Teaching the Quran in the true essence
There is a tradition of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) that:
"The best among you (Muslims) are those who learn the Quran and teach it."
When the Holy Prophet says that we are the best Muslims if we learn and teach the Quran, he does not mean that we should only learn it by heart or teach it to our students as rote learning. He means that we should “understand” the word of Allah along with learning it. That is why Allah has placed such a great importance on teaching the Holy Quran. A person who seeks to learn something looks up to their teacher to teach with all honesty and dedication. This makes the job of the teacher a very important one indeed. Imagine the importance of the job of the teacher is he is given the responsibility (by Allah) to teach such a great and holy scripture as the Holy Quran, the word of Allah.
The Holy Prophet (PBUH) compared the teaching of the Quran as that of a communal service; for the betterment of the person learning it and for the betterment of Islam. This meant that if a sizeable number of people taught the Quran in the community they would get reward, whereas if no one taught the Quran they would all be sinful. The holy Prophet used to teach his followers the Quran especially in the month of Ramadan when Gibreel visited him, by reciting sizeable portions of the Quran and making them understand them simultaneously.
The teaching of the Quran in its true essence hence meant that the teacher was to make the student learn the ayahs of the Quran gradually and then immediately explain the meaning of the ayah taught. In this way the essence and meaning of the word of Allah would remain ingrained in him. Teaching the word of Allah would thus involve teaching the students the rules of reciting the script, making them understand the history of Islam by giving examples of the Quran’s ayahs, making them realize the benefits of the Hereafter and Janaah where we will go as a result of good deeds and also drawing their attention to the punishment in store for the disbelievers.
So referring back to the tradition of the holy Prophet in the beginning, the best Muslim among all of us is one who teaches the Quran such that it makes a difference in his life. Learning it makes the Muslim go to the right path and acting according to the commandments set in it, which is the word of Allah. There is no doubt that the teacher of the Quran will get the reward for teaching the Quran to the student by heart as well, but the greater reward would be for the person who goes a step further, indeed.
