Prophet Muhammad, A teacher to mankind (2/2)

Arousing Interest: Interactive Methods

A frequent technique employed by the Prophet was to ask people question, so as to make them think and produce information themselves, upon which he would comment on the answer. He once asked:

‘Do you know who is a bankrupt?’ to which they said: ‘Someone who has no dirham or dinar?’ He said: ‘No, the real bankrupt is the one who comes on the Day of Judgement having collected many good deeds, but having also hit or insulted someone. Some of his good deeds will have to be given to the one he hit in compensation, and some to the one he insulted, etc. until very quickly nothing is left for him.’ In many hadiths he asks: ‘Do you know.’ to which his Companions would answer: ‘God and His Messenger know best.’ Thus he keeps them in suspense, waiting for an answer. His questing technique was also very effective:

When a man came to declare his Islam, but asked him for permission to continue committing adultery, some of the Companions were quick to curse the man. The Prophet said: ‘Bring him here’, made him sit in front of him and asked: ‘Would you like such a thing to happen to your mother?’ He said: No may I ransom you by my own father and mother!’ ‘Nor do other people like it to happen to their mothers. Would you like it to happen to your sister?’ and so on, until the man came to accept that he should not commit adultery and the Prophet then made special prayers for him.

The Prophet does not simply pour material out at his listeners. He engages them, arousing their interest and expectations. This is witnessed particularly in the numerous hadith that begin with ala, ala, adulluk, alal wa’llimuk ,(Shall I tell you? Shall I teach you? Shall I inform you?). In instances of a special statement which the recipient should take exactly, the Prophet would use: qul, quli (say) Ibn Mas’ud tells us that the Prophet was teaching him a formula and asking him to repeat it, and that at one point he commented: ‘This is not what I said exactly.’ Sometimes the Prophet is seen to check on the learning of his Companions, as Ibn Mas’ud confirms: ‘The Prophet asked me to read the Qur’an to him.’ I said: ‘how can I read it to you when it was revealed to you.” And he said: ‘I like to hear it from others.’ The use of suspense to force the learner to seek information was also a suitable technique for some learners.

A man came and performed the prayer while the Prophet was in the mosque. The Prophet told him: ‘Go back and pray, you have not prayed’, and after the second time he said: ‘Go back and pray, you have not prayed’, and so on, until the man said to him: ‘I really do not know any better. Please teach me.’ Then the Prophet began to teach him how to do it properly, taking him through all the actions of prayer.

A similarly interactive teaching method can be seen in the following hadith: He said: ‘I swear by God he is not a believer;’ then he was silent. The people asked: ‘who is that?’ and he answered: ‘The person whose neighbour does not feel safe from his harm.’ Sometimes a Companion might a lively dialogue. One asked the Prophet:

‘What do you think if a man comes wanting to take away my money.’ Don’t give it to him.’ ‘What if he fights me?’ Fight him.’ ‘What if he kills me?’ You will be a martyr.’ ‘What if I kill him? ‘He will be in Hell.’

A man came and told the Prophet: ‘I have been ruined!’ ‘What happened?’ ‘I fell upon my wife during the daytime fasting in Ramadan.’ Can you free a slave to atone for that?” No.’ ‘Can you fast two successive months?’ No’ ‘Can you feed 60 poor people?’ ‘No.’ so the Prophet stopped at that and the man sat idly by. Meanwhile, someone else came and presented a sack of dates to the Prophet as a gift. He said: “Where is the man who was asking? And gave the sack to him saying: ‘Go and feed this to the poor in atonement.’ The man said: Poor! I swear by Him who sent thee with the truth, there is none in the whole city poor than myself and my family.’ So the Prophet roared with laughter and said: ‘Very well, go and feed your family.’

Aids to Memory: Listing, Repetition, Structure of Material, Gestures, Visual Stimuli

The Prophet was adept at using to memory, so as to make things clear. One device was to structure the material in a few numbered points; either three or five are common. For instance: Islam was built on five (pillars). Three things will make a man a through hypocrite: when he speaks he lies, when he promises, he breaks his promises, and when he is trusted, he breaks his trust.

Frequently, we find a grand total is given for emphasis. Forcing the material into specific numbers in such a way makes the listener eager to get the right number. Thus you may sometimes find a Companion reporting: ‘… and I have forgotten the third.’ By comparing his version to those of others, a full list can be obtained. Sometimes, before listing the item, the Prophet would pause, to arouse curiosity. There are three persons God will not speak to on the day of Judgement: (and he repeated this statement three times and paused). Abu Dh’arr asked: ‘they are lost and ruined indeed! Who are they, Prophet of God?’

A similar logical structuring of material is found in general statements followed by illustrations, such as: ‘each of you is a shepherd, and will be responsible for his charges: the man is a Sheppard in his house,’ he then continues with ‘the woman, the child, the servant…’ He then repeats the general statement at the end.

Gesturing was also a common practice of the Prophet, as when he said: ‘Real piety is HERE’ (-pointing to his chest). ‘Restrain THIS’ (-touching his own tongue). While reporting how the Prophet told the story of a mother who was separated from her baby and when reunited she immediately put him to her breast and he began sucking, the narrator said: ‘I can visualise the Prophet sucking the trip of his finger.’ The Prophet also told of an earlier prophet, who was beaten by people and they injured his head, so that blood ran down his face. Again the narrator said: ‘I can still visualise the Prophet wiping his own face.’

It should also be noted that the question and answer technique, and the suspense it involves, was an aid to memory: ‘What day is this?’ he asked. ‘Friday,’ they answered. ‘What month is this?’ Dhul Hijjah.’ ‘What place is this?’ The sanctuary.  ‘Then you should know that your blood, your money, your honour, is as inviolable to you as they are in this day, this month and this place.’ Here he used the technique even in a sermon. Other devices to aid memory included brevity of statement; formulating material on the same order and pattern as a Qur’anic verses; rhythmic statements (which is very common); explanation of cause’ and contrast, as in: ‘the upper hand is better than the lower one’ (in giving), Body language was also used to give particular emphasis to important points: Reclining, he asked: ‘Shall I tell you of the greatest sins?’ After mentioning the first two he sat up, and said: ‘and indeed: giving false testimony, giving false testimony, giving false testimony.’ And the narrator said: ‘He went on saying this until we began to say: “When will he stop?”

The Prophet saw a crowd of women and children coming back from a wedding celebration. So he stood up to his full height and said: ‘By God! You are amongst the dearest to my heart!’ repeating this three times, he looked at the full moon and said to his Companions: ‘you will see your Lord as clearly as you see this. So if you can some prayer before sunrise or before sunset, don’t miss opportunity.’ This also demonstrates the Prophet’s skill in arousing incentives to learn and do-good deeds, rather than asking for an action to be done.

A man asked: ‘Tell me something which if do it, I will enter Paradise.’ The Prophet told him to worship God Alone, do the prayer, and pay the zakah and fast in Ramdan. The man said: ‘I swear by God, I will not do any more than that.’ The Prophet commented: ‘If it pleases any of you to look at a man who will be one of the inhabitants of Paradise, he should look at this man.’

Ibn Masud also reported that the Prophet once drew a diagram on the sand to illustrate that man cannot escape death and the many accidents that befall him in his life: that is , if he escapes one he will be caught by another.

Literary Devices:

The Prophet used simple, clear language- he hated obfuscation. One of the highly appreciated qualities of hadith material in Arabic is jawami al-kallim, that is, concise, all embracing statements: A man asked the Prophet: ‘Tell me something about Islam which I can ask of no one but you.’ He answered:

‘Say, “I believe in God”, and thereafter be upright.’ When a man asked him how to perform the rites of ‘Umrah he replied: Do as you do on Hajj.’ Once he said to his companions ‘Leave what makes you doubt for that which does not make you doubt.’ And also it is reported that he said ‘If you feel no shame, then do as you wish.’

In many hadiths the Prophet surprises the listener with the unexpected poses a paradox: the portion given away in charity decreases No money.’ On one occasion they killed a sheep and began to give it away in charity. He asked ‘A’isha: ‘how much is left? She said: ‘It has all gone except the shoulder.’ He replied: ‘No, it all remains except the shoulder.’

‘Fasting people will enter Paradise through the gate of Al-Rayyan (the one whose thirst has been quenched).’ In the hadith, powerful images are expressive, and impress themselves on the memory:

‘Let no one fall on his wife as a male donkey falls on a she-donkey; send a messenger first.’ They asked what messenger, he said: ‘A kiss.’ When one of you gives charity-and God only accepts what is good-God receives it in his right hand and rears it as one of you rears his young foal, until it becomes as big as a mountain.’

‘Two hungry wolves set loose in a flock of sheep would not wreak more havoc than a man’s excessive eagerness to amass wealth and status harms his religious practice.’

Balanced and comprehensive statements:

‘Relieve the distressed; feed the hungry, visit the sick.’ When a man was cut and bled, the Prophet taught that someone should wet their finger, place it in the earth, and apply it the wound to stop the bleeding, saying: ‘The earth of our land, with the saliva of one of our company, heals our sick, by leave of our Lord. ‘The tooth-stick cleans the mouth and pleases the Lord.’

Emphasis is also a common feature of hadith language. This is achieved through oaths such as: ‘By Him who holds my soul in His hands!’ Intensity is also expressed by using such empathic particle as: inna, add, ladad, alal and halla. Stories and parables are also used extensively, and have been treated separately in Arabic in the past and present.