The education methods of the Prophet Muhammad

Abstract

The Prophet Muhammad was a perfect teacher and instructor who enjoyed brilliant teaching methods and proved to master skilful techniques with which he accomplished his goals in delivering the message of Islam. He had been chosen by Allah as His Messenger to guide mankind, sought to convey the message of God, not in a conventional class room to students of a particular age group but to a variety of people in different settings. In spite of being an untrained and inexperienced teacher in the traditional sense of the word, the Messenger of Allah employed different methodologies to paraphrase and convey "the message of God" to masses. Like other prophets, The Prophet based his teachings on three main themes namely "Oneness of God", "Righteous Conduct of Man" and the "Hereafter" and preached the same through the example of his own practice and oral instructions. Basically The Qur'an and Hadith literature are the two basic sources from which we can study the Prophet's approach to various topics and his systematic methods of teaching. Thus the scope of this paper is to answer what methods of education that the Prophet Muhammad used to communicate with his family, relatives, friends, followers and enemies during the twenty-three years of his life as a messenger of Allah. Therefore in this article we will also examine how his teaching methods made it easier for his companions to take in what he said. It also highlights Prophetic teachings related to the methods of the Prophet and gives glimpses of how He put them in effect.