The Best for a Student of Knowledge is Memorizing the Matns

Question:
Your Eminence the Shaykh, the questioner says: What is best for a student of knowledge, to memorize a text in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) such as al-Zad, or a text from the hadith texts such as al-Bulugh, given that one of the shaykhs says the best is to memorize a text in fiqh because it strengthens the faculty of deriving rulings? If he memorizes a text in hadith, the memorizer would not be able to derive the rulings from the hadith as they are derived in the fiqh text. Please inform us of the correct position in this matter?

Answer:
It is obligatory for the student of knowledge to focus on seeking knowledge and to take care of it. He should start with books of 'aqidah (creed) that clarify to him the foundation and basis of his religion. Then he should memorize what is easy for him from the books of hadith, and then what is easy for him from the books of fiqh. This is because fiqh is the result of the hadith and the Qur'an, being the branches, while the Qur'an is the root. So the believer takes care of the root of his religion: he learns the Qur'an, strives to memorize the Qur'an and what is easy of it, and increases in its recitation, so that he knows his 'aqidah, knows his Lord and his God, and knows what is right from Him, and knows His names and attributes. So the most important thing is the books of 'aqidah, and the greatest and most important and most fundamental and most truthful of them is the Book of Allah, the Qur'an. So it is obligatory to focus on the Qur'an, take care of the Qur'an, and suffice with its recitation, along with memorizing it if it is easy, and what is easy of it, along with focusing on the meaning so that he knows his Lord, knows His names and attributes, and knows the truth for which he was created. And so on, there are compiled books in this that help him understand the Book of Allah, such as the book al-Tawhid by the Shaykh and Imam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him), Kashf al-Shubuhat, Thana'at al-Usul, and al-'Aqidah al-Wasitiyyah by the Shaykh and Imam Ibn Taymiyyah. These are books that help him with the correct 'aqidah indicated by the great Qur'an and the pure Sunnah. And so on, he memorizes what is easy for him from the books of hadith, such as the hadith of Shaykh 'Imad al-Din 'Abd al-Ghaffar ibn Salama al-Maqdisi, and such as Bulugh al-Maram by al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar. These are two great and easy books, so starting with them or one of them is more important than the books of fiqh. Then fiqh comes after that; he memorizes what is easy for him from the books of fiqh, such as al-Zad al-Mustaqni', al-Muntaqa, and al-Tadrib, so that he can use them to help understand the issues and derive the issues. And so on, he memorizes what is easy for him from the books of grammar and Arabic literature, such as Qatr al-Nada or al-Ajrumiyyah. And if it is easy for him to memorize al-Alfiyyah, if the student of knowledge has digested al-Ajrumiyyah and Qatr al-Nada, he memorizes al-Alfiyyah. And so on, in terminology, such as Nukhbat al-Fikr, which helps him understand the terminology of hadith. And so on, a book on usul al-fiqh (the principles of jurisprudence) and its summary. Yes.