Ulayyah

Why do I need a teacher to read books to my kids? Can't they do it by themselves?

The following are some points mentioned by Shaykh Bakr Aboo Zayd in his book, The Etiquettes of Seeking Knowledge, pertaining to the negatives of a reader learning Islaam via reading books without a teacher. The bold text is from the Shaykh, and what follows is from myself to relate to English Islaamic books.

1. The non-existent teacher: Without a teacher, a reader would naturally and incorrectly try to understand the text they reading on their own accord. This is incorrect, Islamic knowledge should be understood from scholarly sources since they have inherited the Quran and the Sunnah, with the understanding of the early Muslims of this Ummah.

2. Non-existence of the pronunciation: Meaning a reader may encounter a word in the English language and may pronounce it incorrectly. As a history teacher I encounter this often, reading to a teacher absolves this issue since the teacher would correct them. This goes as well with non-translated Arabic words which are written in transliteration, and the meaning of that word also is not given. So, again a teacher would educate about such instances.

3. Lack of experience in i'raab (i.e. implementing the rules of Arabic grammar): This also applies to English grammar. Without proper knowledge in grammar, the reader can make mistakes in their understanding.

4. Corruption of the existing book: This can be referring to innovation or clear mistakes made in books, without any prior knowledge, they reader may accept it all as the truth. However, the books for our program are safe, with normal human errors (i.e. spelling or grammatical mistakes). Alhamdulilah. And Allaah Knows Best.