The Ruling on Directing Students to Read the Books of Sayyid Qutb
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
We are a group of students studying in the secondary stage. In the final year, we have a teacher who advises and recommends to the students that they read the books of Sayyid Qutb. He mentions their names to them in the classrooms. Then he started making and cursing one of the sheikhs who refuted Sayyid Qutb. He mentions his name to the students in the classrooms. And… He said, “This man has no concern except for Sayyid Qutb; he tracks his mistakes. And what did he do with the innovators? They are all around him. This is empty talk with no value.”
Answer:
Why does he not advise the students to read the books of the righteous Salaf, which are more beneficial, better, and more abundant in knowledge and benefit? Why did he not advise the students to read the books of the people of knowledge from the Imams and their followers, which contain much good, if he were truly advising the students? As for his specifying the reading of only so-and-so’s books, let him know that this indicates he is a person of bias. That is, if you specify a person from the later or contemporary scholars and say to them, “Read his books,” this indicates that you are a person of bias toward this person. If your intention is for the students to benefit, why do you not advise them to read the books of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, the books of Shaykh al-Imam Ibn al-Qayyim, the books of Imam Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, and the books of the Imams of the Da’wah, which contain knowledge and good? They contain knowledge of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and shirk (associating partners with Allah), knowledge of acts of worship, and knowledge of fiqh rulings. Why does he not advise them to this?
Yes, if we read the books of Sayyid Qutb or others, what do we benefit from? What do we benefit from? We benefit from knowledge of tawhid, we benefit from knowledge of shirk, we benefit from knowledge of acts of worship, we benefit from knowledge of rulings, transactions, and fiqh. I do not think we would benefit from them to this extent or with these great types of knowledge. Yes, so the one who advises should recommend to the students the books that are beneficial to them in their ‘aqidah (creed), in their acts of worship, and in their transactions. This is the one who advises. Yes.
We are a group of students studying in the secondary stage. In the final year, we have a teacher who advises and recommends to the students that they read the books of Sayyid Qutb. He mentions their names to them in the classrooms. Then he started making and cursing one of the sheikhs who refuted Sayyid Qutb. He mentions his name to the students in the classrooms. And… He said, “This man has no concern except for Sayyid Qutb; he tracks his mistakes. And what did he do with the innovators? They are all around him. This is empty talk with no value.”
Answer:
Why does he not advise the students to read the books of the righteous Salaf, which are more beneficial, better, and more abundant in knowledge and benefit? Why did he not advise the students to read the books of the people of knowledge from the Imams and their followers, which contain much good, if he were truly advising the students? As for his specifying the reading of only so-and-so’s books, let him know that this indicates he is a person of bias. That is, if you specify a person from the later or contemporary scholars and say to them, “Read his books,” this indicates that you are a person of bias toward this person. If your intention is for the students to benefit, why do you not advise them to read the books of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, the books of Shaykh al-Imam Ibn al-Qayyim, the books of Imam Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, and the books of the Imams of the Da’wah, which contain knowledge and good? They contain knowledge of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and shirk (associating partners with Allah), knowledge of acts of worship, and knowledge of fiqh rulings. Why does he not advise them to this?
Yes, if we read the books of Sayyid Qutb or others, what do we benefit from? What do we benefit from? We benefit from knowledge of tawhid, we benefit from knowledge of shirk, we benefit from knowledge of acts of worship, we benefit from knowledge of rulings, transactions, and fiqh. I do not think we would benefit from them to this extent or with these great types of knowledge. Yes, so the one who advises should recommend to the students the books that are beneficial to them in their ‘aqidah (creed), in their acts of worship, and in their transactions. This is the one who advises. Yes.
Source
الفوزان - الفتاوى المهمة لعامة الأمة — archive.org (52:55)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.