Ok in these 2 videos i've posted Abu Mussab reads this out loud from Uthaymeen's fatwa, and the other point about reading the textual evidences is also explained by Abu Mussab in one of the videos. As any other subject of Islam, we can look into the textual evidences by reading books on the subject, watch lectures or we can consult a reliable student of knowledge or sheikh to explain to us the stance of the Ulema and their evidences. Here is the other video:
Nowadays there's also many books out that explain in particular the 4 Imams' stances on Islamic issues also like the Muwatta of Imam Malik, Al-Umda fi l-fiqh of Imam Ahmad, a bit on Imam Sha'afi and plenty on Hanafi fiqh all available in English maasha'allah
Asalamo`Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Baraakaatuh,
I read something related to reading books for understanding issues and stances of Imaams on these issues without a teacher. I thought I'd share for everyone's benefit.
It's not related to Picture taking and I'm not debating *Smile*, just sharing something I think you'll like.
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Posted by Brother al-boriqee on multaqa:
The way I see it is as follows
1. review what Shaykh Fawzan says in the link provided by Bilal. There is an Ijmaa on everything Fawzaan said.
2. secondly, books and now audio lectures/explanations are even more immensely beneficial than books and thus we don't simply erase our data and burn our libraries.
3. The basis for books and Islamic media content is for "m'arifa" i.e. cognizance only. One shaykh told me that a shaykh told him that "whoever does not recognize the difference between m'arifa and 'ilm, is not someone who is grounded in knowledge"
Thus books, lectures, or any sort of Islamic media is here for us to simply "brief" ourselves with a "cursory" view of basic Islamic knowledge, it is not primary Islamic knowledge, and this is the essence and spirit of what Fawzaan is talking about because when one considers what they gained from books to be primary knowledge, then this is a false call.
4. Language:. If the language of these books and materials are not Arabic, then the extent of their aim is drastically reduced and thus further increases the intellectual distance between the seeker and the people of knowledge.
Not only language, but even levels of Arabic knowledge. The arabic student who is studying will not grasp the full extent of the message as the arabic student who has mastered the Qur'an by heart. Likewise, both of these will not grasp the full extent of the message in comparison to someone who not only knows Arabic and knows the Qur'an, but has mastered the 13 sciences of arabic language which are for example
1) The first is الصَّرْف i.e Morphology
2) Next is النَّحْو or grammer, and the main subject of nahw is الإعْراب
3) Next is الرَّسْم أو الإمْلاء i.e the skill of penmanship and dictation
4) Next is المَعاني the science of meaning
5) Next is البَيلن or commonly known as Ilmul-Bayaan or the art of uttering speech
6) Next is البَديع or the art of beautification of speech
7) Metrics or Prosody العَروض
8) Rhyme القَوافي
9) Writing Poetry قَرْضُ الشِّعْر
10) Composition الإنْشاء
11) Public Speech and Oration الخَطابَة
12) Literary History تاريخُ اللأَدَب
13) Core of the Arabic Language مَتْن اللُّغَة (deals with words, foundations, dictionaries, and lexicons)
(Note: ٍSome scholars group البَديع و البَيان و المَعاني under the Science of Arabic Rhetoric عِلْمُ الْبَلاغَة )
so a student who has acquired these aspects of Arabic will go that much farther in his studies and will always be of a higher caliber than those who have not reached to gain these subjects in their understanding of Arabic language.
5. The most common view among the scholars (with of course slight modifications between each scholar) is that one will be able to read books on their own and will be able to grab the pearls without mistakes after he has
a. gained knowledge of the sciences of arabic (mentioned above)
b. has learned the Qur'an and a good portion of hadeeth literature
c. basic and intermediate levels of fiqh
d. has gone through same basic usoolul-hadeeth
e. basic tafseer and its usool
f. has gone through a noted text on usoolul-fiqh
g. has gone through some study on tassawuf (or tazkiyyah, raqaa'iq, or whatever term one prefers to use, and I mean by this sunnism, not what we know of from sufis)
Thus, the recipe above stands for a strong student of knowledge by which he can read tafseer books on his own, make tahqiq of source references on his own, and possibly grant a correct ruling on those who require a ruling on something or at least be able to point the worshiper in the right direction.
Of course ALL of the above will come after going through a basic text or two of knowing how to be a taalibul-ilm. Thus the student might learn al-Faqih wal-Mutafaqih or Adab ar-Rawi, or one of the most famous classical books on the topic, Ibnul-Jama'ah's Tadhkaraat as-Sam'i wal-Mutakallim Fi Adabul-Alim wal-Muta' Allim
i.e. "The memoir of the listener and the speaker in the training of teacher and student"
For westerners like me and others here, We need a triple shot (or dose) of this subject before we even think about approaching any other subject in Islam. So while the average Muslim in various countries may spend a couple of months on this subject alone, Americans will have to stick to this subject for at the very least 1 year, preferably 2, and sometimes 3 years before moving on, depending on how much american stubborness is inherent in the person's character.
6. Lastly, considering your case, like in most countries of darul-kufr, where the influence of shiyookh is lacking exponentially, then the reliance of books and media content on Islamic topics has greater value to us by default, due to the nature of our abode. Many students of knowledge and ulema who are overseas and who obligate the following of scholars do not really have a grasp of this plain political fact, especially considering that they might have like 4 shaykhs to go to on their way to the local masjid which is probably 3 blocks down the street. In my own personal view, I consider that we all need to get the hell out of dodge and leave for the land of the Muslims since it is mandatory in my view, but we all know that millions of muslims will not make mass hijrah because of my viewpoint. Likewise Islam is obligatory on them by their Lord regardless of the presence of scholars or not, which is something that people overseas as well sometimes fail to factor in.
Based on the overall situation, the people here in the west are pretty much cornered to one position. That is, if there are no teachers in your direct area, then you must acquiant yourself (m'arifa) with what you can of books and islamic media content and try to establish some form of contact, link, or relationship with scholars who are upon the salafi manhaj, wherever they may be.
This is so that you can "CONFIRM" the information you have received from these sources and whether or not he can inform you on those issues you were correct in deducing from them, what needs revision, and what is flatly incorrect.
I could be wrong, however in my view, this seems to be not only the most viable, but really the only route that a Muslim who actually cares for their deen can actually learn the basics of their deen IF they are unable to study with teachers or scholars. If they can, then it is best to study directly from them. And what really makes it binding is that Allah is holding the implementation of Islam mandatory on all people who accept Islam, regardless if there are scholars who can excel them in their Islam or not.
Now, of course it can be said that one is not held accountable for what they do not know. But then again, we get back to the base fact that we ARE accountable for seeking knowledge that is directly mandatory upon us to know.
asalamu alaykum
Source
BaraakAllaahu feeki for the thread, sister.
as worst of people and who would b punished severely on day of of judgement.
