Assalamualaikum and guten Tag dear readers!
Today I had Aqeedah class and our abla (teacher) passed to us our previous test. I had a look at my paper searching for the marks but to no avail. Nevertheless, I checked for my answers.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Wrong.
Correct.
Wrong.
Correct.
and so on…
Okay, so these are the wrong ones and the correct ones. But, where is my mark? I looked at my classmates’ tests and asked them what did they get and they just shrugged.
One of my classmates’ asked “What are our marks, abla?” and she responded, “I purposely do not put the marks on your paper but I have recorded it in my book, though.”.
*I was rolling my eyes in disbelief at this time*
“You see, if I put the marks, you will use it as a point to compete with each other and based your knowledge on the mark that you are given. This is not the point of studying Aqeedah. What I asked you in the tests, it may be something that you do not know and you cannot answer it. It is likewise when there is something I do not ask you in the test, but you know the answer to. The point is, I don’t want you to use the marks as a measure between all of you to compete with each other. Rather, use this advantage I have given you to enhance your knowledge of your Aqeedah. What is it that you have learned and have practiced it in your daily life? This is between you and Allah. Your knowledge and your sincerity (ikhlas) of your amal (actions) are what matters. These are rather just a guide of the basics.”
*Quotations were not the exact words used.
I was honestly moved when I listened to this. It was my first time hearing a teacher stating that kind of statement. An instillation of the warm heart instantly came to me. What a beautiful statement, subhanAllah. All these while ever since in primary up to university, I would never have heard this kind of remark from teachers. Not even from the Islamic Education teachers. I’m not using this situation to criticize the teachers though because I understand that no doubt, they were trying to get us good grades for universities, futures etc (which suggests that all of us were under pressure to get A++ grades!).
I’m happy for the fact that there is;
- An acknowledgment of the students’ knowledge of various areas, which is not rigid to a certain topic.
- An acknowledgment of the difference between what we memorized just for the sake of exams with what we know and have been instilled (which is learned, by the way) in us that it has become a culture in our life.
If only this could be a reason to not study harder.. but then, it would not be the point of pursuing knowledge. After all, knowledge is something for us to use in our daily life and our future.
The paradigm of knowledge is unmeasurable and should bring us closer to Allah. In my opinion, the secularism has brought us apart from Allah and a lot of other things that should matter. Why? Because we have become people greedy of status, money and wealth. We have it, but we want to own more.
As you get deeper into knowledge, you discover secrets of knowledge, which bring you closer to Allah, insyaAllah.
Till the next post!
FatinQuran 