Teacher (mu'allim)

A mu'allim is, lexically, one who takes teaching as a profession; the word also covers someone who teaches a craft he has mastered. ¹

Traditions praise those who teach beneficial knowledge, and some scholars regard the teacher as an intermediary between God and people in bringing them close to him. Al-Ghazali treats teaching as worship in one respect and as a form of God's vicegerency in another. ^{1 2}

A pupil should be humble towards his teacher. A teacher should not ask a fee for teaching knowledge, but teach for God's sake. Where a teacher is paid from the public treasury for teaching as a service to God, the sum is called provision (rizq), not wage. Where he teaches for a stated fee, the rules of hiring apply. ^{2 3} Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him) is said to have been the first to gather children into a school and to have paid the teacher from the treasury. ³

The jurists permit a fee for teaching a trade, but differ on what must be stated or is due. The Hanafis require a stated term; without one the contract is void and the teacher is due the fair wage if he taught. The Malikis allow a child to be placed with a craftsman in exchange for the child's labour over a set period, with disagreement reported from Ibn Arafa. The Shafi'is place the cost on the child's own property, or on the person bound to maintain him. ^{3 4}

The Malikis recognise an extra gift called al-israfa, given when a child finishes memorising the Qur'an or certain surahs. It is owed only if stipulated or customary, is claimed from the father, and is not due at festivals. The Shafi'is prefer that a teacher not accept a gift given in return for teaching, though a gift given out of affection for his learning may be accepted. ^{4 5}

A teacher who knows that a child's fee comes from an unlawful source, such as a toll or injustice, must take nothing from it. If no lawful source is available he should take nothing at all. Gifts that pupils give him for services they perform for others can damage his testimony and his standing as imam. ⁵

A teacher should act on what he teaches, since knowledge is grasped by insight and conduct by sight, and a gap between word and deed deters people from the right path. He should cultivate good qualities such as renunciation, generosity, patience, humility and dignity, and avoid envy, showing off, self-admiration and contempt for others. If he does something that is permissible but looks otherwise, he should explain it to his companions. ^{5 6}

He trains pupils gradually, encourages sincerity, bears their rudeness, and wishes them what he wishes himself. He does not withhold what they are ready for, teaches each according to his capacity, and exposes weak evidence so that it is not relied on. He does not silence a questioner unless the question strays from the subject, and then he does so gently. ^{7 8} He treats pupils equally in place, in teaching and in seating, and repeats what is hard to grasp. ^{8 10} He keeps lessons at a fixed time, avoids sending adolescent pupils to his house, and does not laugh freely with children so as to keep his authority. ^{9 10}

Where the teacher has a fixed salary for a lesson, he must give it, and does not leave it for a funeral or a visit to the sick, which are recommended. Where there is no fixed salary, he is still bound to give it when no one else is able to. ⁹

Some scholars note that a teacher who is not paid teaches purely for God's sake, whereas a paid teacher's work may carry a hidden motive that cannot be checked; safety is the better course. ¹¹

The jurists agree that a teacher who beats a pupil beyond the usual measure and the child dies is liable, since he exceeded the lawful limit. Ordinary beating is not actionable for the Malikis and Hanbalis; for the Hanafis it is so when the guardian authorised it; for the Shafi'is the teacher is liable, since speech and reproof can suffice without a blow. ¹¹

Hunting with trained hunting animals is lawful, on the authority of the verse of al-Ma'ida and the report of Abu Tha'laba al-Khushani about hunting with a trained dog, and because people hunted in the time of the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions without objection. The conditions for a trained animal are treated under hunting. ¹¹