The Simplified Books on Jurisprudence and the Method of Seeking Knowledge

Question:
This brother Abu Muhammad says: Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan (may Allah keep him safe), there are many books on jurisprudence, but I ask our Shaykh about the simplified and reliable books on jurisprudence that a student of knowledge can refer to and which are easy to understand, because there are phrases that are difficult for the student to understand. What is the best thing for a beginner student of knowledge to acquire?

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. As for what follows, seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim man and woman, as is in the hadith. Yes. Especially that which straightens his religion, corrects his creed and his worship, then his transactions, all his affairs. And he is in need of jurisprudence in the religion of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And jurisprudence, praise be to Allah, is made easy, and the books are many, but the matter lies with the teacher who is able to clarify to the student the jurisprudence of these books in the required manner, by being first qualified and well-versed in jurisprudence, such that he is able to clarify to the students what is in these books of good, guidance, and knowledge.
Because one who lacks a thing cannot give it, the self-taught, the beginner, and the ignorant are not fit to be teachers; for they themselves are in need of someone to teach them. Likewise, it is not fitting for a person to rely solely on books, reading, and memorization; none of this is sufficient. These are merely means, and it is necessary to acquire knowledge from the scholars. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) said: meaning, from among the believers, yes, so that they may understand the religion deeply. Understand it. Thus, warning is only to be given after knowledge and after deep understanding of the religion of Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
And the books are varied. Some are long and expanded, and these are for the great scholars and those firmly grounded in knowledge. Some are intermediate, and these are for those whose acquisition is intermediate. And some are concise, and these are for the beginner. The concise books are the entry point to the sciences. In every science there are concise books: in jurisprudence, in terminology, in hadith, in exegesis, in all the sciences there are concise books. In inheritance there are concise books, and they are the keys to the sciences.
And the student of knowledge does not go to the encyclopedias, the large books, and the authentic collections in hadith, the yellow ones. He starts from the alphabet, the beginning of the sciences, until the door opens for him. Then he progresses step by step in jurisprudence under the hands of the scholars, until he has a good accumulation that he can rely upon. And knowledge has no end. No one says, "I have finished." Knowledge is vast and has no end, and understandings differ. But as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Be correct and be near." So the student of knowledge progresses in seeking knowledge under the hands of the scholars.
Knowledge is not acquired all at once; rather, it is acquired bit by bit, progressing step by step under the guidance of scholars. This is the correct method of learning. If a student of knowledge is in formal studies or in the houses of knowledge, he reads the prescribed curricula in these academic institutions, which are set in various disciplines under the teachers. If he is not in formal studies, meaning in the mosques and study circles, then he follows what his shaykh, who is teaching him, directs him to. As we mentioned, a scholar does not take beginner students to the branches of knowledge where there is expansion and disagreement; rather, he progresses with them step by step until they are able to handle it and have a foundation they can rely on and build upon. This is the method for the scholar and the student. Therefore, it was said in the interpretation of the statement of Allah the Exalted, what you used to know the Book and what you used to study. They said, the rabbaniyyun are those who study the small matters of knowledge before the large ones. Allah is greater than mere upbringing. So they raise the students of knowledge in this way, progressing with them step by step. We see now people who appear suddenly to the people; we know them as commoners. Then they appear suddenly to the people and become a hadith scholar, become a jurist, while they have no foundation. They only read one or two books and did not understand them, and they think they have become scholars. They harm themselves and harm the people because they did not take the correct path for learning knowledge on the sound methodology. Yes.