What does a teacher mean to us?

If a picture speaks thousand words then the above one sure falls in that category.

2 views to see the picture:

1. Here we see a Sheikh teaching a lesson in front of only one student at the Prophet’s Masjid in Madinah. The picture highlights the unfortunate state of affairs in our communities with regard to our attitude towards seeking knowledge, especially since the advent of social media.

Gone are the days – for many – where people would travel to sit at the feet of scholars and develop a personal relationship with them. Gone are the days where we take our knowledge directly from the mouths of the people of knowledge. Instead, we have reduced our learning to listening to snippets of clips on YouTube and listening to reminders that keep our faith supposedly elevated but do not provide much by the way of significant insightful knowledge that really helps us grow in faith and practice.

I’ve even noticed that many people do not even have the attention span to manage listening to a one hour lecture these days. It’s become ‘fast food knowledge’ now sprinkled with the glitz of HD videos and graphics. As for reading books, then all I can say is,

إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون

We should all have our portions of real human interaction with people of knowledge and take from their adab (manners) and insights. There are numerous blessings found in those gatherings that cannot be found elsewhere, even in books.

2. Never feel as though your efforts have gone to waste. What change can one speech bring, how will that audience of one person respond to your nasihat (advice), what amount of benefit you will receive from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala by the virtue of that good conducted by that one man due to your words, no one except Almighty knows.

Any other point of view you have to look at the picture? Do comment below.

This article was originally posted in ilmfeed