What is your opinion of their saying: “It is not possible to seek knowledge except through the shaykhs”?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Some claim that there is only one way to learn, which is taking knowledge from the shaykhs. Is this statement correct, or are there other ways to acquire knowledge?
The Shaykh : If this statement had been made before this era, it might have been accepted. But in this era, where one can obtain academic degrees through the air, the answer is clear, isn’t it?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So it is not necessary that there be shaykhs here, meaning correspondence.
Another questioner : Yes, yes, Shaykh.
The Shaykh : This is a type of modern study. And then we say, without boasting, and the example is right before you: Al-Albani. He did not study under the shaykhs in the way they want, correct? I did study under some shaykhs, but perhaps I was under twenty years old. I studied purely on my own. My first study, as everyone knows, but to make a point, I will shorten the story. I graduated from elementary school at only fourteen years old. Then I studied some Hanafi fiqh with my father, including *Maraqi al-Falah* and *al-Quduri*. I also studied with him the morphology (*sarf*), which is one of the most difficult of the sciences they call the “sciences of the tools,” following the method of the Turkish scholars and their books, including a book they call *al-Izhhar*. I also studied with a Damascene shaykh some Egyptian books on grammar and rhetoric, as well as some fiqh in the marginal notes (*hashiyah*) of *Maraqi al-Falah*. Then I set out and studied on my own. This experience should be repeated, because it is one of the very, very strong reasons for a Muslim to escape from *taqlid* (following a scholar without knowing his evidence), which has blinded hearts and insights. Therefore, their statement is invalid (*batil*). A person, with a little care and effort, can know the principles of the sciences, so that when he reads on his own, he can know what those *muqallids* (those who follow without evidence) do not know, who have spent their entire lives in the bondage of *taqlid*.
onAl-Halabi : Our Shaykh, something related to this issue.
The Shaykh : Please go ahead.
onAl-Halabi : And what is observed from our discussions with many of these people, and so on, is that they have confused the goal with the means, so that studying under shaykhs has become a goal in itself.
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Ali: Even though it is a means to acquire knowledge, seek it, and obtain it.
The Shaykh : Correct.
Ali: Therefore, you see many of them wasting their lives and ages going to this one,The Shaykh : and to this one,The Shaykh : and to this one,The Shaykh : while they do not bear fruit, do not produce, and do not learn, let alone teach others.
The Shaykh : Correct.
onAl-Halabi : Yes, and Allah the Exalted knows best.
The Shaykh : May Allah reward you
onAl-Halabi : May Allah reward you with good.
Another questioner : Our Shaykh, it seems you said the modern Salafi da'wah. What is the modern Salafi da'wah?
Another questioner : The hadith-based one.
Another questioner : The hadith-based one.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The Shaykh : If this statement had been made before this era, it might have been accepted. But in this era, where one can obtain academic degrees through the air, the answer is clear, isn’t it?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So it is not necessary that there be shaykhs here, meaning correspondence.
Another questioner : Yes, yes, Shaykh.
The Shaykh : This is a type of modern study. And then we say, without boasting, and the example is right before you: Al-Albani. He did not study under the shaykhs in the way they want, correct? I did study under some shaykhs, but perhaps I was under twenty years old. I studied purely on my own. My first study, as everyone knows, but to make a point, I will shorten the story. I graduated from elementary school at only fourteen years old. Then I studied some Hanafi fiqh with my father, including *Maraqi al-Falah* and *al-Quduri*. I also studied with him the morphology (*sarf*), which is one of the most difficult of the sciences they call the “sciences of the tools,” following the method of the Turkish scholars and their books, including a book they call *al-Izhhar*. I also studied with a Damascene shaykh some Egyptian books on grammar and rhetoric, as well as some fiqh in the marginal notes (*hashiyah*) of *Maraqi al-Falah*. Then I set out and studied on my own. This experience should be repeated, because it is one of the very, very strong reasons for a Muslim to escape from *taqlid* (following a scholar without knowing his evidence), which has blinded hearts and insights. Therefore, their statement is invalid (*batil*). A person, with a little care and effort, can know the principles of the sciences, so that when he reads on his own, he can know what those *muqallids* (those who follow without evidence) do not know, who have spent their entire lives in the bondage of *taqlid*.
onAl-Halabi : Our Shaykh, something related to this issue.
The Shaykh : Please go ahead.
onAl-Halabi : And what is observed from our discussions with many of these people, and so on, is that they have confused the goal with the means, so that studying under shaykhs has become a goal in itself.
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Ali: Even though it is a means to acquire knowledge, seek it, and obtain it.
The Shaykh : Correct.
Ali: Therefore, you see many of them wasting their lives and ages going to this one,The Shaykh : and to this one,The Shaykh : and to this one,The Shaykh : while they do not bear fruit, do not produce, and do not learn, let alone teach others.
The Shaykh : Correct.
onAl-Halabi : Yes, and Allah the Exalted knows best.
The Shaykh : May Allah reward you
onAl-Halabi : May Allah reward you with good.
Another questioner : Our Shaykh, it seems you said the modern Salafi da'wah. What is the modern Salafi da'wah?
Another questioner : The hadith-based one.
Another questioner : The hadith-based one.
The Shaykh : Yes.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.