Utilizing the vacation for seeking knowledge.

The Shaykh : In the past, students and young people, both male and female, were engaged in regular studies. Then this vacation came so that they could recover what they had missed due to their shortcomings, because a person may not fully grasp all the information they studied, as the time is short and the curricula are long and varied. So, perhaps one focuses during this vacation on something they missed previously. Some of the subjects they read during the regular term may not have been fully digested or mastered, so they review them a second time during this vacation. Perhaps one uses this vacation to prepare for the coming year by reviewing whatever of their future lessons is available. Perhaps one has other lessons besides the regular ones and utilizes this vacation for them. And perhaps a person is not one who pays much attention to knowledge, but rather to agriculture, buying and selling, and other such things. For this reason, we see that people differ during this vacation. Some utilize it for knowledge, either by studying what has passed or studying what is to come, and this is undoubtedly the best of the categories, because nothing is better than knowledge, as Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Knowledge is not surpassed by anything for one whose intention is sound". So, the one who utilizes it for knowledge, whether by memorizing the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), or something from the books of the scholars in creed, morals, or jurisprudence, this is undoubtedly the best of the categories: to utilize this vacation for knowledge.