What Qualities Should I Look for in a Teacher of Islamic Sciences?
Answered by Shaykh Khalid al-Kharsa
Question
What qualities should I look for in a teacher of Islamic sciences?
Answer
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
A teacher is a role model and should possess qualities that inspire students to love, imitate, and adopt his manners. In detail, a teacher of Islamic sciences must be righteous in his relationship with his Lord and Creator through his faith, honesty, and certainty. He should possess moral, intellectual, and psychological attributes.
Ibn Sina outlined these qualities, suggesting that the teacher should be intelligent and religious, insightful in the discipline of ethics, skilled in educating children, dignified and composed, avoiding frivolity and foolishness, modest in demeanor, wise, and characterized by integrity, decency, and cleanliness.
The role of a Muslim educator includes:
- Purification of the ego
- Teaching – the transfer of information and beliefs to the believers, to implement in their behavior and lives.
[See: ‘Atef Al-Sayyid, Al-Tarbiya al-Islamiya Usulaha wa Manhajaha wa Mu‘allimaha – Al-Fasl Al-Sabi’: I’idad Mu’allim Al-Tarbiya Al-Islamiya]
[Shaykh] Khalid al-Kharsa
Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Khalid al-Kharsa is a distinguished scholar from Syria, born in Damascus in 1960. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Da‘wa Islamiyya in Tripoli, a higher diploma in Comparative Fiqh from the University of Omdurman in 1998, a master’s degree in Comparative Fiqh from the Faculty of Shari‘a and Law at the University of Omdurman in 2002, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Fiqh from the same institution in 2010.
He acquired knowledge and spiritual guidance from Shaykh Muhammad Salih al-Farfur, Shaykh Abdul Razzaq al-Halabi, Shaykh Muhammad Adib al-Kallas, and Shaykh Abdul Rahman al-Shaghouri, may Allah have mercy on them all.
He received Ijazas from several scholars, including Shaykh Muhammad Amin Siraj, Shaykh Abdul Ghani al-Daqar, Shaykh Muhammad Sa‘id al-Kahil, Shaykh Malik bin al-Arabi bin Ahmad al-Sharif al-Sanusi, Shaykh Muhammad Usman Bilal, the Mufti of Aleppo, and others.
Shaykh Khalid lived in Damascus for 52 years, where he engaged extensively in educational and social activities before being displaced from there. He moved to Istanbul at the end of 2015 and co-established “Markaz Jami‘at al-‘Ilm Wa al-Hidaya” within two months of his arrival. In Istanbul, he is active in educational roles. He serves as the director and teacher at the Sheikh Abdul Razzaq al-Halabi Institute, a lecturer at Dar al-Fuqaha, and a teacher at the Dar al-Funun Waqf.
His scholarly works and research include his tahqiq on “al-Rasa li al-Salihat min al-Nisa” by Hafiz Yusuf bin Abdul Hadi, “Adab al-Murta‘i in the Science of Dua (Supplication),” “al-Isti‘ana bi al-Fatiha,” “Rashat al-Aqlam – Explanation of Kifayat al-Ghulam” by Shaykh Abdul Ghani al-Nabulsi in Hanafi Fiqh, “al-Hada’iq al-Wardiyya fi Ajla al-Naqshbandiyya” by Khani, and “al-Arba‘in al-Tusiyya” by Muhammad bin Aslam. May Allah preserve him and make his contributions beneficial.
