The Ruling on Studying Fiqh According to a Specific School of Jurisprudence and Advice for the Student of Knowledge

Question:
The questioner says: Some people study fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) according to a specific school of jurisprudence. What is Your Eminence’s opinion on this? And please advise us on the books that a student of knowledge must study in tawhid (the oneness of Allah), fiqh, the Prophet’s biography, and 'aqidah (creed) with some detail. May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
There is nothing wrong with a person studying fiqh according to a specific school of jurisprudence from the four schools: the Hanafi school, the Maliki school, the Shafi'i school, or the Hanbali school. There is nothing wrong with that, for all of them are, praise be to Allah, valid and Sunnah-based. However, it does not follow from this that everything in them is correct; there may be some error in them. We do not take them as a settled matter. We study them thoroughly: study what is contrary, study. But when it comes to practice and issuing fatwas, you do not issue a fatwa except with what is supported by evidence, and you do not act except with what is supported by evidence. As for study, study the stronger position, the weaker position, and the erroneous position—study all of it for the sake of awareness and knowledge only. But when it comes to practice, you do not act except with what has evidence, and if you are asked, you do not issue a fatwa except with what has evidence. Yes. He says: the books.
There are many, praise be to Allah. And I have said and repeated that the important thing is not the books; the important thing is the teacher. The important thing is the teacher. So if you find a competent, knowledgeable, and precise teacher, the matter of the books is easy, praise be to Allah. The teacher is the one who indicates to you the books you should read and study with him. As for just books without a teacher, that will not benefit you at all; rather, it may waste you greatly, and you will be lost in the issues of the books, not knowing where to go. You must have a teacher, just as you do not walk in the desert except with a clear path, or if you are not skilled, you must travel with a guide, a knowledgeable person who shows you the way. If you do not know the area, do not know the desert, and do not know the open spaces, you do not enter the desert except with a guide and a knowledgeable person who shows you the way. This is the scholar. This is the scholar who shows you the path of knowledge. So choose the teacher first, and then choose the book. As for books without teachers, you will not benefit much from them; rather, you may make many mistakes and errors. How many errors have occurred from people who relied on books and did not study under scholars? How many errors have occurred from them regarding themselves and regarding society, in terms of mistakes, incorrect speech, and fatwas that contradict the truth? All of this is due to presumptuousness in seeking knowledge from papers and books without teachers. If you find a teacher to study with in a mosque or in a study circle, or if you enroll in formal study with curricula and teachers in the scientific institutes, the Shari'ah colleges, the colleges of Usul al-Din (Principles of Religion), or the language colleges—all of these are colleges with formal study, curricula, and selected books.
If one of two things is facilitated for you: either a teacher in a mosque or in a study circle, or in formal study, or if you isolate yourself and read alone, or read with a group of your peers who have no knowledge, that is the very essence of error, the very essence of destruction, and the very essence of ignorance. And how many mistakes have occurred to people because of these who graduated from books without teachers and without evidence? Imam Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) says: “Ignorance is a deadly disease, and its cure consists of two things that are combined: a text from the Book or from the Sunnah, and the physician for that is the divine scholar. The physician is the divine scholar. As for the books, they are like medicines. The ignorant person does not take them and treat himself with them; he must take them through whom? Through the physician. Similarly, knowledge is not taken from books. Books are like pharmacies, but the physician of knowledge is the scholar, the divine scholar. ‘And the physician for that is the divine scholar.’ This is it. So a teacher is necessary, and a book is necessary. But without a teacher, do not trouble yourself. Yes.