Advice to Students of Knowledge to Adhere to the Path of the Predecessor Scholars in Authorship and Writing What Benefits the Muslims

The student : Brother al-Huwaini is preparing a good research project in the field of translation for our Shaykh. Among the questions on my mind: you have lived in Syria and resided in Jordan. We need, I mean, an evaluation from you of the Salafi call as a methodology for students of knowledge. They were diligent and active. Were they in Syria, or were they Jordanian youth, in terms of adhering to the methodology and academic integrity, as well as in their authorships and other matters?

The Shaykh : I have nothing to say on this; because the issue, as they say, is one of the most difficult difficulties: explaining the self-evident. So this matter is clear and does not need much explanation. As for students of knowledge, they must strive and present to people who are in need of new knowledge from their efforts, rather than being another copy or part of another copy that they present to people. As some of our Salafi brothers in Damascus told me, they said to one of the intelligent Salafis in Damascus:The Shaykh : So-and-so has memorized Sahih al-Bukhari by heart. So he answered in the Syrian dialect: "We are honored. It is a copy of Sahih al-Bukhari, just with more."
The student brothers are laughing.

The Shaykh : This statement is clear.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Ah, so what is the benefit if one takes a little from here and a little from there and presents it to people? He has not brought anything new. We want our brothers to follow the path of our early scholars, who followed those before them; but in addition to that, they added new knowledge to what they inherited from the knowledge of the predecessors. And I believe that just recently, I was speaking, and a questioner asked me, "Do you look with optimism at the present era from an Islamic perspective? Is there progress?" I said, yes, there is progress in terms of knowledge. But this scientific progress, if it is not accompanied by behavioral progress, its harm is greater than its benefit. Therefore, I often dwell on a lecture I delivered about ten years ago here in Amman on the topic of purification and education. Purification pertains to knowledge, and education pertains to behavior. Now, knowledge and the movement of knowledge according to the Sunnah is clear throughout the entire Islamic world, and this is a sign of good. But behavior has never moved as a group, as a nation, except as a few individuals, and these individuals exist in every time and place, but they are few. Therefore, if the purification of knowledge is not accompanied by the purification of souls from their filth and dirt in their behavior, then what is called today the Islamic awakening will not be a true awakening. This is all I have for now.