Encouraging the youth of Yemen to seek knowledge

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, our question is for Yemen and the people of Yemen. They have many virtues and a precedence in seeking knowledge and following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). We would like a word from your eminence to encourage and remind the youth of Yemen, in particular, to seek knowledge. May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
It is obligatory for all young people to gain knowledge of the religion and to learn, and it is also obligatory for the middle-aged and the elderly to seek knowledge and gain understanding of the religion. It is obligatory for everyone: the old, the young, and the middle-aged; for everyone, men and women alike, so that they know what Allah has made obligatory and refrain from what Allah has forbidden, and so that they are able to fulfill what Allah has made obligatory upon them. They were created to worship Allah, so they must learn and gain understanding of the religion so that they fulfill what Allah has made obligatory and refrain from what He has forbidden. Faith, specifically, is also obligatory upon them. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Therefore, it is obligatory for the people of Yemen to gain understanding of the religion and to learn so that they know what Allah has made obligatory and what He has forbidden. When a person seeks a circle of knowledge, he must seek circles of knowledge and seek out scholars known for their sound creed, knowledge, and virtue so that he can learn from them. Patience, seeking knowledge, and gaining understanding of the religion are necessary. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . He said: and he said: . Therefore, learning and gaining understanding of the religion is obligatory for the people of Yemen and others, for the people of Najd and others, for the people of the Hijaz and others, for the people of Sham and others, for the people of Egypt and others, and for all the people of the earth. It is obligatory for all the people of the earth, jinn and humans, to learn and gain understanding of the religion. This is through the path of the Noble Qur'an and the path of the authentic Sunnah, the hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Knowledge comes from this path; knowledge comes from the Book and the Sunnah. This is the knowledge. So they must learn from the Qur'an, reflect upon it, understand it, advise one another with it, and discuss it, along with what is authentic from the Sunnah from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in the two Sahihs, al-Bukhari and Muslim, in the four Sunans: Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah, in the Musnad of Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him), in the Muwatta of Malik (may Allah have mercy on him), in the books of al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him), in the books of Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him), and in the books of the other Imams. He must learn and gain understanding. These are collected, praise be to Allah. This is a collection that exists, a collection of authentic hadiths that are clear. So the believer learns, gains understanding, and asks the people of knowledge. Among what has been written on the Sunnah is *Balugh al-Maram* by al-Hafiz, which is a good book, and *Umdat al-Hadith*, a good book by 'Abd al-Ghani ibn Sa'ud al-Maqdisi, and *al-Muntaqa* by Shaykh Majd al-Din ibn Taymiyyah. These are hadith books that assist the student of knowledge, along with reflecting on the Qur'an. The Qur'an is the foundation; this is the true foundation, the great Qur'an. Then the Sunnah. So he learns, discerns, and asks the people of knowledge. When he intends to go to the people of knowledge, he becomes a student under them, asks them, and attends their circles so that he benefits. This is in the Kingdom, in Yemen, in Sham, and everywhere. But he should ask about the people of the Sunnah, about the scholars of the Sunnah, not just anyone, but about the scholars of the Sunnah, the people of tawhid (the oneness of Allah), the people of faith, the people of sound creed, so that he studies under them and learns from them.
In Yemen, praise be to Allah, there are teachers from the people of good, known for good creed, whom he should seek and learn from, such as Shaykh 'Abd al-Majid al-Zindani, such as Shaykh Maqbul al-Wadi'i, and others like them, and a group of other scholars of knowledge there from whom he learns, those who studied at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud University, and those who studied at the University of the People of the Path in Madinah, and those who studied at Umm al-Qura University. There is a group of scholars and callers to Allah in Yemen. If he asks about them, he will find them. He learns and reaches out so that he is upon clarity, and so that he benefits his family, his children, and his neighbors by teaching them and advising them to good. It is obligatory for people to cooperate, because Allah says: and "Fear Allah." So everyone who has knowledge must cooperate with his brothers in Yemen, or in Saudi Arabia, in Najd, in the Hijaz, in the south of the Kingdom, in the north, in Sham, in Egypt, in Jordan, in Iraq, in India, in Pakistan, in any place, in knowledge: to learn it and teach it. It is obligatory for the general public to gain understanding of the religion and ask about it. This is the obligation of everyone. Everyone says, "I worship Allah," and there is no way to this worship except through Allah, then through gaining understanding of the religion, learning, and discerning. We ask Allah for guidance for everyone.