Teaching without knowledge
Question: Is it sinful to teach what one has not specifically studied with a teacher?
Answer:
Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
Dear questioner,
Thank you for your important question.
If one is teaching something very general and one is certain that what one is saying is accurate and well-known, it is okay to share hadiths and verses of the Qur’an in a way that could be labeled as teaching.
However, one should not simply read tafsirs or commentaries on hadith and then go and explain the Qur’an and Sunna to a group of people if one has not studied fiqh, aqida, Arabic grammar, morphology, and rhetoric, usul al-fiqh, and tafsir and Hadith formally. Just picking up Fath al-Bari, for example, and reading out what it says to a congregation is dangerous. One can quite easily make mistakes and misrepresent the religion.
One should learn properly before one teaches unless one is told specifically by one of one’s teachers to teach something from a specific book within a particular scope.
For an idea of how to study properly, please see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGGKhY9OLRg
https://seekers.flywheelstaging.com/answers/seeking-sacred-knowledge/
I pray this helps.
[Ustadh] Farid
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Farid Dingle has completed extensive years of study in the sciences of the Arabic language and the various Islamic Sciences. During his studies, he also earned a CIFE Certificate in Islamic Finance. Over the years, he has developed a masterful ability to craft lessons that help non-Arabic speakers gain a deep understanding of the language. He currently teaches courses in the Arabic Language.
