Is it permissible for a female teacher to accept a gift from a student she is teaching, and is it permissible for a female teacher to assign a student a task that is specific to her?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. This is a female teacher asking, and she says: Is it permissible for a female teacher to accept a gift or flowers from a student she is teaching, or from the entire class who contribute to this gift? And is it permissible for a female teacher to assign a student she is teaching a task specific to her, such as asking her to write in her notebook and write the names of the class students in her notebook?
The Shaykh : May Allah reward her, may Allah reward this female teacher with good. It should also have been asked by a male teacher: Is it permissible for a male teacher to accept a gift from a student? The answer is no. As long as he is teaching him, it is not permissible for him to accept a gift from him, because a gift inclines a person to the interest of the giver against his will. It is a natural matter: any person who gives you a gift, you will incline toward him. So if a person accepts a gift from someone, let us say the teacher accepted a gift from a person, let us say it is a Parker pen. What is its value? What is its value? Estimate it as you wish.
The student: Twenty-five riyals.
The Shaykh : Twenty-five riyals, and the other student saw that he had accepted the gift of the pen. The pen was a gift from his classmate, who gave him a pen worth fifty riyals, because the student knows that this teacher who accepted the gift will, what? He will lean toward this student. Therefore, he comes with charity from people, with zakah (peace and blessings be upon him). This teacher, if a student gives him a gift, why does he give it to him? Because, because what? Because he is his teacher. If he were not his teacher, he would not have given it to him. Therefore, we say it is not permissible for a teacher to accept a gift from a student he is teaching, whether the teacher is a man or a woman.
But tell me, if the student graduates, if the student graduates and gives a gift to his teacher, is it permissible or not? It is permissible, because now there is no suspicion here, there is no suspicion, so it is permissible. The analogy is a man who lent you ten thousand riyals. He lent you ten thousand riyals. Is it permissible for you to give him a gift? It is not permissible. As long as you have not repaid the loan, it is forbidden for you to give him a gift, and it is forbidden for him to accept a gift. But when you have repaid the loan and given him a gift without any condition, is it permissible or not? It is permissible. Pay attention to this point. So we say to this female teacher, may Allah reward her with good for pointing out this issue, and we say that it is not permissible for a female teacher or a male teacher to accept a gift from students unless the student has finished and graduated, then there is no harm.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
Another questioner: The rest of the question, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : The rest of the question: And is it permissible for a female teacher to assign one of the students a task that is specific to her? We say this is also not permissible. This is not permissible, because if she assigns her a task specific to her and the student does it, that necessitates that she love the student and incline toward her, and this is not permissible. These matters, my brothers, are very sensitive, because the teacher is, in reality, with the students like a judge with litigants. He must have complete justice between the students, and these gifts may prevent him from justice.
The Shaykh : May Allah reward her, may Allah reward this female teacher with good. It should also have been asked by a male teacher: Is it permissible for a male teacher to accept a gift from a student? The answer is no. As long as he is teaching him, it is not permissible for him to accept a gift from him, because a gift inclines a person to the interest of the giver against his will. It is a natural matter: any person who gives you a gift, you will incline toward him. So if a person accepts a gift from someone, let us say the teacher accepted a gift from a person, let us say it is a Parker pen. What is its value? What is its value? Estimate it as you wish.
The student: Twenty-five riyals.
The Shaykh : Twenty-five riyals, and the other student saw that he had accepted the gift of the pen. The pen was a gift from his classmate, who gave him a pen worth fifty riyals, because the student knows that this teacher who accepted the gift will, what? He will lean toward this student. Therefore,
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) sent a man to collect charity.
بعث النبي صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم رجلا على الصدقةIt is said his name was Abdullah ibn al-Lutbiyyah. He came with camels from the people and arrived in Madinah and said, "O Messenger of Allah, this is for you, and this is a gift given to me." The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) disapproved of him and said, "If we appoint a man to work for you, and he returns and says, 'This is for you, and this is a gift given to me,' should he not sit in his father's and mother's house and see if anyone gives him a gift or not?"
يقال له عبد الله بن اللتبية فجاء بالإبل من الناس قدم المدينة وقال يا رسول الله: هذا لكم وهذا أهدي إلي فأنكر عليه الرسول عليه الصلاة والسلام وقال : إننا نستعمل الرجل على عمل منكم فيرجع ويقول هذا لكم وهذا أهدي إلي أفلا جلس في بيت أبيه وأمه فينظر أيهدى له أم لاBut tell me, if the student graduates, if the student graduates and gives a gift to his teacher, is it permissible or not? It is permissible, because now there is no suspicion here, there is no suspicion, so it is permissible. The analogy is a man who lent you ten thousand riyals. He lent you ten thousand riyals. Is it permissible for you to give him a gift? It is not permissible. As long as you have not repaid the loan, it is forbidden for you to give him a gift, and it is forbidden for him to accept a gift. But when you have repaid the loan and given him a gift without any condition, is it permissible or not? It is permissible. Pay attention to this point. So we say to this female teacher, may Allah reward her with good for pointing out this issue, and we say that it is not permissible for a female teacher or a male teacher to accept a gift from students unless the student has finished and graduated, then there is no harm.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
Another questioner: The rest of the question, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : The rest of the question: And is it permissible for a female teacher to assign one of the students a task that is specific to her? We say this is also not permissible. This is not permissible, because if she assigns her a task specific to her and the student does it, that necessitates that she love the student and incline toward her, and this is not permissible. These matters, my brothers, are very sensitive, because the teacher is, in reality, with the students like a judge with litigants. He must have complete justice between the students, and these gifts may prevent him from justice.