Guiding Students in Examinations and Preserving Textbooks

Question:
We are receiving calls from our brother and sister viewers via the program’s phone number, 888-3000, to present them to our Shaykh, Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan (may Allah preserve him). To begin, Honorable Shaykh, the students are actually nearing the end of their exams and tests. There is a phenomenon that truly requires addressing, which is the issue of throwing away textbooks and course materials. If we know that these books, praise be to Allah, are all religious in our curricula, and they also contain verses, tafsir, and Qur’an. Your words on this matter and your guidance for our student sons (may Allah preserve and protect you).

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may the prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. We ask Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, for our brothers and student sons in these days, the days of examination, to grant them success, true success, in which there is no cheating and no deception.
For cheating and deception are forbidden, especially when it comes from students of knowledge, on days of examination. They must rely on truthfulness. They must be sincere in their intention for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and seek His help. They must ensure that their answers are based on knowledge and sincerity, without any cheating or deception. We also advise them to study.
And that is throughout the year, but in these days for revision, we advise them to study before entering the examination room. And that they rely on truthfulness and sincerity in their answers? And that their answers be correct and in accordance with what they studied in their courses.
We also advise them to take care of the books in their hands, for they are precious books, books of knowledge, containing verses and hadiths, and the words of the scholars. They must take care of them, and not tear them up or throw them in the streets or in places of desecration. Rather, they should either keep them, because they are books from which they will benefit in the future, and their desire and need for them have not ended.
Also, money is spent on them, so do not waste this money. Either they should keep them, which is preferable since they need them, or they should hand them over to the competent authority that provided them. The competent authority should also take an interest in this matter and retrieve the books from them that they do not keep, for if left in their hands, they should be retrieved, their condition repaired, and they should be handed over to the students who come after them. This is what we advise the students and the officials responsible for student affairs to do. Yes. May Allah reward you and make your knowledge beneficial to Islam and the Muslims.