In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

The Position of Quran Teachers

Abd Al-Rahmaan Sullami was teacher of the Holy Quran in Medina and used to teach Quran to kids. Imam Hussain (PBUH) sent one of his children to him to learn the Holy Quran ⁽¹⁾. The teacher taught him how to recite Surah al-Hamd, the first chapter of the Holy Quran. When the kid went to Imam Hussain (PBUH) and recited the chapter he had learned, Imam Hussain (PBUH) asked for the teacher and ordered that he be offered one thousand gold coins and one thousand precious cloths as a gift in the presence of people. However, Imam Hussain (PBUH) did not suffice to these two gifts, and as it has been narrated, he ordered that the mouth of the teacher be filled with jewelries.

The way the mouth of the teacher was filled with jewelries is not important; rather it was important that Imam Hussain (PBUH) wanted to teach people that the mouth and tongue which teaches the Holy Quran deserves to be filled with jewelries.

Anyhow, the news of Imam Hussain’s (PBUH) three precious gifts for the Quran teacher for teaching one chapter spread in Medina. People were asking, ”Is teaching Surah al-Hamd that worthy?”

In order to relieve their wonder, Imam Hussain (PBUH) said a statement, the importance of which to the Quran teachers is much more than those three precious gifts. Imam Hussain (PBUH) said,

”What I offered to him is not comparable to what he has offered to my child”.

In this statement, Imam Hussain (PBUH) referred to what the teacher had done as an “offer”, and considered his generosity valueless in comparison with that offer.

This generous behavior is done by the Imam who teaches us in a poem which its translation is, “Whenever the world treats you with prosperity, you should be open-handed towards people, and offer them before you lose your wealth, and get prepared for the Hereafter by this means.

Beware that this giving will not take away your wealth when the world treats you with prosperity, and stinginess will not keep your wealth when you are not in a good financial situation”.

(The above is a slection taken from “Hussain, the Guide of Mankind and the Father of the Worshippers”, by Sayyid Muhammad Zia Abadi)

The Roshd Website congratulates all Muslims, especially you dear friend, upon the 3^rd of Sha’ban, the birthday anniversary of the great teacher of religion and the symbol of evident truth, Imam Hussain ibn Ali (PBUH).

Roshd Islamic Shia Website

Footnote:

1. This child was definitely not Imam Sajjad (PBUH), because the Imams do not need human teachers.