Seeking knowledge through receiving it from scholars, not merely by reading books
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This questioner says: A beginner student of knowledge, what do you advise and recommend regarding which books to read? May Allah reward you.
Answer:
Seeking knowledge is not by reading books, even if they are many, nor by memorizing them. Seeking knowledge is sitting with scholars and receiving knowledge from them, whether in formal studies in schools, institutes, and colleges, or in studies in mosques and study circles.
This is seeking knowledge. As for reading books, or memorizing books, or memorizing hadiths, this may deceive its owner, and he may think he is a scholar, yet he does not understand what he reads or what he benefits from this matter. Seeking knowledge is not by reading books only, but rather seeking knowledge from the scholars wherever they are; one goes to them and travels to them. Yes, the one who wants to seek knowledge has no path other than this.Sahih Muslim 2699a He takes a path where he sits and reads and memorizes, but does not travel to the scholars, search for them, and receive from them. Yes, if you read the biographies of the previous scholars, such as Imam Ahmad, al-Bukhari, and the Imams, you will find that they traveled to distant lands to meet the scholars and receive from them.
Allah, Exalted and Majestic, said:[At-Tawbah 9:122] meaning, they should set out to seek knowledge. [At-Tawbah 9:122] So it is necessary to set out and travel to seek knowledge wherever it is found. As for you opening a library in your house and filling it with books, reading and memorizing, this is not seeking knowledge; rather, this is arrogance. How many self-proclaimed scholars and ignorant people who claimed to be scholars have been led into much error, ignorance, and issuing fatwas without knowledge by this. Yes.
This questioner says: A beginner student of knowledge, what do you advise and recommend regarding which books to read? May Allah reward you.
Answer:
Seeking knowledge is not by reading books, even if they are many, nor by memorizing them. Seeking knowledge is sitting with scholars and receiving knowledge from them, whether in formal studies in schools, institutes, and colleges, or in studies in mosques and study circles.
This is seeking knowledge. As for reading books, or memorizing books, or memorizing hadiths, this may deceive its owner, and he may think he is a scholar, yet he does not understand what he reads or what he benefits from this matter. Seeking knowledge is not by reading books only, but rather seeking knowledge from the scholars wherever they are; one goes to them and travels to them. Yes, the one who wants to seek knowledge has no path other than this.
he who treads the path in search of knowledge, Allah would make that path easy, leading to Paradise for him
من سلك طريقا يلتمس فيه علما سهل الله له به طريقا الى الجنهAllah, Exalted and Majestic, said:
And it is not for the believers to go forth [to battle] all at once
وَمَا كَانَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لِيَنفِرُوا كَافَّةًFor there should separate from every division of them a group [remaining] to obtain understanding in the religion and warn their people when they return to them that they might be cautious.
فَلَوْلَا نَفَرَ مِن كُلِّ فِرْقَةٍ مِّنْهُمْ طَائِفَةٌ لِّيَتَفَقَّهُوا فِي الدِّينِ وَلِيُنذِرُوا قَوْمَهُمْ إِذَا رَجَعُوا إِلَيْهِمْ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَحْذَرُونَ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [624] طلب العلم بالتلقي عن العلماء لا بمجرد قراءة الكتب - صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.