What are the books you recommend for a beginner student of knowledge to read? Or, in other words: What is the methodology a student of knowledge follows in research?

The questioner : What are the books you recommend for a beginner student of knowledge to read, or, in other words: What is the methodology a student of knowledge follows in acquiring knowledge?

The Shaykh : By Allah, the truth is that I am often asked this question; because they know that I have engaged with this knowledge. But the truth is that it is not correct for me to set a curriculum; because the situation differs from person to person. What is correct, or was correct, for me may not be correct for so-and-so. For example, I have, and still do, praise be to Allah, a habit of reading and long patience and perseverance, while most people lack this quality. That is one thing. Another thing is that the situation differs regarding a person's circumstances: Is he free? Is he working in a profession or trade? And so on. And thirdly, and finally—and this is the most important thing for me—that setting curricula is a science independent in itself. Setting curricula for any science, whether tafsir, hadith, or fiqh, is a science independent in itself. That is, it requires first a natural aptitude, and then a studied knowledge, meaning knowledge that is well-supported. And this is what I do not find in myself. Therefore, I apologize to everyone who asks me to set such a curriculum, because I am not capable of doing so. But, for example, it is easy to say that if one wants to read in the science of hadith terminology, instead of going back to "Al-Nukhba" by Ibn Hajar or "Sharh Al-Nukhba," he should start with "Mukhtasar 'Ulum al-Hadith" or "Iktisar 'Ulum al-Hadith" by Ibn Kathir, with the commentary of Shaykh Ahmad Shakir (may Allah have mercy on him) on it. And this opens for him the path of connection to this science in the simplest terms, meaning we see it in the books of the early scholars. And I do not recommend the books of the later scholars; because they are issued by people who have not digested this knowledge, nor understood it, nor comprehended it. Rather, they are excerpts from here and there, and the author himself has not digested what he picked up, let alone the reader of his words.
Likewise, for example, we can advise in reading hadith texts: that he should start with the books that collect the texts from the mother books, especially the book "Bulugh al-Maram min Ahadith al-Ahkam" by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani. And better than it for me in bringing the authentic hadiths of rulings close to the student of knowledge is "Al-Ilmam bi Ahadith al-Ahkam" by Ibn Daqiq al-Eid; because he intended the authentic, correct hadiths. So if the student of knowledge memorizes them, he will have memorized what is authentic. Whereas if he memorizes "Bulugh al-Maram," he is burdened with memorizing the distinction between what he authenticated and what he weakened on one hand, and between what he authenticated and weakened on one hand and what he was silent about on the other hand. And this involves a burden, it involves difficulty for some students. Whereas that one is honey that has been filtered and does not need filtering.
So, for example, some of the books of spiritual refinement and admonition... I advise that he should pay attention to reading the book "Riyad al-Salihin" by al-Nawawi; because he intended the authentic ones in it. Even though some individual hadiths are criticized in it, which we pointed out in the edition of our brother Zuhayr al-Shawi for "Riyad al-Salihin," and perhaps you have looked at it. Yes, that is right. So this is better than the book "Al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib" which contains a mixture of hadiths. Especially in that problem that led students or readers into error when he set the rule in the introduction that if the hadith is authentic, good, or close to good, he would prefix it with the word "from" (an), and if it was weak or below that, he would prefix it with the word "narrated" (ruwi). So what was good he mixed with what was authentic, and even what was close to but below good he mixed with the good and the authentic. How does he notify the general readers of his book? And this is what pushed and motivated us to make his book into two parts, as we did in "Al-Jami' al-Saghir": "Sahih al-Targhib" and "Da'if al-Targhib." And Allah has made it easy for us to print the first volume of the authentic one, and hopefully He will make it easy for us to complete its printing and then start printing "Da'if al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib."
In the books of tafsir, for example, the book "Tafsir Ibn Kathir." And I do not recommend reading anything from its two abridgments; because the two abridgers are not from the people of knowledge, rather they are students of knowledge like us. And the one who wants to abridge books of tafsir must be a scholar of the two sciences, the science of tafsir and the science of hadith, so that he can handle the abridgment and present to people the essence of these abridged books. This is what comes to mind as an answer to that question.

The questioner : May Allah reward you.