The Qur'an describes him as a mercy to all creation, an excellent example, a man of exalted character, and the last and final Messenger to all humankind. This book takes up one thread of that: he was also a teacher, and an extraordinarily effective one.
The Result to Be Explained
Consider what he achieved as an educational outcome. In twenty-three years he taught and conveyed the message of Allah to the people of Arabia and transformed the pagans of the entire Peninsula into staunch believers in the unity of Allah.
He did this having been driven out of his own hometown as an outcast. He established a state in Madinah and returned to Makkah to conquer it peacefully. And the after-effects of his vision and teaching contributed to a new world order and civilization that changed the course of history.
No other teacher has a comparable record, and the question of method therefore deserves a book.
What the Study Examines
How he taught. The techniques that recur across the narrations — asking a question and waiting for the answer, repeating an important point three times, using an object or a line drawn in the sand, teaching at the moment the need arose rather than in scheduled lessons, adjusting the answer to the questioner, and correcting without humiliating.
Also his patience with slow learners, his manner with children, his refusal to shame someone who asked something obvious, and his attention to the state of the person in front of him.
Who It Is For
Islamic school teachers, weekend academy staff and youth workers — who will find methods here they can use on Monday. Parents. Imams and du'aat. Students of education generally, for whom this is a case study of the first rank.
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