A final word by Ibrahim Shuqqa on some of the etiquettes of the student of knowledge, with which he concluded the session in the presence of the Shaykh.

Abu Malik: O brothers, O brothers, we are now minutes away from the adhan for the 'Isha' prayer, which is the set time for our departure and the end of this session.

The Shaykh : And the voluntary prayer.
Abu Malik: Yes, and the voluntary prayer. So, brothers, please allow me to say a few words at the end of this session, to conclude this blessed and noble session, if Allah wills. The first thing I wish to mention is to say, may Allah reward all of us, our brothers who extended this invitation to our Shaykh and to our brothers, so that we attended this invitation, and it was a key to good for this gathering of noble brothers. I want to say, brothers, that our call, praise be to Allah, has no back or front, no inside or outside, and nothing is hidden while something else is declared. Our call is open, like the sun at high noon, and it is established and founded upon a methodology that we did not know except that it is the methodology of the righteous Salaf, may Allah be pleased with them all. Those who took themselves in every era to this methodology are the happy ones, the successful ones, if Allah wills, in this world and the Hereafter. Therefore, what I also want to emphasize is that if something enters this call that is contrary to what I mentioned, and if it has two faces, or an outside that does not resemble the inside, or an inside that does not resemble the outside, then this is not the call to which we call, and to which we draw near to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, by understanding its rulings and learning its beliefs. As for the second matter, this call is based on many matters of etiquette and morals that must be present in this call, which we have inherited from the Salaf, from our righteous Salaf, may Allah be pleased with them. Among the most important of these matters is respecting the renowned scholars. If it is attached to one of us that he speaks ill of or slanders any of the Salaf of this Ummah—I do not mean the Companions, far be it, but those who are lower than the Companions, the scholars of this Ummah, or even those who were not mentioned or known with the knowledge of those renowned scholars—I say that he speaks ill and fabricates against the one who says such a thing. Our Imams, may Allah be pleased with them and have mercy on them all, left for us beneficial knowledge that fills our hearts and minds. If we spent our entire lives searching through the details of the books they left for us, we would not be able to count their pages and sheets. How then can we encompass them with knowledge? Our Imams are innocent of everything attached to them—not from us, far be it, but from others who attribute to them what they did not say, and what they did not know about themselves that they said, and what was attached to them and known about them is nothing but fabrication without right and without any legitimate basis.
So we say that we are with the renowned scholars and with the righteous Salaf in their scholarly conduct, in their pleasing morals, and in their noble conduct, the noble conduct that we know about them. Among the most important things we benefit from such sessions is that the scholarly issues presented, especially before our Shaykh, may Allah reward him with good, are not satisfied with just the answer; the bare answer without evidence. Rather, every one of these issues is accompanied by its evidence from the Book and the Sunnah, and the definition of the jurisprudence of these evidences on a wider circle than what they indicate, or in the restriction of them to this issue or that one which is argued with these evidences. Then, brothers, there is my advice to myself and to you: first, that we be diligent in worship, that we strive in the worship of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. I do not mean the obligatory duties, for we, praise be to Allah, perform these obligatory duties, and we ask Allah to accept them from us and that they be our path to the Hereafter. But, brothers, increase in the voluntary acts, for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), in what is narrated from the Lord of Majesty, said: Brothers, nothing helps in the good of this world, bringing it, and benefiting from all good in it, and nothing helps in the activity of the soul, heart, spirit, and body like standing in night prayer. So stand in night prayer, do not leave it. For standing in night prayer, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the hadith: "Stand in the night" So stand in night prayer, guard it, and beware of leaving it. For it is, by Allah, a degree of the degrees of the Hereafter. Whoever ascends it will, by the permission of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, reach the pleasure of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. And as for the second, brothers, I hope that each of you protects the honor of his brother in his absence, and protects in himself the honors of the righteous believers, and does not speak ill or say anything about any Muslim, even if he is an open sinner, except when necessity demands it, and necessity alone, and this necessity is measured by its measure, and you know it. When the need arises to mention something of what is blameworthy for a legal necessity, no more and no less. And as for the third advice, brothers, be eager to kneel on your knees in seeking knowledge, and devote yourselves in times, or in some times, to reading in beneficial books and benefiting from the scholarly tapes, and take yourself to learn everything of this knowledge that you receive and know. And the third matter, the fourth matter is that

Another questioner : ... the prayer

The questioner : Yes?

Another questioner : ... the prayer

The questioner : We will catch it, if Allah wills. That we always advise each other to truth and good, and that we cooperate on righteousness and piety, and that each of us be a support for his brother in his presence and witness, and in his absence and in his back. And I ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, to guide us and to gather us on good always.