QUR’ANIC TEACHING

                                                                          QUR’ANIC TEACHING

                   The word al-Qur’an come from Arabic word qara’a which means to read, to recite or to rehearse. It was sent down to the last Prophet, Muhammad s.a.w. through the Angel Jibril a.s. in Arabic language and transmitted to us in its precise wordings and meanings. Allah has guaranteed al-Qur’an will protect by Himself from any corruption until the Last Day as mentioned in Qur’anic ayah (15:9). Therefore, Qur’anic teachings are really encouraging in Islam although we are now moving in modern age full with technology.

                Qur’anic teaching is an occupation which someone as Muslim teaching the knowledge of al-Qur’an to others without counting races, skin color and descendants. This job is “Kareem” because we deliver the knowledge of al-Qur’an for those who cannot read well and for those want to improve his or her recitation. The reason why I choose this topic because one day I want to be qur’anic teacher for those who want to learn with me. In addition, qur’anic teaching is a part of delivering message from the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.. This job looks very easy but actually not because we need a lot of patience during teaching to our students. We also need to be patience through their behavior. Teaching qur’anic knowledge to others is considered as ‘ibadah if we do full of sincerity to Allah S.W.T.

               In our life, we need at least one time we learn with someone who knows qur’anic knowledge. This is because learning with a teacher is also a part of adab in seeking the knowledge. If we learn by ourselves, it likes we learn with shaitan or iblis laknatullah. When we learn qur’anic knowledge with someone who master in this field, we will guarantee safe in Here and Hereafter. If we learn with someone who didn’t know about tajweed, later in Hereafter we will go to Hell Fire. Do we want to go there? Of course not. From that, we need to start learning Qur’anic knowledge from now because like people said, “time is gold”.

                            

        Qur’anic teaching has its own objectives. Firstly, teaching qur’anic knowledge is to make us more discipline in our life. In other words, we will follow all rules and regulations as mentioned in al-Qur’an and as-Sunnah. For example, when the time of Salah comes, we will pray it at the time without delaying it until the time is out. From that, we can see qur’anic teaching makes ourselves discipline even though in the world matter. In addition, qur’anic teaching practices us to recite qur’anic verses correctly. It means instead of teaching, at the same time we also improve our recitation especially during Salah.  When we recite Surah very well in our Salah, it will be accept by Allah S.W.T. With this job, we  will let people to know how to read Arabic terms fluently according to the rules of tajweed. (1)

         Nowadays, we can see the behaviors of youth in our society are very worried. They dare to against the rules and regulations as mentioned in al-Qur’an and Sunnah and also by government. They dare to do zina, taking drugs and others violently. One of the reason is they didn’t get qur’anic knowledge very well from their parents. In statistic, Malay shows  the highest rate of people doing crimes in Malaysia compared to other races. Almost everyday newspaper reports the social problem that occurs among the youth in this country. This is because they are the leader in the future to the country. (2)

         For student context, even though they success in academic and co-curricular activities, but many of them didn’t do their obligations as a Muslim like praying five times of Salah and fasting of Ramadan. This is because many parents of this students are busy with their duty and some of them didn’t want to sent their children to fardhu ‘ayn class. Fardhu ‘ayn is an obligatory knowledge to all Muslims compared to fardhu kifayah which is compulsory to certain people in society. To solve this problem, we need to work together in our society in order to make them as good Muslim. As mentioned in hadith of Rasulullah s.a.w., “seeking knowledge is compulsory for every Muslim”. This means that knowledge is important in our life to make ourselves ‘taqwa’ to Allah S.W.T. (3)

         

                              

This is my true story regarding this topic:

           I have an experience in teaching qur’anic to the primary school students in the place called “Pusat Bimbingan an-Nusyrah” in Kedah. Even though I studied fardhu ‘ayn at the same place, but at the same time I also teach them with the help from my ustaz. His name is Muhd Noor Zahidin Haji Mustaffa. He also the owner of “Pusat Bimbingan an-Nusyrah” or PUBIMAN. I have  been teaching for three years in that place. I started teaching since Form 2. Alhamdulillah, I got the students from various school in Langkawi, Kedah.

             Along three years, they remembered me as “Abang Amir” or “Ustaz Amir”. I also guided them how to read qur’an according to the rules of tajweed like Izhar Halqi, Ikhfa’ Hakiki and others. Teaching them with the rules of tajweed is not easy because some of them cannot recite qur’anic verse very well. I teach them with the full of patience until they can recite well. They also share their feelings with me about learning qur’anic knowledge.

             When I was in Form 5, I decided to quit from teaching because I want to focus on SPM in that year. Even though I haven’t been teaching until now, but my students are always in my memory. I can still remember their names very well. Alhamdulillah, some of them have been success in their life and got the best school in secondary level. I hope I  can teach qur’anic knowledge again in the future. I also want to open my own class and also want to teach Mathematics for students.

              I hope even though I have graduated from International Islamic University of Malaysia or IIUM later, I can get many students compared to the past. When we teach someone, it means we try ourselves good, others good and also the surroundings good. This is because it is a part duty of khalifah on earth. I also hope can meet them again in the future.

          The Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. said, “Balligh anni walau ayah”, means “deliver from me even only one word”. Qur’anic teaching is the part of spreading the knowledge to humankind that was taught by our Prophet s.a.w. This job also has been existing in the time of Nabi s.a.w. and sahabah and it continue until now. According to some Muslim scholars, qur’anic teaching means we teach the knowledge of al-Qur’an and at the same time we try to understand the contents in Qur’an itself. That means we also need to make ourselves and students understand meaning of verses very well.  (1)

           Jean Lave, from University of California, Berkeley said teaching requires reconsideration at many steps of alternative assumptions that might support social understanding of learning from the ground up. Nicholas Kristof said Qur’an has meaning that are often obscure and Muslims are in any case often reluctant to translate or modernize the language, so its meaning is often not accessible to ordinary Muslims. (2)

            In my opinion, qur’anic teaching is the most “kareem” job as the followers of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. When we hold this job, it means we try to prevent people from cannot reciting the qur’an. In addition of that, these jobs also encourage me to memorize the verses in Qur’an. When we deliver more qur’anic knowledge to people, the more reward we will get from Allah S.W.T. as long as we do with sincerity in our heart and not to take reward from people. Before that, we need to ta’aruf with our new students, so we can know each other very well. In addition, we also will know their backgrounds and behavior although they come in different states or country. This is because we need to know whether the students learn with us sincerely or vice versa. We need also to need patience along teaching the students. We also need to make them understand well. (3)

          As a conclusion, qur’anic teaching is the most important job in our society. This is because our society nowadays not takes seriously the importance of learning al-Qur’an and how to recite it. As result, many youths we can see they cannot recite even Qur’anic words when asking by some ustaz and ustazah. Their parents always busy with the world matters until they refuse to send their children to qur’anic classes. (1)             

                       In addition, qur’anic teaching encourages us to understand more on the content in al-Qur’an. It will let to follow what Allah command to us and forbid the sins. We also can easily understand the Arabic words and apply it in our daily life. As we know, Arabic language is the language of heaven or ‘jannah’. When we entering heaven in Hereafter, we will only speak that kind of language. (2)

                        Moreover, qur’anic teaching encourages us and students to memorize the verses in The Holy Book of al-Qur’an. When we can memorize a lot of verses in Qur’an, we will easily get the knowledge what we learn in the class. In other words, we are also easy to understand what we learn although it is the knowledge for this world. My ustaz and teachers in old school also encourage us to memorize a little bit of verses every day. (3)

                       Lastly, delivering qur’anic knowledge prevents us from doing “mungkar” in our daily life. The more we deliver qur’anic knowledge, the more we afraid to do disobedience to Allah S.W.T. As mentioned in al-Qur’an, Surah Ali Imran 3:110, Allah said, “you are the best ummah among all humankind, enjoing what is right, forbidding what is wrong and believing in Allah”. Qur’anic teaching is also part of da’wah in Islam. Da’wah can happen in many ways through the modern technology. We also can put the knowledge of al-Qur’an in the social networking like facebook blog, edmodo and others. When the people see and read it, we will also get the reward from Allah S.W.T. Delivering the knowledge also will increase our confidence in ourselves. (4)

                       

     REFERENCES

1. The Holy Qur’an, Text and Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali; pg.301; 2007
2. Fundamentals of Islamic Thought: God, Man and The Universe; Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari; 1985.
3. Methodology for The Social and Behavioural Sciences; G.K. Huysamen; 1994.
4. Newspaper; The Star; 2007& 2009.   
5. Amir’s Diary.
6. Mind, Culture and Activity Volume, No.3, 1996.
7. Methodology For The Social And Behavioural Sciences, G.K. Huysamen, 1996.
8. Fundamentals of Islamic Thought: God, Man and The Universe; Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari; 1985.
9. The Holy Qur’an, Text and Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali; pg. 70; 2007.
10. Fundamentals of Islamic Thought: God, Man and The Universe; Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari; 1985.