A Suggested Method for Organizing the Pursuit of Knowledge for the Beginner

Question:
A questioner says: I am a beginner student of knowledge, and I want to follow a specific method in seeking knowledge, which is to devote three years to memorizing the Book of Allah, then devote three or four years to studying the linguistic sciences, and so on for the rest of the sciences. What is your opinion, Honorable Shaykh?

Answer:
My opinion is that you should organize your lessons with the shaykhs: study grammar with this one, study fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) with that one, study hadith with this one, and so on, and study 'aqidah (creed) with that one. Take the knowledge bit by bit, for the sciences serve one another and help one another, so take them through this path.
It is not that you devote years to one discipline and then devote yourself to the second one; that will take up your whole life, and you may not even reach the goal. But if you organize a lesson in the Qur'an for memorization, a lesson in grammar, a lesson in fiqh, a lesson in tawhid (the oneness of Allah), a lesson in hadith, and a lesson in tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis), and you take them bit by bit, then this will help you, with the permission of Allah, to reach the goal. Yes.