A talk on the pursuit of knowledge and that it is divided into an individual obligation and a collective obligation

The Shaykh : Praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves and the badness of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can mislead, and whomsoever He leaves to mislead, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. As for what follows, the best of speech is the speech of Allah, the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and the worst of matters are their innovations. Every innovation is a misguidance, every misguidance is in the Fire. After that, the pursuit of Islamic knowledge, let alone other sciences, is divided into two categories: an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) and a collective obligation (fard kifayah). The individual obligation is that whose obligation to learn pertains to every individual among the accountable Muslims. As for the other obligation, which is the collective obligation, it pertains to the scholars who are mentioned in the Noble Qur'an in more than one verse, such as His saying, the Exalted: and His saying: and my final saying: It is a collective obligation upon these people to learn what is not an individual obligation upon them. As for the individual obligation, it varies from one accountable person to another, and this becomes clear with some easy-to-understand examples. For example, a poor man who does not possess the minimum threshold (nisab) for which a lunar year has passed, and upon whom zakah is consequently obligatory. This man is not required to learn the rulings of zakah, and consequently, he is not required to learn the rulings of Hajj to the House of Allah the Forbidden, because as for Hajj, it is not obligatory upon him, and as for zakah, he does not possess the minimum threshold. As for the one who possesses the minimum threshold, it is obligatory for him to know the rulings of zakah, just as it is obligatory for him to know the rulings of Hajj. This is an example of the individual obligation that every Muslim must learn. There is no doubt that the first pillar of Islam after the two testimonies is the prayer. Therefore, knowing the rulings of the prayer, its conditions, its pillars, its obligations, its recommended practices, and its etiquettes, is among the individual obligations, because every person who prays, regardless of his poverty or wealth, must learn how to pray. Learning has two methods. After this explanation, we say that learning has two methods. The predominant method, which was prevalent in the past, is the method of scholarly circles (halaqat), where the learned man would sit in the mosque or in another place, and those desiring to seek knowledge would gather around him, and he would teach them from what Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, had taught him. This method, unfortunately, has become forgotten in these recent days that we are living and existing in. Perhaps we can say that there is a clear and very strong reason for the non-fulfillment of these scholarly circles, which is the establishment of formal schools in their place, and that they have taken their place. But these schools that have taken the place of the scholarly circles that existed in the past, unfortunately, do not fulfill the duty of providing knowledge to students of knowledge, let alone those who are not students of knowledge. In the authentic report from Mu'adh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him), he said, "Be a scholar, or a learner, or a listener, and do not be the fourth, lest you perish." So here there are three ranks: the first is "be a scholar," the second is "be a learner," and the third is "be a listener." These schools have caused the Islamic society to lose the third section, namely the listeners who are neither scholars nor students of knowledge. Let us say today that they are not even students of schools, but rather listeners. Where and in what place can they listen to knowledge, which may be an individual obligation for which they have no way but these scholarly circles that have become, as I said earlier, forgotten? Another method has taken their place, which is undoubtedly a legitimate method derived from, for example, His saying, the Exalted, in the last verse I mentioned, the third verse that came regarding the scholars, which is His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: This verse has legislated for all Muslims to seek knowledge, not by the method that has become forgotten today, namely organized scholarly circles and scholarly gatherings, but by the method of question and answer: Since scholarly circles require some organization of the circles and the lessons, this organization requires continuity and follow-up for delivering the circles to students of knowledge. As for the second means mentioned and indicated in the Noble Verse , this does not require anything like this organization and arrangement. Therefore, we say that if there is no way for us to organize scholarly circle gatherings, at the very least, we should open the door for directing questions from every individual among the attendees, because each of them has knowledge specific to him that the other person sitting in the circle may not need. And in this regard, we say, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in a well-known story. The time is now short, and there is no need for us to lengthen the speech by mentioning it, but I quote from it his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): So now, ask, and whoever has a question, let him raise his hand, not his finger.