fact is that they must survive the school system. So, what I can do as a teacher is try to make things easy for them. Try to explain physics easier, listen to them, and accommodate their needs as best as I can.

The hadith is actually pretty long. If you know Arabic, and study the complete version, I believe you can get more than those three points I mentioned. That’s all for this post. Have you heard about the hadith or if you have opinions about it, feel free to write your thoughts in the comment form below. See you in the next post.

Teach Like Rasul