Tarbiyah Shabab

                             By:Ustath Mustafa Thahan




The talk that I will give today concerns tarbiyah, how it is conducted (tasawwur of tarbiyah) and who should give or receive tarbiyah.

A few years back I compiled a book about the problems of tarbiyah and the behavior of tarbiyah. In the book, I asked a question: “Why people in the past (i.e. the companions), who generally had no knowledge in writing and reading, could do fantastically well and be such marvellous people in the dawah — with very high iman and depth of understanding in Islam. For example, Bilal could withstand the tribulation of being tortured with huge rock on his chest, and reply: “Ahad, Ahad, Ahad (One, One, One).”


Love Your Students



Tarbiyah is like a baby seeing what its mum does, i.e. the learning part. How the baby recognizes his/her mum/dad, how the baby cries when someone else picks him up he/she doesn’t recognise. Imam Ghazali, the author for the book Ihya’ Ulumuddin, once wrote that a murabbi (trainer) could not convey the message to the people/students until he establish the feelings of love between himself and his students. If someone receive training from a person that he does not love, then he will not receive what the murabbi is trying to teach.

From the hadith of Rasulullah (s), a little word such as ‘Salaam’ could bridge the feelings between two people. A smile is a sadaqah (charity) and it could bring happiness to people. Money or material things are not the only ways to express our selves.

In the time of the Prophet Muhammad (s), during the battle of Badr, the Quraish kidnapped one companion, Khubaib (ra) and they prepared to execute him publicly. The children gathered and threw stones at him. Then Quraish asked him whether he would like to spare his life in exchange for that Prophet Muhammad’s (s). He absolutely refused and insisted that he would not allow anyone to even hurt Prophet Muhammad, let alone kill him. That is how the feelings of love towards someone enable him to sacrifice his life.

There was one occasion when Abu Bakr (ra) and the Prophet (s) were in Makkah and people were throwing stones at them. Abu Bakr tried to shield the Prophet from being hurt to the extent that he himself fainted. When his mother tried to wake him from his state of unconsciousness, the first thing he asked about, was how the Prophet Muhammad was doing – in fact he was restless to know for certain that the Prophet was fine so he went to Rasulullah’s house and saw that he was fine alhamdulillah. Then only was he at ease.

During the Battle of Uhud, a rumour was spreading that Prophet Muhammad (s) was killed. Right after the battle, one woman enquired from the people who returned about the battle not about her sons or husband, but about the Prophet (s). That is how much concern about she had for him – demonstrating clearly that the love towards someone gives priority over other people or things.

One man was walking in a village to visit his brother, and then an angel (in the form of a human) asked why he was going to visit him. The man replied that he would like to visit him because he loves him. The angel then said: “Allah loves you the same as how you love your brother.”

Another man said that he would like to be in Jannah (Paradise) with the Prophet (s). So the Prophet (s) asked him what he has done to be in Paradise? The man replied that he loved for his brother what he loved for himself. The Prophet (s) responded by saying that in the hereafter he will be with those whom he loved.

Referring back to the first thing that we have talked about, if we wanted to educate people, we must first build the feelings of love with those to be educated. Without love, we could not convey the message to the people.


Qudwa (Good Example)


The second thing that must be in place after love is ‘qudwah’ (set a good example). In the Prophet’s time, a woman promised to give her son a date. The Prophet (s) overheard and warned that if she did not give the boy a date, then she would be committing a wrongdoing. The murabbi must set an example that could be followed by the students. If not, whatever the murabbi teaches will not be effective, since he himself does not set a good example. The companion saw that Prophet Muhammad (s) was the best example that could be followed. He taught them how to behave and act in accordance with the Islamic teachings.

All people involved in tarbiyah should be a qudwah towards people. Once, the companions were gathering outside a house in the hot afternoon. Prophet Muhammad (s) asked them why they had gathered outside the house. They said that they were hungry and showed him each had a stone tied to his abdomen to lessen the pangs of hunger. The Prophet (s) said that he too was very hungry and showed them that he had two stones tied to his abdomen.

Sayidina Ali (ra) once remarked that Rasulullah (s) was in the forefront of the war, in order to set an example for his companions. The murabbi should do his share of the tasks before delegating to students.

People will look at whom? They will look at the leader, if the leader did not set a good example, they will not follow what he teaches.


Identify Strengths


The third thing that a murabbi should do is to find the strengths in each people that he teaches. Strengths should be identified by the murabbi in order to develop them for the benefit of students.

Their was one companion, Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud (ra) who was a guardian of goats, and Rasulullah (s) recognised that he was able to teach since he had a lot of knowledge. As a result Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud became the mu`allim (teacher) of the companions. Rasulullah (s) was therefore able to identify the strengths of his companions – like the titles he gave to some of them – Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (the truthful), etc.


Ta`awun (Interaction & Cooperate)


The ability for Rasulullah (s) to know the details of each companion was as a result of his interaction and close cooperation with them – he knew a great deal about their personalities. He knew therefore how they could be used to contribute towards the progress of Islam.

The ta’awun process is a continuous one, you could not simply take for granted that what is taught will be followed exactly as you wish without making an effort to be with the students.

Tarbiyah needs love, qudwah, identifying strengths and ta’awun. Abdullah Ibn Abbas (ra) once said that he heard Rasulullah say that making an effort to help one companion is better that seclusion in Masjid Nabawi (the Prophet’s Mosque) for a month.

Imam Ghazali once said in his book that the murabbi should know in detail his students so that he is able to capture their feelings. In that they will feel close associated with him.




What is tarbiyah then?


Tarbiyah is dependent on the muwajjih (eg. murabbi), the student, the means of communication or manhaj (syllabus), and good bi’ah (environment). A muwajjih is not easy to find even after the other elements already exist. So it is important to find and develop a murabbi with the qualities outlined above.

Today the ummah (nation) is very weak and the enemies are killing Muslims easily. In one platoon, which was led by Salahuddin Al-Ayubi, he asked his people how they could defeat the enemy, which vastly outnumbered them. Then they visited the camps of their fighters and saw them full with soldiers reading the Quran, performing the tahajjud salah, etc. He then said that the enemies of Islam would not defeat these people in the battle. He led them in a glorious victory to reclaim Baitul-Maqdis.

The Muslim Ummah needs to reform itself. Starting from the nubuwwah, khilafah Islammiyah, to the last days of life on this earth, Islam will be victorious, as stated by Rasulullah (s) himself.