Re: How do I structure my Islamic studies?

[Seeker of illm]

Assallamu Alaikum Shiekh,

I wanted to ask a question, there is so much to learn about Islamic knowledge, you have tajweed, Hadith, Akidah, Fiqh, Seerah etc.

How would a student of knowledge would break it down to the most importance because all of these subjects are important but where would i start first.

I just started to learn how to recite, Allhumdu'illah. It's going good.

But then I also wanted to study maybe one more subject. I've been going to various daroos, i feel the two hours aint going in. So i wanted to stick to a couple.

I also try and read various books, just to keep the tarabiyah going on the train, just sitting. At the moment I'm not sure if you heard of this shiekh Abd al-Hamid Kishk called Dealing with lust and greed. Its a eye opener, masha'Allah, but shiekh I'm afriad to rush into loads of books but just want to pace myself, and read beneficial books to lay my foundation.

So please could you give me some naseeha on this question shiekh.

Jazakallah shiekh.

p.s. and if there is any brothers and sisters want to become student of illm, there is book called 'The book of knowledge' by Uthaymeen (rahimahullah). Its very good, my favourite Scholar.may Allah have mercy on him. ameen.

[Tawfique Chowdhury]

assalamualaikum,

InshaAllah we will have a dedicated course on gaining knowledge one day inshaAllah.

In a nutshell:

1. Concentrate on the most important Fard ayn knowledge on every human being first. Once you have understood this in detail, then move on to

2. A more detailed study of Aqeedah and Fiqh. We mentioned in our class on the Drops of dew a sample of a number of books to study and in the order of study. If you can follow that order you will do well. By the way, remember that you can't do this without a proper teacher teaching of from tapes and then asking a teacher about what you don't understand.

3. All other books, such as books on day of judgement, this and that tape etc.. only read them for pleasure and only minimally, however concentrate on the above. Stick to it like glue and even if you find it boring at times.

4. Along with studying the appropriate books in fiqh and aqeedah, also study any supporting sciences to a minimal level - such as principles of hadeeth and usulul-fiqh etc..

5. Try to memorize or atleast read a material 20 times or more so that it sits in your mind and never learn something except that you should try and practise it and try to visualize it.

6. Don't concentrate at this stage on khilaaf - there is no end to it. As a result, concentrate on learning one opinion with its appropriate proof and don't get into debates and arguments as this stage. You are still learning and you can't yet tell which opinion is stronger or weaker. Ensure that you follow a good teacher who has studied under other scholars and is a student of knowledge able to understand what is a stronger opinion from a weaker one. It is for this reason that I advise that you learn a particular madhab with a teacher who is not mutassib (not staunch unrelenting following of that madhab). In this way, you will always have a base to go back to and from that base you can launch.

7. Although memorizing the Quran is essential for every student of knowledge - I don't believe it is a priority. Aim to have a minimum of 10% - 20% of the Quran in your memory at least and then concentrate on the rest of the knowledge which is more important now and more needed by the ummah.

8. Try and memorize certain books of proofs. My advise is the following: Umdatul-Ahkaam (all authentic ahadeeth from bukhari and muslim ordered according to chapters of fiqh) and then after you have finished from that: Bulughul-Maram.

9. Remember that all of the above advice is futile unless you know have the essentials of understanding Arabic and arabic grammar. So if you don't know arabic yet, that is where I would start seriously!

Thats about it for now. InshaAllah we will have more details in a special course (even a one day course) on the manner of seeking knowledge inshaAllah.

Abu Yusuf

[sis-rehana]

Jazahkhalla Khair Shaykh - that is very comprehensive and extremely helpful in making us think about the way in which we structure our studies. I wanted to ask primarily which madhab do you teach us on the courses that we are attending? When we attend the courses you tell us where the stronger opinion lies but are we following the Hannabali madhab in your teachings? And if we have a different lecturer will it be under the same madhab?

[Tawfique Chowdhury]

Originally Posted by sis-rehana

Jazahkhalla Khair Shaykh - that is very comprehensive and extremely helpful in making us think about the way in which we structure our studies. I wanted to ask primarily which madhab do you teach us on the courses that we are attending? When we attend the courses you tell us where the stronger opinion lies but are we following the Hannabali madhab in your teachings? And if we have a different lecturer will it be under the same madhab?

Assalamualaikum Jazakallahulkhair.

My usulfiqh is primarily hanbali osool - primarily that of Ibn Qudaamah rahimahullah. I studied some of the books of the Hanbali madhab, however don't always stick to it if the osool dictactes otherwise.

As a result, primarily it is hanbali in base, however since academic tertiary study requires us to know all the madhabs, I mention all of them and the strongest opinion that I point out in the course is the opinion that is usually in accordance with the usulfiqh of RawdatunNadhir wa Jannatul Manadhir of Imam Ibn Qudaamah which is based and derived from Shafi usulfiqh from AlMustawsaf of Imam alghazzali may Allah have mercy on all of them.

The link between "strongest opinion" , "madhab", "usulfiqh", "qawaidulfiqh" etc.. will all become very clear inshaAllah in our upcoming course the evolution of fiqh, name: The Chronicles of the Shariah which will be offered in London next year inshaAllah.

As for the rest of the tutors, then they may have a different usul, however we will try to keep uniformity inshaAllah so as to not confuse our students. AlKauthar courses in other countries may have differeces based on the tutors and their madhab in that country. wallahu alaim

Abu Yusuf

[Nureen]

http://forums.alkauthar.org/showpost...03&postcount=2
SubhanAllah I wish I had this when I first started practising... JazakAllah khair Sheikh.

[bintyaqub]

Assalamu alaykum

The problem that I have seen sisters face is when they get married they can no longer pursue to type of study that they used to enjoy before they got married. I know of some sisters who got married to brothers who did not have as much knowledge as she did when the got married. After the responsabilities and the blessing of children was given to her, her husband surpassed the level of knowledge that she had and now proceeds her.

Mashallah tabarakallah, the role of women in Islam is a great one and the fear that many sisters have is that they will not find a husband that is willing to share the knowledge he gains, or on the other hand does not share the passion or zeal they they have. As many sisters find marriage is the way of being more accessable to knowledge as many restrictions are put upon us by our parents, the hope by getting married is that the husband will encourage and make the knowledge more accessable to her, but unfortunantly this isnt the case and on the contrary that zeal and passion that so many sisters have slowly disapears after marriage.

How would sisters pursue the knowledge that we crave with these restrictions?
Assalamu alaykum

Part of the fundamentals of gaining knowledge is to have a companionship with a teacher as well as a lengthly period of study. Now how can sisters in the west do this?

There is only so much one can get from books and for many sisters this is the only option that they can see for them.

[Tawfique Chowdhury]

Thats an excellent question sister Bintyaqoob, I ask Allah to count you from amonst this noble slaves and scholars.

I have the following advice for sisters who get married and may experience difficulty in keeping up with knowledge:

1. Keep your intentions pure and never give up. Your reward is with your intention. As long as you keep your intentions pure, you will receive the same Ajar if not more inshaAllah, if your circumstances end up preventing you from knowledge. So don't be of those who say - khalas, I am married and I have a child and so knowledge is not for me any more, or of those who give up in a state of depression.

2. We live in the time of audio and recordings - Use tapes and audio as much as possible to counter the in ability to attend classes with teachers.

3. Rekindle the love for knowledge with your husband - Read a hadeeth a day and your husband a verse of the Quran and its tafsir every day before going to bed - keep the books by your bedside so you don't forget and make it a habit so that you don't forget.

4. Keep a particular book next to certain routine tasks that you do and make it a habit to read that book everytime you do that routine. Example: If you go out of the house to drop off the kids to school in the morning, ensure that you get out of the house 10 minutes early whilst hte car is warming up and make sure that you use this 10 minutes to read 1 page of tafsir - and keep the tafsir book in your car and put up a sign near the speedometer that says - have you read your tafsir for today? etc.. I used to do this and in this way I went through most of the Tafsir of the Quran from AshShawkani's Tafsir - even though Tafsir was something that we didn't give much priority to in our time in Medinah.

5. Keep a study partner - like a sister who also wants to study as bad as you - and ask her to study a part and summarize to you what she learnt whilst you study another part and summarize to her - in this way, you can gain more knowledge in less time.

InshaAllah if u do these few steps it will go a long way. The trick is to remain consistent. If you can remain consistent, then you will get there even if it takes longer.

There is something my Sheikh used to always tell me. He used to tell me:
Remember: EASING OF THE PATH TO JANNAH IS BASED UPON MAKING THE EFFORT, NOT UPON ACHIEVING THE RESULT!!

Abu Yusuf

[bintyaqub]

Jazakallah khair shiekh

May Allah ease your path to jannah.

wassalam

[Bint MuhammadR]

Assalaamu'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuhu Shaykh & others,

With regards to problems faced by sisters when seeking knowledge, one of the major restrictions for sisters, particularly those who aren't married, is travelling alone or without a mahram.

Could you let me know what the ruling is regarding sisters travelling without a mahram/husband in order to seek knowledge? What about if a sister travels with another sister who will be accompanied by her husband, or a group of sisters travelling together - I am specifically asking for the distance of London to Birmingham - i.e. Mark of a Jurist in April!

JazaakAllahu khayran,

Wasalaam warahmatulllah