Review
Quality of an excellent student
April 2024 - 28 Ramadan 1445
حَدَّثَنَا سَعِيدُ بْنُ أَبِي مَرْيَمَ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنَا نَافِعُ بْنُ عُمَرَ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي ابْنُ أَبِي مُلَيْكَةَ، أَنَّ عَائِشَةَ، زَوْجَ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم كَانَتْ لاَ تَسْمَعُ شَيْئًا لاَ تَعْرِفُهُ إِلاَّ رَاجَعَتْ فِيهِ حَتَّى تَعْرِفَهُ، وَأَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " مَنْ حُوسِبَ عُذِّبَ ". قَالَتْ عَائِشَةُ فَقُلْتُ أَوَ لَيْسَ يَقُولُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى {فَسَوْفَ يُحَاسَبُ حِسَابًا يَسِيرًا} قَالَتْ فَقَالَ " إِنَّمَا ذَلِكَ الْعَرْضُ، وَلَكِنْ مَنْ نُوقِشَ الْحِسَابَ يَهْلِكْ ".
There is a heading in Imam al-Bukhārī’s رحمه الله Chapter on Knowledge entitled: ‘A person who confirms their understanding of something until they understand it completely.’ Who could this be about?
The narrator, a male companion, is narrating a question our Mother ʿĀishah رضي الله عنها asked the Prophet ﷺ. Before doing so, he makes a comment about her.
“ʿĀishah, the wife of the Prophet, would confirm her understanding of something new she learned until she understood it fully.”
This was his description. It was the context provided for what he would narrate next.
We don’t have many narrations in which the Prophet ﷺ explained an āyah of the Qur’ān. But this is one instance which reached us, because of her question.
The narrator continues: The Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever is called to account will be punished.” ʿĀishah said, “I said: ‘Is it not the case that Allāh says, ‘They will have an easy reckoning’? (Surat al-Inshiqāq: 8)”.
She had heard this āyah of the Qurʾān and understood it – that Believers will have an easy reckoning of their deeds on the Day of Judgement. Now, she had heard a statement of the Prophet ﷺ – that whoever is called to account for their actions will be punished. Both statements mention accountability (ḥisāb in Arabic), but with quite different outcomes. She needed to know how they could both be comprehended together, to achieve a more holistic understanding of accountability of the Believer on the Day of Judgement.
A few points of reflection for us as students.
When she learned something new, she was not learning it in a compartmentalised manner. She was understanding it in reference to everything she had already learned. This is a quality of an excellent student – and teacher. The excellent teacher contextualises new learning in terms of what the student already knows, and explains how it all fits together.
She would go on to teach in this manner, by asking questions to those who would present queries to her, prompting them to consider what they already knew.
When she asked her question, the Prophet ﷺ did not rebuke her. It was not perceived as a challenge to what he had said. He answered her question and thereby facilitated her understanding, and by extension all of ours.
A person who does not understand something properly cannot go on to teach it. Repeating verbatim what our teachers said about grammar does not necessarily mean we've understood it. Only a person who has truly understood can teach others. This is something Shaykh Akram says.
There are of course certain etiquettes we should uphold when asking our teachers questions, but if we wish to excel as students, we should ask to resolve queries in our minds.
اللهم فقهنا في الدين
Oh Allāh, grant us deep understanding of the religion.