Teachers, Prevent Bullying

Islamic Stories

Bullying has serious consequences, affecting not only the victim and the perpetrator, but also their families, schools, and communities.

Bullying is not innocent fun if it involves harming or humiliating others. Addressing it requires awareness, teaching respect, stopping the behavior, supporting the victim, and holding the bully accountable in an appropriate manner.

One woman said: “After 25 years, I discovered that the girl who bullied me throughout middle school had become my son’s teacher. I saw her for the first time at a parents’ meeting. The moment she raised her head, my limbs froze. She was the same girl who used to throw my shoes in the restroom, scribble on my clothes, and force me to sit alone away from the other girls during lunch.

After finishing middle school, due to the bullying, I transferred to study in another city and cut off all contact with my classmates.

I neither saw her nor heard from her for 25 years.

After the meeting, I returned home and said just one sentence to my husband: ‘We must move our son to another class.’

The next morning, I was about to call the school. But before I could, I opened my son’s communication notebook and found a long message written by his teacher.

From the very first line, I recognized her handwriting. The message began with these words:

‘Dear student’s mother… I think you still remember me.

If you wish to transfer your son to another class, I will personally submit the request to the principal. But I have only one request: Give me one year, and let me protect your son.’

My hands trembled as I continued reading.

She wrote that after I transferred from the school, another group of girls began bullying a child in her class. But this time… she was the targeted child.

She experienced firsthand some of the fear and loneliness that I had endured for years.

Only then did she understand the magnitude of what she had done to me.

In her message, she said she had tried to reach out to apologize, but she didn’t know where I had gone and couldn’t find any way to contact me. Therefore, she chose to become a teacher, wanting to be the person who prevents the same harm she had once caused.

In the end, I did not transfer my son from her class.

Not because I forgave her, but because I wanted to see whether she had truly changed, or if her message was just empty words.

During the first semester, a student hid my son’s pencil case. On the same day, the teacher spoke to the entire class, then contacted the student’s family and addressed the issue immediately. At the final parents’ meeting at the end of the year, the teacher sat in front of me, lowered her head, and said: ‘I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I am truly sorry and regret everything I did to you.’

I didn’t know how to respond. The words I had carried inside me for 25 years were too heavy to be summarized in just two sentences.

On the last day of school, my son returned home with an essay titled ‘My Teacher.’ I read it until I reached the last line: ‘My teacher does not allow anyone to bully others.’

I reread the sentence many times.

This woman who ruined years of my childhood has now become the reason my child does not have to experience the same thing.

I realized one thing: We cannot change the past, and perhaps we cannot erase the pain caused by others.

But a person can learn from their worst mistakes and choose to spend the rest of their life doing the exact opposite.

And sometimes, the best way to atone for past pain… is to prevent it from happening to another child.

$ Imam and Preacher