A Parent Bouncing into His Grown-Up Children

Alhamdulillah… All thanks and praise are due to the Almighty Allah. May His Peace and Blessings be upon the best teacher of all times, Habibi Muhammad, his household, his companions (the best students of all times), and all those who follow his guided path till the Day of Judgement.

It’s always heart-warming and motivating when a teacher meets his former students, who recognizes him, and takes the trouble to stop and say ‘Salam'… just ‘Salam'.

I experience this more frequently, in the past one and a half years, as some of whom I once taught are taking their undergraduate studies at the International Islamic University Malaysia, where I’m also pursuing a master's degree programme. We are now colleagues and university mates. Our relationship is now about seniors (where most of them joined IIUM before me) versus juniors, rather than teacher-student relationship. And I like it.

In fact, some choose to ignore you or simply change their walking direction, when they see you, but these are, honestly, isolated cases.

I’m writing this reflective piece, to present two fresh stories that I experienced yesterday from two of my former students. This piece therefore aims to be as a reminder to seekers of knowledge, considering the fact that, above all considerations, we are Muslims. Therefore reminding each other of the consequences of our attitudes remains vital.

On my way to Masjid Sultan, yesterday 27/12/2013, I met two of my former students, at different locations, but close to each other.

The first was inside Bugis MRT station (Singapore) and the other was just outside the station, towards Raffles Hospital. They both spotted me first.

For the first student (inside the train station), he initiated the Salam and we had a one-minute long chit-chat. Before we separated, he asked me to pray for him, to get married, any time soon.

I pray that Allah grants his wishes and bestow upon him His Ultimate Pleasure, here and in the Hereafter. Ameen.

As for the second one, the positive thing about him was, he initiated the Salam with me (again, he spotted me first). The negative thing was, he wanted to show off what he perceives to be his value or pride.

He used to be a trouble maker in class. His classmates never enjoyed his presence. Teachers (all those who have taught him) would spend significant time on him (correcting him, advising him, nagging at him, scolding him and ‘whatever' him), in order to be able to teach the class. It was not his fault… but the system of the school.

I recognized him. I called his name in a signal of recognition that I still remember him. He started to talk, with a snobbish nose, raised to the sky, and a boastful gestured chest, as if he wanted to tell me (and those around us), “hey look, I'm Mr. Universe!”

In the one-minute long conversation we had, I understood that he's now studying in Australia. For that, I'm happy for him. But what pissed me off, is when he insisted on speaking like an ‘Australian’, as if he's not a Singaporean, and has never knew how Singaporeans speak or how to speak like one. A native Australian will be ashamed to speak (with slang), the way he did. I thought he had no tongue in his mouth.

I pray for him and for myself. May Allah guide us towards right manners and being productive individuals.

I have said this before, and I'm saying it here again. We are nothing with our looks, colours, wealth, and whatever else, other than God, we perceive to be our strength.

We can only be valuable when we portray humility, Adab and Akhlaq (good manners), and above all, the Islamic values we've learnt in our Madrasah (Islamic schools).

Some notorious students, whom I've happened to teach, have matured, after their graduation. They've realized that being notorious, disrespectful, arrogant, or boastful is nothing but self-degrading. They have started to change, and they are changing positively. The one I met earlier (inside the MRT station) is a good example. May Allah continue to guide all.

It's such a pity to see that some of us leave (graduate) Madrasah to leave behind all the good values our teachers had devoted their lives instilling in us.

All that being said, it’s not too late for anyone to change for good. But the earlier we change the better it is. The later we change, the longer it’s going to take us to realize the goodness we’ve been missing all the while.

It’s important that we remember; we may attract others with our ‘good looks’ or any temporal material possession, but they can only live with our good characters. Such good character will prevail, and make them stay, even when we can only afford $0 worth of outfits.

A good teacher cares and prays for the success of his students, even after they leave him, for he regards them as his children. There's no way a good and sound parent will remain silent to the rudeness of his child. He may take it, but he wouldn't want outsiders to be treated with it.

I would like to hear from you. I open the floor for your opinions and comments.

Allah knows best.

Allahu Hafiz 🙂