CONCEPT OF TEACHER IN ISLAM

Joey Farah Raudah Yana Hawa

 The usual approach in Muslim schools is to employ separate teachers for Islamic Studies. These are not the main class teachers whose role is to teach all other subjects. This only serves to strengthen this dichotomy of Islamic and Secular education. If a child perceives that all other knowledge is taught by their main class teacher and that a special ustadh comes in to teach them Islam, they will quickly believe that learning about Islam is only for some special people whilst all other knowledge is for everyone.

 She must understand that this is her primary task in teaching, further she must have the necessary knowledge and skills to achieve this.
It is not enough that such a teacher should be well read in Islamic material, or that he should possess an insight into Islamic beliefs and fundamental judgments. In addition he must be endowed with two essential qualities. Firstly, he should have true academic and intellectual capacity; that is he should have a good grounding in the sciences of Islam and should be well read in the general culture of Islam. Secondly, he should have the moral ability to be able to educate his pupils in such a way that they will become fully aware of the perfect accord between their teachers words and his actual behaviour. [Teacher Training The Islamic Perspective, M. Zafar Iqbal, 1996]

 Teachers in Islam are given a number of different titles such as shaykh, or alim in Arabic and mullah or hoja in Persian and Turkish. A teacher is often also a legal scholar (faqih), a specialist in prophetic traditions (muhaddith), a jurisconsult (mufti), a judge (qadi), or mystic (sufi). Many teachers are polymaths who excel in more than one of these positions.

 Whatever their title or area of expertise, teachers in the Muslim world are beloved and respected. The status and role of teachers in Islam is rooted in the Quranic concept of knowledge and its importance. The first verses said to have been revealed to the Prophet Muhammad contain the command Read! (Quran 96:1) and also delcare that God teaches humanity by the pen (96:4). Studying and promulgating knowledge, especially religious knowledge, is portrayed as a community responsibility that is an important part of mobilizing for the cause of God (9:122). The Prophetic traditions (ha-dith) also emphasize the importance of knowledge. Popular sayings attributed to the Prophet

 Muhammad tell Muslims that seeking knowledge is an obligation for believing men and women even if that means traveling to China. These ideals have led Muslims to travel in search of knowledge to study with various teachers throughout the world. Such a journey was historically called a riha in Arabic.

 Students would study in public or private madrasas, institutions of advanced religious learning, or in private seminars. In both madrasas and private study circles, learning was always very personalized. Throughout the early and medieval periods, students read to (qara ala) and heard material from (samaa) their teachers. Teachers would formally certify students who had mastered their subjects. The certification (ijaza) was personally inscribed by the teacher on the topic a student had mastered, and it granted the student permission to teach the material. In many cases, the topic was the work of the teacher himself. Many of the works of Islams great early teachers were passed on in this way by their students. In other cases, students were certified to teach topics their teachers had mastered under the instruction of their own teachers.

 The importance of the student/teacher relationship is evident in Islamic biographical dictionaries that contain sketches of Muslims spanning centuries and covering much of the Muslim world. An important element in such biographies is the list of an individuals teachers and students. The teachers roleas described by the thirteenth-century mystic Nasir al-Din al-Qunawiis to offer glimmers of illumination in a dark world (Renard 201). The ideal of a students respect for and devotion to his teacher is perhaps best illustrated by the eleventh-century Persian teacher, jurist, and mystic, Ayn-al-Qudat Hamadani, who admonished students to attend the sandals of teachers; he considered such devotion to teachers more important than service to the ruler (Safi 187).

 Teachers are exemplars: Teachers are indisputably their pupils none such exemplars. Pupils acquire the good traits and sound trends, as well as the virtuous behavior and equanimity, from their teachers whose guidance and conducts penetrate to their hearts. On that account, teachers must overdiscipline themselves and train on virtuous and noble morals and manners to be the best exemplars of their pupils.

Summary
Islam has paid considerable attention to teachers for their being the first brick in the structure of social development and perfection and the cause of guiding and developing behaviours and mentalities of individuals and communities. The Prophet cared for teachers and showed their elevated standings. Once, he passed by two circles of people; the first was supplicating to God while the other listening to a teacher. He commented, The first is begging God who may or may not give them. The second was learning. I have been sent as teacher. Hence, he joined the second. This is the best example of the Prophets encouraging education and teaching.