Teaching or Preaching??

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Sister: Tiaiba Imane ..

Attitudes of the good teacher:

There is always a large debate about which attitude a teacher should adopt in order to maintain good relationship with his learners. Some teachers prefer to be permissive where as others tend to be authoritative, but our Prophet (PBUH) used to have a very distinctive attitude: it was the one of a moderate person whose mercy comes before his anger. He used to owe the hearts of people and control their minds. The fact that he was dealing with different people made him adapting himself to their needs. We can understand this fact from this ayah which can be translated as: "And most certainly thou ( O Muhammad ) art of most sublime and exalted character " (Holy Quran 68 : 4 )

The Prophet (PBUH) based his teaching on the following points:

1. Reaching excellence: he (PBUH) adduces that the Muslim should challenge all his powers when doing something, either in the religious side or in the secular one. For example, Muslims when evoking Allah they should ask Him the highest degree in paradise that requires, in return, hard efforts in worshipping and doing good deeds. Therefore, if they could not reach this degree they will not be very far from it in the sense that they will remain always in paradise. This goes the same way with a good student whose aim is always to reach the highest level. Thus, he works hard .So in case of failure; his loss will not be of a great consideration as in all cases he is saved.

2. Using faith as a stimulus: the Prophet (PBUH) used to relate everything to religion i.e. to link success in the practical life with worshipping Allah, as good deeds are always connected with faith. Thus, the spiritual energy stands behind success. Allah says what can be translated as "… the ones who have believed and did deeds of righteousness… " ( TMQ,103:3 )

3. Motivation: it goes without saying that motivation is the key of success in any work. Researchers in the task of teaching adduce that motivation plays a vital role in learning. Many theories were developed to deal with this aspect; yet, they do not prove always to be valid. But let us see how our Prophet (PBUH) used to motivate his companions. He (PBUH) integrated an innovative way that is recently discovered: the reward and punishment theory. By relating the good deeds to paradise and the bad ones to hell. He (PBUH) stressed reward more than punishment, as he was aware about the nature of the human psyche that prefers to be reward. One might ask how? It is by making the concept of paradise concrete in his companions' minds using those elaborated ways that psychologists are trying to do in modern time such as the high ability to imagine.