 Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, in the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful, respected viewers, brothers and sisters in Islam, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you. Welcome to the ninth episode of the Treaties of Rights series with me, your host Ali Jassan. Today, we will start with the right of the trainer through knowledge. Regarding this month, Sajad Zain al-Abdin, peace and blessings be upon him, has said, and the right of the one who trains you through knowledge is venerating him and respecting his meetings and listening well to him and being responsive to him and helping him for yourself and the knowledge that you need by freeing your mind for him and presenting your understanding to him and purifying your heart for him and fixing your eyes on him by means of abandoning leisure and diminishing lust. And you should know that regarding what he teaches you, you are considered as his messenger to teach when you meet the ignorant ones. Therefore, it is binding upon you to render on his behalf properly and not cheat in the fulfillment of his mission and strive to deliver what you undertake. And there is no power but in God. We can therefore summarize the following rights of teachers as expressed by Imam Sajad's peace and blessings be upon him. 1. Respecting your teacher. 2. Seeking our teacher's help in acquiring knowledge. 3. Getting wholeheartedly prepared to attend our teacher's lectures. 4. Not raising our voice over our teacher's voice. 5. Not responding to questions that others ask him before he does. 6. Not talking with others while we are in the presence of our teacher. 7. Not gossiping about anyone. 8. Defending our teacher if someone speaks bad of him. 9. Covering up the faults of our teacher. 10. Advertising our teacher's nobility. 11. Not associating with our teacher's enemies. 12. Not acting as an enemy towards his friends. Islam is a complete code of life which is covering all areas of daily life and providing guidelines to the followers what to do and how to do it in a particular situation. It provides the complete solution on how to handle the problem. Islam is a religion which has awarded the status of profit to teachers and has given a number of commands about the rights of the teachers. It is written in the Holy Qur'an Surah Tudnur verse 63. Do not make the calling of the teacher among you as you are calling one of another. The verse confirms the status of a teacher in a society and the way Islam has given teachers a respectable place in society. Faithful teachers who enjoy good traits occupy a high position in the society because of the appreciative efforts they exert for educating and supplying individuals with knowledge and moralities. Besides, there are the pioneers of culture and guides of the coming generation. On the account of that, they must enjoy definite rights against their students. First of all, students must respect their teachers in the same way as they respect their fathers, so as to express their appreciation to them. Maal Baqar Pes and Blessings Be Upon Him said, He who teaches an item of knowledge that leads to the right guidance will be having the same rewards of them who apply that item to themselves, without any decrease in their rewards. And He who teaches an item of deviation will be having to burden the same punishment that is decided for those who practice such an item without any degrees in their punishment. Maal Baqar Pes and Blessings Be Upon Him emphasizes on the fact that students must appreciate their teachers' efforts and reward them by means of showing gratitude and respect and following their recommendations. They also must pardon and neglect any situation of strictness or discipline that are intended for their good education only and morally. Let's go for a quick short break. We will be right back. Welcome back, my GF viewers. In Islam, knowledge is seen as obviously regarded in a high manner. That value of knowledge is clear to all. Everyone values knowledge and is naturally humble to those who possess it. The prophet of God, Pes and Blessings Be Upon Him, is a pure family who is the seal of the prophets, is told to read in the very first instance of receiving divine revelation, read in the name of the Lord and the Cherisher, who created the Holy Quran Al-Alaq chapter 91 verse 1. Then the subject of teaching, the use of the pen is revealed. He who taught the use of the pen taught man that which he knew not. The Holy Quran Al-Alaq chapter 96 verse 4 and 5. It is very important to notice that the very first instance of revelation of divine teachings is about reading, teaching the pen, etc. This shows that it is teaching and knowledge that can elevate man from the lowest ranks to the highest positions and finally approach the threshold of God. The Holy Quran asks man's conscience to judge about knowledge. Say, are those equal, those who know and those who do not know? It is those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition. The Holy Quran Al-Zumar chapter 39 verse 9. There is a very important narration from the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his pure family. In it he says, visiting the knowledgeable people is more loved by God than 70 circumambulations of his holy house and more excellent than performing 70 hajj and umrah, mandatory or recommended pilgrimages that are approved and accepted. God will raise the status of the one who visits knowledgeable people 70 degrees and send down mercy upon him and the angels will bear witness that heaven is guaranteed for him. The prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him has also said, no believer sits with a scholar for an hour but that his Lord, the exalted, the high calls out to him, you sat with my beloved, I swear by my majesty and honor I will make heaven your abode. There are no obstacles for this. From this we can clearly tell the immense magnitude and the effects of sitting with and visiting knowledgeable individuals, both the student and the teacher are promised heaven. This reward is only meant for the teacher and the student who have pure intentions and work for God's sake. Imam Al-Jawad peace and blessings be upon him has said, whoever listens to a speaker has worshiped him. If the speaker is from God and is teaching divine things, then the listener has worshiped God. But if the speaker speaks through the tongue of Satan and is saying evil things, then he is worshiped Satan. Here the Imam peace and blessings be upon him emphasizes and stresses the fact that what we hear can be so influential on ourselves. And the Holy Quran it says, then let man look at his food and how we provide it for what we pour forth water and abundance for that we pour forth water and abundance and we split the earth in fragments and produce therein corn. The Holy Quran chapter 80 verses 24 to 27. Now, if we were to read this verse, we would conclude that it's talking about food and what we eat. But if we were to analyze and read the narrations of the Imams, we would conclude something else. The Immaculate Imam's peace and blessings be upon them have interpreted them to refer to our spiritual food. The late Faiz Qashani reported in the stuff Sirusafi, Imam al-Baqir peace and blessings be upon him was asked about the meaning of then let man look at his food. The Imam replied, by his food it is met knowledge. One must be very careful where he gets it from. Faiz Qashani then goes on to say, there are two types of food, food for the body and food for the mind. This is because we are composed of the body and the spirit. Man should think about how food is produced. It rains, the earth gets soft and seedlings emerge. Man should also think about his food for the mind. He should ponder over how knowledge is revealed in the lands of the prophets to the hearts of the prophets and how the minds of those who are ready to become educated receive this descendant revelation and blossom. Imam al-Sadiq peace be upon him quoted on the authority of Imam Ali peace be upon him. The right of a scholar include the following. You should not ask him too many questions. You should not take hold of his cloak. When you go to see him and there are some people with him, greet them all and give him a special greetings. Sit in front of him and do not sit behind him. Do not wink or point with your fingers. Do not keep saying so and so said in opposition to what he has said. Do not get upset if you have to wait a while to talk to him. Since his case is similar to the case of a palm tree, that is you have to wait for a while before you can get some dates. We can tell that from the Quranic verses and the narrations that in Islam, teachers are regarded in a very high manner. Many narrations even go as far as describing them as parents. This is evident through the words of Alexander. Once he was asked why he used to respect his teacher in a way better than his respecting his father, he answered, my father is the founder of the transient life, while my teacher is the founder of my changeless life. With this, we conclude this episode. Stay tuned for another episode. May Allah accept the appearance of our beloved Imam Mehdi. Peace and blessings be upon him. Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.