Student Life

New Semester already started in this week..
New job also has began in the same week..

Honestly speaking, I really miss my student life. I miss to go to classes and learn something and new knowledge from the honourable lecturers. In this semester, I cannot do the same thing like a usual student life before this. I have to face the student and adapt a new environment as a lecturer.

However, I am a full-time student, which means that I will be a student for the whole time in my life. Although I might be not able to attend a class like a student, I'm still a student for the cycle of our life. I'm in the process of learning in this life since I'm still young. Like my father always said that, the real study of life is not during the lecture in the class, but it happens outside the class. And now, I'm facing the real practical learning in this worldly life.

At IIUM, I can see many new faces of junior. I can feel their feeling of joy and happiness as the student of this university. Same goes to IIC, there are many students of Diploma in this private college. I also can feel their feeling to have a new semester and new lecturer like me. I can understand what are their needs and wants for the new semester. In short, I wanna try my best to be a good educator which helps them to achieve their dreams and success.

This alphabet is very important to the students, even though 'A' is not impossible, but it will not come by itself. David Bly said: "Striving for success withour hardwork is like trying harvest where you haven't planted". Think about it~!

As a sharing for this entry, Al-Ghazali considers the seeking of knowledge as a form of worship, and teaching as a duty and an obligation, and indeed a most excellent profession. Teachers are indispensable to society. Al-Ghazali proposes a ‘professional code of ethics' for teachers, who, he says, should practice what they preach, and be an example to their pupils and to people in general. He said:

"O Disciple! How many sleepless nights have you passed reading science and poring over books—but I do not know its purpose. If it was for worldly ends, to gain its baubles, win its honours and to boast over your contemporaries and equals, woe to you, and again woe! But if your purpose was to vitalize the Sacred Law of the Prophet, to develop your character and break ‘the soul commanding evil', then blessing on you and again blessings."

Then, al-Ghazali highlights a ‘code of ethics' whereby students should:

• Ensure that they are spiritually pure before they undertake the quest for knowledge;
• Divest themselves of their worldly possessions, detach themselves from hearth and home, and devote themselves to the search for knowledge and the pursuit of the hereafter;
• Respect the rights of their teachers and behave in a civil manner towards them;
• Beware, especially at the beginning of their studies, of paying too much attention to doctrinal controversies;
• Master the fundamentals of the praiseworthy sciences (linguistics, tafsir, hadith, fiqh and kalam), and then specialize by studying one or more of those sciences in greater depth;
• Choose useful subjects in which to specialize, especially those that are conducive to salvation in the hereafter;
• Study each subject thoroughly before going on to another, bearing in mind the logical sequence and interconnectedness of the various disciplines;
• Have as their main goal in their search for knowledge the cultivation and perfection of the innermost self in this world, and proximity to God in the hereafter, rather than the attainment of high office or the acquisition of wealth or fame

For those whe has a responsibility as a teacher, al-Ghazali said that the teacher should be a model and an example, not merely a purveyor or medium of knowledge. His work is not limited to the teaching of a particular subject; rather, it should encompass all aspects of the personality and life of the pupil.

Now, I have a responsibility as a student as well as a teacher. May Allah help me and show me the right path to do well in both duties. Aminn~~

**Note: Majority of al-Ghazali's idea was taken from "Al-Ghazali's Theory of Education: Its Philosophy and Its Impact".