A young man who spent twenty-five years of his life in sins and transgressions, to whom Allah granted guidance: with what should he begin, and by what methodology should he proceed?

The questioner :
A young man says: "I spent twenty-five years of my life in sins and transgressions, but Allah granted me guidance. I want to dedicate my life to knowledge and learning. I am not proficient in reading the Qur'an or its recitation, and naturally, I am not proficient in the language. With what should I begin, and by what methodology should I proceed?"

The Shaykh:
He will not begin by praying as it is said, in a state of disarray. It is not permissible for him to delay the prayer if, for example, he does not know how to read the Qur'an, or if he does not memorize anything.
At all. As stated in the Sunnah, he must learn.
"Subhan Allah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illa Allah, Allahu Akbar"—because they are easy to memorize—and these take the place of reciting Surat al-Fatihah. However, at the same time, it is not obligatory for him to
stop there or be satisfied with this temporary ease to the extent that he neglects learning what corrects his prayer, such as memorizing Surat al-Fatihah, for example. The important thing is that this
person, whose condition was as described in the question,
then repented to Allah and turned back to Him, must fear Allah as much as he is able and seek assistance in this by asking the people of knowledge, as is the explicit text of the Noble Qur'an:
"So ask the people of knowledge if you do not know."
And what can be answered now is what has been mentioned: he must hasten to pray every prayer in its time and focus on memorizing some of the Qur'an.
If he does not have any of it, he must use the tasbih mentioned above, which takes the place of the Fatihah until he learns it.

The questioner:
He is not asking only about the Qur'an and prayer now; he wants to make the correct start. How does he begin?

The Shaykh:
No, the question is not like that. This question is from you.

The questioner:
Yes, but this is what is understood from the question: he wants to know how to proceed on the correct methodology and spend his life in knowledge and learning.
And what should he read and what should he memorize? Do you advise him to do something or to do a specific thing, and how does he make the correct start?

The Shaykh:
What Allah willed. All of this is understood from the question.
As for how he begins, as the learned poet said: "Knowledge, if you seek it, is much, and life is short for acquiring it." So he should prioritize the most important over the less important. He learns, even if he is a non-Arab.
We do not burden him now with learning the Arabic language so that he can learn through the Arabic language. Rather, we tell him: first of all, learn the knowledge of tawhid (the oneness of Allah). As for the Arabic language,
this is postponed because it is a means. So he asks the people of knowledge who understand his language, and he learns what is most obligatory, as stated in the previous verse. When he finishes
this matter, he moves on to what is obligatory upon him. For example, if he is poor, zakah is not obligatory upon him, and Hajj to the House of Allah is not obligatory upon him. So he is not burdened with studying
the rulings of zakah and the rituals of Hajj, because that is not obligatory upon him. But prayer is obligatory upon him, and fasting is obligatory upon him. Or he learns the rulings of prayer to know its conditions,
its obligations, its pillars, and the like. Similarly, he learns how to fast the obligatory fast of Ramadan, what is not permissible for him to do while fasting, and what is permissible for him, among other
details. So the answer in brief is that he begins with the most important, then the next most important.