How can a student of knowledge benefit from the principles of jurisprudence?
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The questioner : Some of the young men advised me, O Shaykh,
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : to ask you a question.
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner : About the principles of jurisprudence: How can a student of knowledge benefit from the principles of jurisprudence? Does a student of knowledge who is interested in hadith engage with the principles of jurisprudence, take them in their entirety, and benefit from them as a jurist who follows a school of thought does? Or does a student of hadith have a directed or restricted interaction with the principles of jurisprudence, limited to certain rules and matters?
The Shaykh : Yes, may Allah reward you, it differs from one student to another.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : The broader the student of knowledge’s grasp of hadith,
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : the more he is able to benefit from the science of the principles of jurisprudence without following a school of thought, and vice versa. And in my opinion—put your hand on the wood, Sami, where he is striking, yes, yes, yes—in my opinion, the starting point of seeking any knowledge is following a scholar without knowing his evidence.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : And I disapprove of many of the young, enthusiastic men who work with the Book and the Sunnah in their blanket and detailed denial of following a scholar without knowing his evidence, because this means that they are living in a fantasy. First, and second, this fantasy will lead them to imagine that they have become scholars who have the right to prefer one opinion over another, not only in authenticating and weakening hadith, but also in Islamic jurisprudence, saying, “I see this and I see that,” and they dare to respond to the great scholars of the early generations, let alone those of the later generations.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Therefore, the science of the principles of jurisprudence should be begun by reading it, either under a scholar if that is possible, and that is better, or by personal study if he has the foundations of the sciences, which they used to call the instrumental sciences, meaning grammar, morphology, and the like. He reads these books himself and adopts them from the start, but on the condition that he does not become like the partisans of the four schools of jurisprudence, where one lives as a Hanafi or a Shafi'i forever and does not retract from an issue even if an explicit text contradicts it.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So if the student of knowledge studies this science and others, and prepares himself to retract from what he has studied if the truth becomes clear to him in something else, then that is the path. But independence from the start means the origin of misguidance and extremism in religion.
The questioner: Allah is the Greatest!
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you, our Shaykh.
The Shaykh : And may He bless you as well, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : to ask you a question.
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner : About the principles of jurisprudence: How can a student of knowledge benefit from the principles of jurisprudence? Does a student of knowledge who is interested in hadith engage with the principles of jurisprudence, take them in their entirety, and benefit from them as a jurist who follows a school of thought does? Or does a student of hadith have a directed or restricted interaction with the principles of jurisprudence, limited to certain rules and matters?
The Shaykh : Yes, may Allah reward you, it differs from one student to another.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : The broader the student of knowledge’s grasp of hadith,
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : the more he is able to benefit from the science of the principles of jurisprudence without following a school of thought, and vice versa. And in my opinion—put your hand on the wood, Sami, where he is striking, yes, yes, yes—in my opinion, the starting point of seeking any knowledge is following a scholar without knowing his evidence.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : And I disapprove of many of the young, enthusiastic men who work with the Book and the Sunnah in their blanket and detailed denial of following a scholar without knowing his evidence, because this means that they are living in a fantasy. First, and second, this fantasy will lead them to imagine that they have become scholars who have the right to prefer one opinion over another, not only in authenticating and weakening hadith, but also in Islamic jurisprudence, saying, “I see this and I see that,” and they dare to respond to the great scholars of the early generations, let alone those of the later generations.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Therefore, the science of the principles of jurisprudence should be begun by reading it, either under a scholar if that is possible, and that is better, or by personal study if he has the foundations of the sciences, which they used to call the instrumental sciences, meaning grammar, morphology, and the like. He reads these books himself and adopts them from the start, but on the condition that he does not become like the partisans of the four schools of jurisprudence, where one lives as a Hanafi or a Shafi'i forever and does not retract from an issue even if an explicit text contradicts it.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So if the student of knowledge studies this science and others, and prepares himself to retract from what he has studied if the truth becomes clear to him in something else, then that is the path. But independence from the start means the origin of misguidance and extremism in religion.
The questioner: Allah is the Greatest!
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you, our Shaykh.
The Shaykh : And may He bless you as well, if Allah wills.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.