How to Read Books.pdf

How to Read the Books of People of Knowledge

How to Read the Books of the People of Knowledge

by Shaykh Sâlih âl-ush Shaykh

Translated by Hisham Assing

Prologue

All praise is due to Allah the One who sent His messenger with the guidance and the Religion of

Truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all religion, and Allah is sufficient as a witness. I testify

that there is no god but Allah alone and that He has no partner. And I testify that Muhammad is

His servant and Messenger, may Allah greatly bless him, his family, and his companions. And as

to what follows:

Seeking knowledge is a lengthy path that is not possible to embark upon except by abandoning

play and amusement and approaching it in a serious manner. This is because Allah the Exalted,

the most High, described what He revealed to Muhammad (sallallâhu ’alayhi wa sallam), and He

(Allah) is the most truthful in speech, as a weighty word. Allah the Exalted, the most High says,

" Soon shall We send down to thee a weighty word." (Al-Muzzammil: 5)

And this weighty word is the Kitâb and the sunnah. Thus, when it was said to Imam Mâlik Ibn Anas,

Imam of Dar Al-Hijrah (Madinah), concerning some questions he could not answer, " These are

easy questions." He replied,

“Do not say this, for regardless whether the knowledge is small or big, there exists no

such thing as easy because Allah the Exalted, the most High described it as a weighty

word."

This is very in-depth understanding. It is the first step towards seeking knowledge – that one

realizes that all knowledge is weighty. Every field (of knowledge) requires that one approaches it

wholeheartedly and with an objective mind. So whoever says that this is an easy matter and just

passes by it without paying close attention, then such a person will not gain knowledge until all the

branches of knowledge are of equal footing (to him/her). Whether it is the generalities (of

knowledge) or the specifics, the principles or the details. A person must give equal concern to all

the aspects of knowledge, whether it is obtaining it, revising it or memorizing it. Because if you

leave it, it leaves you, and if you approach, it gives you some. As the famous saying states,

" Knowledge is a thing that if you give it all of yourself it gives you some of itself, and if you give

some of yourself you will gain nothing of it."

Practical experience proves this. Hence, I titled this lecture: " How to Read the Books of the

People of Knowledge." This is very important topic because many people have read different types

of books, and a lot of them complain that they have not obtained firmly, grounded knowledge to

the extent that they can feel satisfied (with themselves) for all the years that they have exerted in

seeking knowledge. Perhaps some of them have attended classes of the people of knowledge,

they may have even written research papers or wrote books. However, within themselves they are

aware that they have not attained knowledge whereby they can clearly distinguish matters. Thus,

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How to Read the Books of People of Knowledge

because of this problem this lecture came about. For one must have a structured methodology

when reading the books of the people of knowledge. And whoever does not thread upon a

structured methodology that he can resort to, he will leave the clear path and adopt conflicting

ones.

The evolution of knowledge

If one were to take a look at the books that are present in our times, one would discover that there

are tens of thousands of them and in many different subjects. But is there so much knowledge as

is reflected in multitudes of these books? The answer to this question was given by the rightly

guided khalifah Ali Ibn Abi Talib when he said, " Knowledge is a small dot magnified by the

ignorant ones." He meant that the basis of the knowledge that the companions (May Allah be

pleased with them) understood was not much, i.e. just the understanding of theKitâb and the

sunnah. This knowledge was relatively little with regards to the many problems that began to

appear during Ali’s time. This is because as time progresses the more people become distanced

from the period of the early Muslims, the need for knowledge and books increases so that people

can understand (their religion). It is because of the presence of ignorance and its people many

books were written. By doing this, many of the ignorant ones were enlightened and many of those

who had went astray were guided. Likewise, one finds that the books during the initial stages of

Islâm were very little, then it gradually increased. The first books to be written were those of hadîth

after the complete compilation of the Qur’ân . Then the books of aqîdah came when the different

groups began to appear like theKhawarij and the Murji’ah. These books (of aqîdah) were found

either within the works of the people of hadîth (like Al-Bukhari, Muslim, et. al) or in the form of

treatise, (and things evolved like this) until each Islâmic science had many books. So therefore, if

we would like to establish a standardized methodology for reading the books of the people of

knowledge, then we will have to divide this (methodology) into two broad categories.

General guidelines for reading any book

I am going to mention some general guidelines that are applicable for reading any kind of book,

whether it is the books of aqîdah, tafsîr, fiqh, etc. But first of all it must be known that Islâmic

knowledge is divided into two main categories:

Knowledge that is sought as an end in of itself

Knowledge that is sought as a means to an end

The knowledge that is sought due to its intrinsic nature is the knowledge wherein one is able to

comprehend the Book of Allah and the sunnah of his messenger (sallallâhu ’alayhi wa sallam).

These (who posses this knowledge) are the ones who are praised in the ayah,

" Allâh will exalt in degree those of you who believe, and those who have been granted

knowledge. " (Al-Mujâdilah: 11)

i.e. they understand the Book of Allah and the sunnah of his messenger (sallallâhu ’alayhi wa

sallam) as it should be understood. Knowledge of theQur’ân and the sunnah consists of At Tawhîd

and matters of halal and haram. Therefore, this issue in fact goes back to two types of knowledge

– At-Tawhîd which is actually aqîdah, and matters of halal and haram i.e. fiqh. These two types of

knowledge are aimed at in of itself, because by (knowledge of) At-Tawhîd one achieves sincerity in

his worship of Allah, and by (knowledge of)fiqh one is able to execute the commands of Allah and

abstain from His prohibitions. For Allah the Exalted, the most High has made this dîn based upon

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How to Read the Books of People of Knowledge

information and commands, therefore believing in the information is consideredaqîdah or creed,

and fulfilling His command is considered action. Allah the Exalted, the most High states,

" And the Word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice " (Al-An'âm: 115)

Truth in what He informs of, and justice in His commands and prohibitions. Thus, the knowledge of

At-Tawhîd and fiqh is sought for its innate nature. The other branches of knowledge such as Arabic

grammar, principles of fiqh, the science of hadîth, sîrah, etc. are all sought as a means to an end

and not as end in of itself. Because when a person these books, he reads them in order to arrive at

the knowledge of aqîdah and the knowledge of fiqh.

Read books in stages

One must know that books from any science whether it is books of tafsîr, hadîth, fiqh, aqîdah,

etc., are divided into the "matû n" or the basic, abridged texts, the intermediary level books and the

books of detailed explanation. Consequently, the one who delves into the detailed books before the

basic ones has indeed missed a very important point in establishing the proper methodology for

seeking knowledge. The abridged books serve a purpose, that is to establish the foundations of

knowledge, and any building as is known, needs a foundation to be laid before it can be raised up.

The basic or abridged books paves the way for the intermediary level books, and the intermediary

level books paves the way for the detailed ones. Therefore, the one who is not proficient in the

basic books should not delve into the detailed ones, because the function of the detailed books is

to clarify what may be difficult to understand in the basic ones. Likewise, it is not very pleasing that

we hear from some rudimentary level students of knowledge when they say, " I readFath Al-Bari,"

or " I read Al-Mughni ", or "I read Al-Majmû Sharh Al-Muhadhab," or " I read Al-Muhala," and so

forth. This is not good because even though they read these books, the end result will be a lack of

attainment. Furthermore, the information such a person has will be scattered in his head, unable to

link and organize the knowledge he posses. Therefore, in order to establish a proper foundation,

one must begin with the abridged or basic books, then the intermediary level books and finally the

books of detailed explanation. However, if one would like to research an issue, then refer to any

book - basic or detailed, but just keep in mind that when it comes to seeking knowledge one must

build a foundation by learning the things that are elementary before the advanced issues. How

excellent was what Al-Muwafiq Ibn Qudammah did when he authored books in fiqh that exemplified

this methodology. He wrote the book, " Al-Umdah " which is an abridged book for the beginner,

then " Al-Muqni " which is a bit longer than " Al-Umdah ", then " Al-Kafi " which is for the

intermediate student and also a bit longer than " Al-Muqni," and finally for the advanced student, "

Al-Mughni (all books of Hanbali fiqh). I remember one time I heard Al-Allamah Abdur-razzâq

Al-Afefeh (May Allah have mercy upon him) say, "Indeed Al-Muwafiq Ibn Qudammah (May Allah

have mercy upon him) preceded the present day educational system, he made " Al-Umdah " for

the one in elementary school, then " Al-Muqni " for the middle school student, then " Al-Kafi " for

the high school student and " Al-Mughni " for those at college level. The point I am trying to

emphasize is that it is very important that one should differentiate between reading to establish a

foundation and reading just to be informed about certain issues. I gave an important lecture that

has been recorded about this issue entitled: " The Difference Between the Essentials and the

Anecdotes of Knowledge." Knowledge has essentials by which it is built upon and the anecdotes

are that which help to support the essential knowledge. Hence, whoever immerses himself in the

anecdotes and abandons the essentials of knowledge will not gather anything (substantial). Rather,

such a person will know a lot of stories and have a lot of information, however, he will not be able

to discuss an issue of fiqh or aqîdah with clarity. Therefore, the proper methodology is to read the

basic, general books, then move on to the more detailed ones.

Be familiar with the authors’ background

The reader must pay special attention to the madhab of the author. The scholars wrote books,

however they wrote them according to their madhab and educational background. There were

those who were Hanbali, those who were As-Shafi’î, those who were Maliki and those who were

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How to Read the Books of People of Knowledge

Hanafi. Likewise, there were those who very knowledgeable of thesunnah, there were those who

mostly had correct opinions and few mistakes, there were those who mixed bidah with sunnah, and

so forth. Therefore, knowing the background of an author is very important before reading his book,

because the reader can be influenced by the author while he is least aware of his background. For

example, some students of knowledge always give precedence to what is in the books of the

explanation of hadîth over what is in the extensive books of fiqh. This is because, according to

them, those who explain the books of hadîth are more independent minded and further removed

from taqlîd (blind following) than those who explain the books offiqh. Thus, such a person thinks

that the disposition of the explainer of the books of hadîth has more weight than the disposition of

those who explain the books of fiqh, and this is not always correct. As a matter of fact, we found

that the inclinations of those who explain the books of hadîth are often based upon their madhab.

For example, one finds that Imam An-Nawawi in his explaination of Sahîh Muslim gives more

weight (to an opinion) according to what the As-Shafi’î madhab considers the strongest opinion.

Also, if one observes how he derives his rulings, one would realize that he derives his rulings based

upon the As-Shafi’î principles of fiqh. So a person looks and notices that Imam An-Nawawi uses an

authentic hadîth to give precedence to a particular opinion, therefore this person agrees with him

(Imam An-Nawawi) based upon fact that the hadîth is authentic. This may be a correct approach in

most instances, however, in some instances this approach can be incorrect. Sometimes we find

him (Imam An-Nawawi) gives more weight to a particular opinion whereas the correct one may be

otherwise. How is that? Because the authenticity of a hadîth is not sufficient to establish the

validity of an opinion in matters of fiqh. To the contrary, and more importantly, it is to look and see

from what standpoint did that scholar arrive at that particular ruling. I mean how did he arrive at this

particular ruling based upon his understanding of thehadîth. This in actuality goes back to the

principles of fiqh. For example, one finds in his book Riyad-us-Salihîn, he has a chapter entitled: "

The Undesirability of Swearing in the Name of Anything besides Allah " wherein he uses as his

evidence the hadîth,

" He who swears by anyone or anything other than Allah, has indeed committed an act of

Kufr or Shirk'' (At-Tirmidhî: sahîh)

And the hadîth,

" He who swears by Amanah (trust) is not one of us. '' (Abu Dawud: sahîh)

So a person notices that Imam An-Nawawi considers it ‘makruh’ or disliked to do such an act

based on (his understanding of) thehadîth. However, there is a big difference between saying

something is makruh and the statement of the messenger (sallallâhu ’alayhi wa sallam),

" He who swears by anyone or anything other than Allah, has indeed committed an act of

Kufr or Shirk.''

Moreover, it an established principle with the foremost scholars of the people of knowledge, that

the statement of the messenger (sallallâhu ’alayhi wa sallam),

" He is not from us whoever does such and such, "

indicates that this act is prohibited. The majority of scholars of the principles of fiqh also confirm

this rule. Therefore, putting a heading on a chapter is one thing, but how this evidence is used is

another. If we were to discuss with Imam An-Nawawi why he considers this makruh, we do not

know what he will say. But I think his interpretation of the hadîth will be based upon a principle of

fiqh from the As-Shafi’î madhab that considers this type of shirk to be a minor one. The point I am

trying to make is that one should pay attention to the difference between a ruling on a matter and

how the evidences were used to arrive at this ruling. Therefore, as a general principle when reading

the books of the people of knowledge, one should pay attention to the methodology of the author.

Simply because one author uses an authentic hadîth as proof for the validity of his opinion, and

another lacks any evidence, means that this author’s opinion is actually the strongest one in that

matter – this in very rare indeed (that those of opposing view lack any evidence). These issues are

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How to Read the Books of People of Knowledge

referred to as matters of differences of opinion and our discussion is not about this. Verily, what

one finds is that the differences occurs using the same evidence. One scholar views it this way,

and the other views it a next. Therefore, when should an opinion be considered the weightiest

(among differing opinions)? If it is that the opposing viewpoints to the first opinion are less than the

opposing viewpoints to the second opinion (then this is most likely the strongest opinion in this

matter). For example, whenever one reads the books offiqh, one finds that two scholars arrive at

differing conclusions based upon the same ayah orhadîth. So therefore, which of these opinions

would be the strongest, the first or the second? This is not a matter of choice based upon whim

and fancies. Rather, we give more weight to the opinion that has the least objections to it.

Moreover, one should not think that of the many issues of differences of opinion, the strongest

opinion is the strongest in the absolute sense, i.e. one opinion is completely correct and the other is

completely incorrect. This is rarely occurs in matters of knowledge. More accurately, what happens

is that one scholar uses a hadîth or ayah to prove this and the next one uses the same to prove

that, however, the objections to opinion number one is less than the objections to opinion number

two. Thus, the one that has the least objections to it would be considered the stronger opinion, and

the other which has more objections to

Every discipline has its language

A student of knowledge, whenever reading the books of the people of knowledge, must try to

understand the matters therein according to the language of the people of knowledge. For every

discipline has its Language. For example, the one who reads the fatwa of Shaikh Al-Islâm Ibn

Taymiyyah (May Allah have mercy upon him) in a similar manner that he reads and understands a

newspaper or a magazine, such a person will indeed make many mistakes in his understanding of

the intent of Shaikh Al-Islâm words. This is because the people of knowledge, regardless of the

different eras that they lived in, they wrote the knowledge according to the language of that

particular branch of knowledge, and they did not write it based on the colloquial dialect that was

commonly spoken in their times. This was done so that the knowledge can be continuously passed

on; thus the first will understand it just as the last. Therefore, each branch of knowledge has its own

terminology and language that must be understood within the repository context that embodies the

language. For the language is the reservoir for the meaning of the words. Hence, it is not

behooving that an individual understands what he reads based on notions acquired from the past,

because if he understands the works of the scholars on this basis, his understanding will differ with

what they intended. Thus, the student of knowledge – whether he teaches or studies, should strive

to express knowledge-based matters in accordance with the language of its people. Because if he

discusses knowledge-based matters contrary to the language of its people, neither will he be fully

connecting with those who preceded him, nor will he fully obtain what is ahead of him. The

previously mentioned points were general guidelines (on what to look for and pay attention to when

reading the books of the scholars), now we will go to the specifics.

How to read the books of Aqîdah

Al Aqîdah, how does one read the books of creed?Aqîdah is based upon clarity, and it is the

explanation of the pillars of imân.

" The Messenger (Muhammad SAW) believes in what has been sent down to him from his

Lord, and (so do) the believers. Each one believes in Allâh, His Angels, His Books, and His

Messengers." (Al-Baqarah: 285)

Therefore, the pillars of imân are six easy pillars that the fitrah naturally accepts. However, when

misconceptions became rampant in this regard, the people of knowledge began to write books of

aqîdah. The books of aqîdah written by the salaf can be divided into two categories:

1. Books that discussed the issue of aqîdah in a general form, and

2. Books that discussed issues of aqîdah in a detailed manner.

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