Bismillaah il-Rahmaan il-Raheem. In the Name of Allaah,
Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Praise be to Allaah, Lord of the Worlds, Master of the
Day of Judgement, God of the first and the last, Sustainer
of heaven and earth, and peace and blessings be upon
His trustworthy Prophet, the Teacher of mankind, sent as
a Mercy to the worlds.
Teaching people is one of the greatest good deeds whose
benefits spread to others. It is the da‘iahs1

and educators’
share of the heritage of the Prophets and Messengers.
“Allaah and the angels, and even the ant in its nest
and the whale in the sea will pray for the one who

teaches people the ways of good.” (Reported by al-
Tirmidhi; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Ahmad Shaakir edn.,

no. 2685. Abu ‘Eesa said, this is a saheeh ghareeb ha-
san hadeeth).

There are different types and ways of teaching, with dif-
ferent means and methods, one of which is correcting

mistakes. Correcting mistakes is a part of education; they
are like inseparable twins.

1
Da‘iyah: One who calls to the religion of Islam. (E)

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Dealing with and correcting mistakes is also a part of sin-
cerity in religion (naseehah) which is a duty on all Mus-
lims. The connection between this and the concept of en-
joining what is good and forbidding what is evil, which

is also a duty, is quite obvious (but we should note that
the area of mistakes is broader than the area of evil
(munkar), so a mistake may or may not be evil as such).

Correcting mistakes also formed a part of the wahy (reve-
lation) and the methodology of the Qur`aan. The Qur`aan

brought commands and prohibitions, approvals and de-
nunciations and correction of mistakes – even those on

the part of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him). So it included rebukes and pointing out of
mistakes, for example (interpretation of the meaning):
“(The Prophet) frowned and turned away. Because
there came to him the blind man [‘Abd-Allaah ibn
Umm Maktoom, whilst he was preaching to one or
some of the chiefs of Quraysh]. But what could tell
you that perchance he might become pure (from
sins). Or that he might receive admonition, and that
the admonition might profit him? As for him who
thinks himself self-sufficient. To him you attend.
What does it matter to you if he will not become
pure (from disbelief, you are only a Messenger, your
duty is to convey the Message of Allaah). But as to

him who came to you running, And is afraid (of Al-
laah and His Punishment), Of him you are neglect-

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ful and divert your attention to another.” [‘Abasa
80:1-10]
“And remember when you (Muhammad) said to him
(Zayd ibn Haarithah – the freed slave of the Prophet)
on whom Allaah has bestowed Grace (by guiding
him to Islam) and you (too) have done a favour (by
freeing him), ‘Keep your wife to yourself and fear
Allaah.’ But you did hide in yourself (what Allaah
had already made known to you – i.e. that He will
give her to you in marriage) that which Allaah will

make mainfest, you did fear the people whereas Al-
laah had a better right that you should fear Him...”

[al-Ahzaab 33:38]

“Not for you (O Muhammad) is the decision; wheth-
er He turns in mercy to (pardons) them or punishes

them; verily, they are the zaalimoon (polytheists,
disobedient, wrong-doers, etc.).” [Aali ‘Imraan 3:128]
Qur`aan was also revealed to correct the mistakes of
some of the Sahaabah in some situations. When Haatib
ibn Abi Balta‘ah (may Allaah be pleased with him) made

the mistake of writing to the kuffaar of Quraysh and in-
forming them of the direction in which the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) headed on a
military campaign against them, Allaah revealed the
words (interpretation of the meaning):

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“O you who believe! Take not My enemies and your
enemies (i.e., disbelievers and polytheists, etc.) as
friends, showing affection towards them, while they
have disbelieved in what has come to you of the

truth, and have driven out the Messenger and your-
selves (from your homeland) because you believe in

Allaah your Lord! If you have come forth to strive in
My Cause and to seek My Good Pleasure, (then take
not these disbelievers and polytheists, etc., as your
friends). You show friendship to them in secret,
while I am All-Aware of what you conceal and what
you reveal. And whosoever of you (Muslims) does
that, then indeed he has gone (far) astray, (away)
from the Straight Path.” [al-Mumtahinah 60:1]
Concerning the mistake made by the archers at the battle
of Uhud, who left the position where the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) had commanded
them to stay, Allaah revealed the words (interpretation of
the meaning):
“... until (the moment) you lost your courage and

fell to disputing about the order, and disobeyed af-
ter He showed you (of the booty) which you love.

Among you are some that desire this world and
some that desire the Hereafter...” [Aali ‘Imraan
3:152]
When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) stayed away from his wives in order to discip-

line them, and some people spread rumours that he had
divorced them, Allaah revealed the words (interpretation
of the meaning):
“When there comes to them some matter touching
(public) safety or fear, they make it known (among

the people), if only they had referred it to the Mes-
senger or to those charged with authority among

them, the proper investigators would have unders-
tood it from them (directly)...” [al-Nisa ́ 4:83]

When some of the Muslims failed to migrate from Mak-
kah to Madeenah with no legitimate excuse, Allaah re-
vealed the words (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily! As for those whom the nagels take (in
death) while they are wronging themselves (as they

stayed among the disbelievers even though emigra-
tion was obligatroy for them), they (angels) say (to

them): ‘In what (condition) were you?’ They reply:

‘We were weak and oppressed on earth.’ They (an-
gels) say: ‘Was not the earth of Allaah spacious

enough for you to emigrate therein?’ ...” [al-Nisa ́
4:97]
When some of the Sahaabah believed and repeated the

rumours of the munaafiqeen accusing ‘Aa`ishah of some-
thing she was innocent of, Allaah revealed aayaat con-
cerning this lie, including (interpretation of the meaning):

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“Had it not been for the Grace of Allaah and His
Mercy unto you in this world and in the Hereafter, a

great torment would have touched you for that whe-
reof you had spoken. When you were propagating it

with your tongues and uttering with your mouths
that whereof you had no knowledge, you counted it
a little thing, while with Allaah it was very great.”
[al-Noor 24:14]
Then Allaah said (interpretation of the meaning):
“And why did you not, when you heard it, say – ‘It
is not right for us to speak of this. Glory be to You
(O Allaah), this is a great lie’? Allaah forbids you

from it and warns you not to repeat the like of it for-
ever, if you are believers.” [an-Noor 24:16-17]

When some of the Sahaabah argued in the presence of
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
and raised their voices, Allaah revealed (interpretation of
the meaning):

“O you who believe! Do not put (yourselves) for-
ward before Allaah and His Messenger, and fear Al-
laah. Verily! Allaah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. O

you who believe! Raise not your voices above the
voice of the Prophet, nor speak aloud to him in talk
as you speak aloud to one another, lest your deeds
may be rendered fruitless while you perceive not.”
[al-Hujuraat 49:1-2]

 A detailed description of the different ways the Prophet s advised people.