Learn from the Scholars and not from
Books!
Shaykh Saalih bin Fawzaan حفظه الله
said:
Do not put your trust in books unrestrictedly. Do not trust
books because there is truth and falsehood in them. Do not trust books and rely
upon them - instead go to the people of knowledge who are well grounded in
their knowledge. Do not take knowledge from books or seek knowledge from books
alone. Memorize them. Some people memorize volumes of books and mutoon, the
texts that students memorize. However, they do not understand them or know the
meanings of them. This is because they have not learned from the Scholars who
explain them and clarify their meanings. A person may understand things wrongly
and this is dangerous. Do not trust books and rely upon them. They are just a
means to knowledge, a tool. Do not rely upon them and what they contain in your
seeking of knowledge, not every book is upon the truth and even if the book
were upon truth, your understanding may not be correct. People’s understanding
is different even if the book is upon the truth.
Did not the Khawaarij (a deviant sect known for rebelling
against the leaders) go astray even though they used to memorize the Qur’aan?
They used to stand and read it in the Tahajjud night prayer and still they went
astray. This is because they did not understand the meanings of the Qur’aan and
they did not seek knowledge from the scholars. They isolated themselves from
the Companions, they sufficed themselves by reading and reciting the Qur’aan
with their own understanding of it. So this lead to what happened. This is a dangerous
occurrence today – claiming knowledge (or self-study).
We have this dangerous occurrence which is seeking knowledge
from books or from those who do not understand; from those who claim knowledge
or who are only beginning to learn the basics. This is dangerous upon the
individual and upon the Ummah because he will come out and give fataawaa legal
rulings and explain the Qur’aan and Sunnah and he will misguide the people.
Source in Arabic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRW3u2f7XIA
Translated by Umm ‘AbdirRahmaan
Tara Hashim
10th Safar 1440
19/10/2018
