What are the best books of Islamic jurisprudence that a student of knowledge can study to acquire fiqh?

The questioner : If you would be so kind, our esteemed Shaykh, to answer the following questions from the brothers. The first question: In your opinion, what are the best books of Islamic jurisprudence that a student of knowledge can study to acquire fiqh?

The Shaykh : What I see is that among the best things for a student of knowledge to begin with today, if he is in an environment as we call it, a Salafi, modern, or Sunni environment, an environment that calls for following the Book and the Sunnah, and he does not live in a madhhab-based environment where he does not recognize the Sunnah but rather is fanatical about the madhhab. If the student of knowledge lives in a Sunni environment, I advise him to begin his study of fiqh with the well-known book authored in the land of the Salaf, "Fiqh al-Sunnah" by al-Sayyid Sabiq. This is because it is a unique book in terms of its methodology. I do not say it is unique in terms of its correctness, no, but in terms of its methodology, it is a unique book in this era. So the student of knowledge begins studying fiqh from this book because it gathered, to the extent of its ability, fiqh, and he did not cling to his madhhab. It appears to me from his book that he is Shafi'i, but he did not cling to this madhhab as all authors in their madhhabs do; they do not deviate a hair's breadth from what their madhhab said. But he did not adhere to this madhhab; rather, he tried, I say tried, to take from every madhhab what was closest to the Book and the Sunnah. May Allah have mercy on you.

The questioner : May Allah bless you. So, this book.

The Shaykh: If you permit.

The questioner: Go ahead.

The Shaykh : I say this is what the student of knowledge should begin with, and the reason is that it is the methodology that every student of knowledge must adopt and follow. But it is not sufficient for himThe student : That he rely on it entirely and make it his reference in his night and day. Why? Because we hinted that although he established this methodology, he was not able to carry it out and realize it fully in many issues. Some of these many issues, he did not provide any evidence for them at all; they are merely opinion. And some others, as everyone who has studied his book knows, he narrated the opinions, the opinions of the scholars, the opinions of the madhhabs, and then left the issue without preferring one, so that the student of knowledge comes out of it confused, not knowing which is the stronger position and which is the weaker position among these opinions he narrated, and he did not support any of them with evidence from the Book of Allah or from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This is what I noticed when I studied it more than twenty years ago, and this study led me at that time to write a commentary on it. I named it "Tammam al-Mannah" in commentary on "Fiqh al-Sunnah." I tried, and I am a man like him, as it is said: "Every son of Adam is a sinner," and as Imam Malik said: "None of us is there except that he was refuted and he refuted, except the occupant of this grave (peace and blessings be upon him)." The Mu'adhdhin: Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. The Mu'adhdhin: Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. The Mu'adhdhin: Ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah.

The Shaykh : Ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah. The Mu'adhdhin: Ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah.

The Shaykh : I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. The Mu'adhdhin: I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

The Shaykh : Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasul Allah. The Mu'adhdhin: Hayya 'ala al-salah.

The Shaykh : La hawla wa la quwwata illa bi-Allah. The Mu'adhdhin: Hayya 'ala al-salah.

The Shaykh : La hawla wa la quwwata illa bi-Allah. The Mu'adhdhin: Hayya 'ala al-falah.

The Shaykh : There is no power and no strength except with Allah. The Mu'adhdhin: Hurrah al-falah. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. The Mu'adhdhin: La ilaha illa Allah.

The Shaykh : There is no god but Allah. O Allah, send blessings upon Muhammad as You sent blessings upon... I said that I was tasked with a commentary on the book "Fiqh al-Sunnah," which I named "Tammam al-Mannah." But at that time, the academic circumstances did not help me to continue with the complete commentary. I stopped the commentary at the end of the book of fasting, and it was not possible for me at that time to print this book, the book of fasting. We had printed it on the typewriter. But now it has been printed in a good and elegant edition, and it contains many corrections. Among them is that I appended to this volume, which recently came to the market, the book of fasting as well. So I advise that the student of knowledge and the student of "Fiqh al-Sunnah" should make use of this part, as it will be the closest to the truth if he combines "Fiqh al-Sunnah" with "Tammam al-Mannah."