The Basic Principles of Seeking Knowledge

Question:
May Allah reward you. Another questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, what are the basic principles in seeking knowledge?

Answer:
The basic principles in seeking knowledge are that you seek out the scholars who are firmly grounded in knowledge. You seek from them the one from whom you will study, and you sit before him. You begin with the concise texts, memorizing them, and he explains them to you in creed, jurisprudence, hadith, tafsir, and the other Islamic sciences and the sciences of the Arabic language. You need two things: first, a skilled teacher who fears Allah the Exalted and is mindful of Him, because the scholar plants two things in you: the first is scrupulousness and fear of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and the second is beneficial knowledge. So you seek out from the scholars one in whose knowledge, religion, and creed you have confidence, and you read to him whatever is easy for you of the books, especially the concise ones, because the concise texts are the keys to the sciences. Some beginning students and some teachers read from the mother books and the large books, and this is a wrong method. These people came to knowledge from its branches rather than from its roots. Allah the Exalted and Majestic said, “And enter the houses from their doors,” . So knowledge is not taken from its top, but rather from its roots and its basics, and the student of knowledge progresses in it step by step until he has a scientific aptitude, a correct acquisition, and a correct foundation. As for reading in the lengthy books and the books of scholarly disagreement while a person is at the beginning, a beginner in seeking knowledge, this is first of all of no benefit, and it may even harm; indeed, it certainly harms. And this is deception by the teacher as well. This is deception by the teacher who brings beginning students to the mother books and the large books and has them read in them, and in the disagreement among the scholars. There is no doubt that this is deception by the teacher. And Allah the Exalted and Majestic said . Some of the scholars said, “Be rabbaniyyin.” The rabbani is the one who begins with the small matters of knowledge before the large ones. This is the rabbani who nurtures the student in seeking knowledge and progresses with him step by step. Yes.