Muslims also have the duty of “improving one another and saving one another from evil and sin.”
This duty is performed through actions, words, and attitude.
It is the teacher’s duty to educate the mischievous student and prevent their misbehavior. How it is done varies according to socio-psychological, cultural, and civic factors.
As for the details:
1. The principle of not causing harm.
The Prophet (pbuh) said, “A Muslim is one from whose hand and tongue other Muslims are safe.” (Bukhari, Iman 4)
This hadith prohibits causing harm arbitrarily.
Furthermore, the statement, “There should be neither causing harm nor reciprocating harm” (Ibn Majah, Ahkam 17), is also a general principle of law.
The duty to enjoin good and forbid evil.
Allah says, “You are the best community ever brought forth for mankind; you enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong…” (Aal-i Imran 3/110).
Our Prophet (pbuh) shows the educator’s duty of with the following hadith, “Whoever of you sees an evil, let him correct it with his hand; if he cannot do so, then with his tongue; and if he cannot do so, then with his heart...” (Muslim, Iman 78).
The issue of scolding and beating a student.
Scolding:
It is permissible if it is in the form of a measured, non-insulting warning.
However, humiliating, degrading, and fury-driven scolding is haram because damaging someone’s honor and dignity is prohibited. (See al-Hujurat 49/11)
Beating:
In our fiqh books, a teacher is permitted to lightly strike a child for disciplinary purposes under certain conditions. However, it should be a last resort, for educational purposes, not harmful and not directed at the face or vital areas; it should not be done with fury, but with compassion and mercy, like a specialist doctor treating a wound, or a father lightly touching his child…
As a matter of fact, our Prophet said, “Do not strike the face” (Muslim, Birr 115), and “Allah commands you to be gentle; gentleness is good in all things” (Bukhari, Adab 35).
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) himself never struck a woman, a servant, or anyone else with his hand -except in the case of fighting in the way of Allah. (Muslim, Fadail 79)
The best method in education and guidance is compassion, wisdom, and rational evidence. We should learn many lessons from the verse, “Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good counsel” (an-Nahl 16/125).
Therefore, educating a student not by beating them, but by persuasion, winning their affection, appealing to their intellect, and without harming their personality, is more in line with the method of the Quran and Sunnah.
Is it a sin to not pay attention in class?
Not paying attention in class is not directly a sin in religion. However, deliberately neglecting an assigned task may incur responsibility.
Nevertheless, it does not give the teacher the right to intervene in a harmful way
To sum up:
- A teacher has a duty to guide and correct a student. A measured and respectful warning is permissible. Insulting a student may be a sin.
- Causing physical harm is both a sin and a violation of the rights of others.
- The best method in education is compassion and wisdom, teaching through persuading, winning hearts, appealing to intellect, and without harming a student’s personality.
