His Eminence the Shaykh, after this kind word, we ask you for a piece of advice and counsel. We are students of knowledge, and we want to learn about the beneficial and useful books in the following areas:
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The Shaykh : His Eminence the Shaykh, after this kind word, we ask you for a piece of advice and counsel. We are students of knowledge, and we want to learn about the beneficial and useful books in the following areas: tafsir, seerah, fiqh, morals and conduct, and tawhid (the oneness of Allah).
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and whoever follows them.
I believe that the best books written on tawhid (the oneness of Allah) based on the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and the methodology of our righteous predecessors are, in general, the books of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and his student Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah. They are among the most prominent in authoring in this field and excelling in it, becoming a model for those who came after them. However, this does not negate that there were scholars among the scholars of the Muslims who preceded them, especially from the people of hadith. But those who authored in the past wrote for their time, and what they authored previously is not suitable for the general Muslim population today, but only for the specialists, such as the book "Al-Sunnah" by Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) and the book "Al-Sunnah" by Ibn Abi 'Asim, and similar books by the scholars of hadith. These are the reference and the foundations for the people of knowledge. As for the books of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, they are beneficial, if Allah wills, for the general Muslim population who have some knowledge of the Arabic language and its etiquette.
There are also some abridgments with some commentaries for those who preceded the two Shaykhs, but with some adherence to opinions that contradict what our righteous predecessors were upon. And I am referring with this last statement to the book "Al-'Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah" by Imam Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi al-Hanafi. He is one of the scholars of the Hanafi school in fiqh and one of the distinguished scholars of hadith in memorization and in transmitting the chains of narration for the hadiths he mentions in his books, such as the book "Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar" and his other book "Mushkil al-Athar". He is, in reality, one of the rare scholars of the Hanafis who combined fiqh and hadith on one hand, and correct 'aqidah on the other hand. He deposited his 'aqidah in the aforementioned book or treatise "Al-'Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah". A group of Hanafis and others have commented on it, and the best commentary on this book according to the methodology of the righteous predecessors, drawing its commentary from the book of Ibn al-Qayyim and the books of Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him, Blessed and Exalted is He), is that in this book there is only one issue in which he differed from the scholars of hadith in 'aqidah, and everything else is exactly according to the Sunnah. This is very rare, that we find among those who follow the schools of jurisprudence practiced today someone who does not deviate from the methodology of the Salaf except in one issue. This is a very great matter, because we do not imagine a person free from errorSunan Ibn Majah 4251Hasan (Darussalam).
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and whoever follows them.
I believe that the best books written on tawhid (the oneness of Allah) based on the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and the methodology of our righteous predecessors are, in general, the books of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and his student Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah. They are among the most prominent in authoring in this field and excelling in it, becoming a model for those who came after them. However, this does not negate that there were scholars among the scholars of the Muslims who preceded them, especially from the people of hadith. But those who authored in the past wrote for their time, and what they authored previously is not suitable for the general Muslim population today, but only for the specialists, such as the book "Al-Sunnah" by Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) and the book "Al-Sunnah" by Ibn Abi 'Asim, and similar books by the scholars of hadith. These are the reference and the foundations for the people of knowledge. As for the books of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, they are beneficial, if Allah wills, for the general Muslim population who have some knowledge of the Arabic language and its etiquette.
There are also some abridgments with some commentaries for those who preceded the two Shaykhs, but with some adherence to opinions that contradict what our righteous predecessors were upon. And I am referring with this last statement to the book "Al-'Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah" by Imam Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi al-Hanafi. He is one of the scholars of the Hanafi school in fiqh and one of the distinguished scholars of hadith in memorization and in transmitting the chains of narration for the hadiths he mentions in his books, such as the book "Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar" and his other book "Mushkil al-Athar". He is, in reality, one of the rare scholars of the Hanafis who combined fiqh and hadith on one hand, and correct 'aqidah on the other hand. He deposited his 'aqidah in the aforementioned book or treatise "Al-'Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah". A group of Hanafis and others have commented on it, and the best commentary on this book according to the methodology of the righteous predecessors, drawing its commentary from the book of Ibn al-Qayyim and the books of Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him, Blessed and Exalted is He), is that in this book there is only one issue in which he differed from the scholars of hadith in 'aqidah, and everything else is exactly according to the Sunnah. This is very rare, that we find among those who follow the schools of jurisprudence practiced today someone who does not deviate from the methodology of the Salaf except in one issue. This is a very great matter, because we do not imagine a person free from error