Which is better for a student of knowledge: to work and leave off seeking knowledge, or to seek knowledge and have people spend on him?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, which is better for a student of knowledge: to work and be occupied away from seeking knowledge, or to devote himself to it and have someone spend on him?
Answer:
He combines the two: he works and seeks knowledge. He works at certain times and seeks knowledge at others, just as the Companions worked at night and sought knowledge from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) by day. Likewise, the students of knowledge in Najd did so until recently; they worked at night seeking their livelihood, carrying water to the houses for a fee, and seeking knowledge from the shaykhs.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, which is better for a student of knowledge: to work and be occupied away from seeking knowledge, or to devote himself to it and have someone spend on him?
Answer:
He combines the two: he works and seeks knowledge. He works at certain times and seeks knowledge at others, just as the Companions worked at night and sought knowledge from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) by day. Likewise, the students of knowledge in Najd did so until recently; they worked at night seeking their livelihood, carrying water to the houses for a fee, and seeking knowledge from the shaykhs.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [246 /641] أيهما خير لطالب العلم أن يعمل ويترك طلب العلم أم يطلب العلم وينفق عليه الناس؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.