Perhaps you will ask, “How can the student and the teacher be travelers on the road of the Example of the Prophet and adhere to what is required of this community of faith?” The interrelationship between the teacher’s instruction and the pupil’s study comes down to this: The Prophetic Example as regards the student’s investigation requires that, in matters of specific legal duty, he put his trust in the most knowledgeable and God-fearing teacher he can find. As regards the teacher’s instruction, the Prophetic Example enjoins kindness toward the student, a genial disposition toward him, and the most eloquent instruction the teacher can give. Even in matters that do not involve specific legal requirements the Prophetic Example presupposes that the intention of both teacher and student is sincere, and that they avoid forbidden and reprehensible actions, and that they not take liberties in meeting the external requirements of the Revealed Law. If they should go against any of those requirements and think they have performed a good deed, then they are innovators and their opinion is heresy, for it is not consistent with the way of our ancestors in the faith. If, on the other hand, they acknowledge their sins and desire to be saved from them, but merely lack the capacity, then they are not innovators but disobedient people who have set aside the more excellent course of action.
Here are some of the more common transgressions of the student. He might study with someone who is fond of having a great throng of followers, or against whom there is some evidence, or who allows reprehensible things to go unchecked in his classes. These latter may include slander, fighting, posturing, contentiousness, and shouting, either in the mosque or in the course of listening to Traditions of the Prophet, God bless him and give him peace. They may also include contradicting one of the religious scholars in a belligerent way, hurting a fellow student by false accusation, breach of propriety, refusing to abide by the view of the majority, and other things of this sort. In general terms, this includes unkind behavior by harassing him with questions or contradicting what he says, or lording it over one’s peers and fellow students, or mistreating in word or action those nearby in the class, or thinking badly of them, and so forth.
As for the teacher, he may fail by accepting students whose minds are clearly subject to impure intention or evil thoughts. Indeed it is precisely the lack of regard for this matter that accounts for much of the corruption in our time. The teacher may also err by seating himself in a place elevated above his companions without sufficiently cogent reason ; or by being indulgent with bad conduct, whether directed at the teacher or at another student; by failing to speak strictly at times and even ordering a student to leave the class, in accord with the teacher’s understanding of the requirements of the religion; or by favoring the wealthy and the children of this world with places nearest him, to the exclusion of the poor and indigent—an action that is in no way related to religious requirements.
The teacher may also be at fault for not giving students advice when it is appropriate; or for failing to include in his classes the recollection of God Most High, the recitation of verses from His Book and of the Traditions of the Prophet, God bless him and give him peace, and the tradition of the pious; or for not invoking blessing upon the Prophet, God bless him and give him peace, or not invoking God’s forgiveness and mercy and seeking refuge in Him—for these things are explicitly prescribed for all. In fact the teacher ought to make these things the foundation of the class, give careful attention to them, and consider them among the class’s greatest benefits.
Such matters are the surest index of the teacher’s alertness of heart and purity of soul. If he truly possesses an ample portion of the knowledge of certitude and a solid share in the spiritual states of the mystics and the spiritually successful, then he should speak to his students about this precious learning of his to the extent that they are able to grasp it. He should let them see some of his noble spiritual states so that theirs might thereby be strengthened. He should point out to them the interrelationship of the Revealed Law and the Mystic Truth and clarify their understanding of the mysteries of the clearest Path, about which they would like to know. By his interest and by the way he speaks the teacher should prevent the students from giving their attention to all that is novel and ephemeral, and help them realize the meaning of the words of the Prophet, God bless him and give him peace: “The truest verse the poets ever spoke is this: ‘Are not all things empty that have not God in them?’ ”
Such was the way of our devout forefathers in faith and the counsel of our authoritative religious scholars. Anyone who emulates and follows them gains great success in his lifetime and attains everlasting righteousness as a last result in the presence of his Lord. Anyone who turns aside from following that exemplary conduct and parts company with our forefathers has bartered the next world for this world and will incur the wrath of his Master and be subject to the judgment of the word of God Most High: “Say: Shall We tell you who will be the greatest losers in their deeds? Those whose efforts in this life are wayward even while they believe they are doing good” (Qur’ān 18:104-5). And God is our refuge from that.
Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abbād ar-Rundī
Ar-Rasā’il as-Sughrā
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