Qalam Seminary Blog – Hadith Week

Sometimes we’re so caught up in what we are doing, we forget why. Why am I doing this? Day in and day out our routine continues but we forget to remind ourselves why.

Last week Sheikh taught us a collection of 40 hadith فَيضُ المُعين about the virtues of the Quran by Mulla Ali Al-Qari. The class was taught at the Bayyinah campus attended by both Qalam and Bayyinah students. Studying the hadith of the virtues of Quran was very inspiring and motivating. It was a great reminder as to why we are doing what we are. It was not only about the virtues of the Quran but also about the benefits of being among Ashaabul Quran, people of the Quran.

The first hadith we learned was خَيْرُكُمْ مَنْ تَعَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ وَعَلَّمَهُ
The best among you is one who learns the Qur’an and teaches it.
(Narrated by Imam Ahmed)

We learned that the word مَنْ in the hadith gives a very general meaning; this could refer to male or female, a young child or an adult. Anyone who is either learning or teaching the Quran in any capacity would fit in this category. The first qualifier is to learn the Quran, the first step is to seek knowledge and first thing to seek knowledge from is the Qur’an. Also the word تَعَلَّمَ (to learn) comes before the word عَلَّمَ (to teach) this shows that it’s not enough to just know something before we teach it, but we have to learn it properly first. We should be a student first before we can become a teacher. Being a student puts us through tarbiyya or training and teaches us restraint and self-discipline.

We have examples of the sahaba who memorized Quran only 10 ayaat at a time in order to practice what they learned. Abdullah ibn Umar for example was one of greatest narrators of hadith, who had practically memorized the Prophet (S)’s sunnah. It took him 8 years to memorize Surah Al-Baqarah. Why? Not because he didn’t have a good memory, but because his goal was to practice and live those ten ayaat before moving on. The sahaba approached learning Quran with quality over quantity.

Aside from learning how to be a good student, we also learned the etiquettes of teaching. Teaching should be done with the same type of care and concern, love and respect for your students as you would want for yourself. Sheikh also touched upon the importance of sincerity while teaching. Our sincerity shows through our preparation. We may think we already know the material, yet preparing so we can teach with excellence shows sincerity.

The last Hadith we studied was narrated by Anas ibn Mailik from the Prophet (S):
أَهْلُ الْقُرْآنِ عُرَفَاءُ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ
The people of the Qur’an are the most well-informed within the people of Paradise.

They will be visible prominent figures, the most well-known people in paradise, people of distinction and honor. Although learning and teaching is very fulfilling, it comes with its challenges. The question does cross our minds, “Why should we put ourselves through all this?” Studying the collection of ahaadith was a great reminder, it put things into perspective. By the end of the week when we finished the 40 hadith, trying to become among the Ashaabul Quran was the thought that overwhelmed our minds.May Allah increase us in terms of knowledge and make us Ashaab ul Quran. Ameen.