The Most Important Sources of Acquiring Sacred Knowledge

The questioner:
The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, I hope you will mention to me the most important sources of acquiring sacred knowledge in our present time; because there are many means, so which is the best of them? May you be rewarded. And what is the obligation of the student of knowledge toward those sources?

The Shaykh:
Yes.

The questioner:
He asks about the most important sources for acquiring religious knowledge?

The Shaykh:
.

The questioner:
He says: What are the most important sources for acquiring religious knowledge in our present time, and which are the best?

The Shaykh:
The sources of acquiring knowledge are the principles of jurisprudence. First, the Book, which is the Qur'an. Second, the Prophetic Sunnah. Third, analogical reasoning. Fourth, scholarly consensus. These are the foundations of knowledge from which knowledge is derived, and the methodology of the learner. As for where one acquires knowledge from, or from whom one takes knowledge? Knowledge is not taken from books, nor from those who claim to be scholars, but rather it is taken from scholars who are known for it, generation after generation. So a person must know from where he takes his knowledge? From the trusted people of knowledge who are known for that. Yes.