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Question

Assalaamu alaikum

Alhamdulillah that we can direct our queries to your site; may Allah reward you for this service and your effort!  I am communicating as a teacher of a beginner's tajweed class and I am hoping someone can help me with a question I have, not so much about tajweed as such, but about the manners in the class.  Our classroom time is limited to 90 min. and only twice per week; circumstances are such that our students are at different stages of memorization of Juz' 'amma and of learning of the rules.  When one student is reciting the others would like to be practicing what is assigned to them or, if they have already read, what corrections have been given them or to prepare what is for the next lesson...I am wondering if this is "bad manners" in front of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, for some students not to be listening to the Qur'an as it is being recited out loud by their sister student.

Baraka Allah fiikum.

 

Answer

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh.  May Allah reward you for teaching Qur'an and make you of the best of the Muslim nation. 

There are two ways in general that Qur'an classes are run; one, as you are experiencing, where each student is in a different place, and the teacher listens to each student, corrects them, then goes on to listen to the next student who is at a different place, and often at a different level.  This is quite common in classes held in mosques, but less common in a school setting.  In this type of situation, it is quite acceptable for the students to practice their assignment while the other students recite.  The student that is being listened to sits close to the teacher or sheikh, and the other students sit far away, so as not to disturb the teacher and the student that is being corrected.  Since the reciter is reading Qur'an, and the practicing students are reading Qur'an, it is not considered bad manners in front of Allah.

This situation changes though, when the setting is a classroom setting, and the recitation of a practicing student and a student being corrected cause a conflict for the teacher, and he/she has difficulty concentrating on the student he/she should be correcting.  This would be up to the teacher to control and to notify the students that he/she did not want others reading when a student is reciting to the teacher.

We would also like to point out that a very good way to improve ones recitation is by listening to other students recite while being corrected by the teacher.  This increases the audio input of what is correct and what isn't, and assists in discovering what is incorrect in sound and that which is correct.

It is incumbent on the student of the Qur'an to respect and honor their teacher.  In a hadeeth related by At-Tirmithi, the Messenger of Allah, , said, "He is not of us who does not respect our elderly, is merciful to our youth, and knows the rights of our those who teach us."

 

Our righteous predecessors used to greatly emphasize respect and kindness to their shuyookh (plural of sheikh).  A famous saying from many of the righteous predecessors is: "I am a slave to he who taught me a letter."

The student of knowledge should have awe for his/her teacher and should respect him.  Rabee' bin Sulaymaan was the companion and student of the famous scholar, Ash-Shaafee'i and he [Sulaymaan] said, "By Allah, I was not so bold as to drink water when Ash-Shaafee'i was looking at me, out of awe of him."  Ash-Shaafee'i himself showed great awe of scholars and he said of himself, "I would turn the pages very gently in front of Imaam Maalik, out of awe of him, so that he would not hear it."  [Aadaab al-Muta'aalimeen, Dr. Ahmed Abdullah Al-Baatilee, Dar Al-Qaasim, Riyadh, 1418].

 

In the case in question then, it depends on the teacher and what they find is best for the students as a whole. If the teacher feels that the students should listen to the other students and benefit from listening to them and the teacher's corrections, then the teacher should make this clear to the class.  If the teacher feels that there is no harm or more benefit in each student practicing on their own while another student recites to the teacher, then that should be made clear to the class.

May Allah accept your righteous deeds and guide you that which is best. Ameen.