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The Student of Knowledge and Books pdf download

THE STUDENT OF KNOWLEDGE AND BOOKS
Book Title The Student Of Knowledge And Books
Book AuthorAbdul Aziz al-Shaykh
Total Pages24
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LanguageEnglish
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The Student of Knowledge and Books

The Student of Knowledge and Books

Book contents

  • From the Lecture: The Introduction
  • Etiquette One: Arranging and Organizing Books
  • Etiquette Two: Acquiring the Most Accurate Editions of Books
  • Etiquette Three: Keeping One’s Books Clean and Tidy
  • Etiquette Four: Recording the Points of Benefit found in Books
  • Etiquette Five: Lending Books out to Others
  • Etiquette Six: Reviewing and Inspecting One’s Books
  • Etiquette Seven: Preserving and Safeguarding One’s Books

The Student of Knowledge and Books

In the first stages of this ummah, only a small amount of the Companions recorded the Sunnah. This goes the same for those who came after them.

The Taabi’een recorded – as is well known from the record of Hamaam bin Munabbih from Abu Hurairah and other records – only some things from the Sunnah.

Also, the letters that Prophet Muhammad sent to the kings of the various regions of the world and to his representatives and commanders were preserved. What was also preserved were the letters written by the rightly- guided Khaleefahs and those rulers who came after them as well as the letters the Companions wrote between themselves.

This transpired up to the time when the recording of knowledge took place at which point books were written and documented and the people advanced in that field to the extent that books were written on all of the various sciences of Islaam.

So the first of books began to be written – on Hadeeth and Sunnah, then on Tafseer, then on the Language and the Meanings of the Qur’aan. Then the writings and books became diversified.

Since things were this way, the scholars began to advise the students to preserve books from changes and modifications since books are written and copied. If a book’s authorship and mass-production are both correct, this ensures that the book itself will be correct.

 On the other hand, if a book’s text is not precise and its replication is not accurate it falls under the deficiencies in knowledge due to the lack of precision and accuracy in its writing and transcription.

It is for this reason that a group of authors, such as Al-Jaahidh in his book al- Haywaan and others, mentioned that there were some scholars who would purchase three copies of the same book possessing an identical chain and text of narration.

And if that book’s chain and text of narration varied, i.e. were more than one, they would strive even harder to acquire (extra) copies of all of these different versions of the same book! This was due to their intense zeal for obtaining precision and accuracy in knowledge.

 The reason they did this was because it was possible that a word in one manuscript differed from a word in another manuscript or that an entire sentence was left out or that a place in the manuscript was distorted and so the error would become clear and discernable it to another manuscript (of the same book).

The Student of Knowledge and Books

The scholars would advise the students of knowledge to strive hard to maintain and conserve their books so that they could remain preserved and safeguarded from changes and alterations.

They did this to instill the concept that recording in these books has its proper etiquettes and that a student of knowledge must be precise and accurate in the comments, footnotes, benefits, questions and so on that he writes in a printed manuscript.

This is such that he is able to benefit from what he writes and so that the book does not become altered by his writing between the lines and so on.

This is why in their books on narrating and their books on seeking knowledge, the scholars have placed etiquettes for the student of knowledge when dealing with books. The closest thing in resemblance that a book has with regard to a student of knowledge is like that of one of his body parts.

 So the books of a student of knowledge are like his cells which he needs to live. They are his ears and his eyes, which if he were to lose, his knowledge would become gradually weaker.

You will notice that the one who is weak in referencing (his books) and weak in researching knowledge and reading, that he grows weak little by little. He forgets knowledge gradually until he becomes a common person after a number of years have passed.

Researching knowledge in books is from the most important of matters! This requires a student of knowledge to have an immense connection with books. However, this connection has its etiquettes and conditions which the scholars have outlined and explained in their works, such as the book “al-Jaami’” of Ibn ‘Abdil-Barr and the book of Ibn Jamaa’ah on the etiquettes of seeking knowledge known as “Tadhkirat-us-Saami’ wal-Mutakallim.”

There are many other books on this subject that talk about how a student of knowledge should deal with books. We will mention some of these points. But before embarking on the general etiquettes of books, we would like to mention that a student of knowledge’s high regard for books indicates his high regard for knowledge.

Therefore, from among the etiquettes that a student of knowledge should characterize himself with regarding books is that of:

Etiquette One: Arranging and Organizing Books

A student should arrange his books in such a way that it is easy for him to refer to them if there is an issue that requires him to research some of his books.

 This means that he should maintain his books in a certain order. The way the books are to be organized depends on the preference of this student.

So if he requires that all of his books on Tafseer be arranged together and all of his books on Hadeeth be arranged together, and he further divides the Tafseer section into its various sciences and the Hadeeth section into its various sciences, and the Fiqh books into their respective madh-hab’s and so on and so forth, then there is no harm in this.

 And if he decides to arrange his books in some other order that he feels is more beneficial, then there is also no problem with this. The objective is for the book to be in a place where if he looks for it, he will find it.

Books are divided into two types: Large books and small treatises. As for the large books, then these are the ones that we see in a library. This is since they are big – 10 volumes, 15 volumes, 13 volumes, 14 volumes, etc.

This is clear. Rather, what deserves special attention are the small treatises, which are also important. It is possible that these smaller books may contain knowledge that cannot be found in the bigger books.

When he needs to refer to one of these small treatises, he looks for it but can’t find it. Why? It is because he has not put it in its proper place. One should take special care of these small treatises by putting them in a separate area. This means that they should not be put amidst the works of research and the larger books.

So for example, a person may put a large book on his shelf and then next to it place a small book, in terms of its pages, and then next to that a small 40-50 page treatises and so on!

The scholars have devoted some of their attention to this aspect, such that they have put forth what they call “compilations” consisting of a volume or more in which there can be found 10 or 12 treatises or more.

So if it’s possible, a student of knowledge should compile these small treatises into a collection, placing booklets of a similar subject into one volume.

This means that he should put all the small treatises that deal with the manners of seeking knowledge in one specific volume, for example, or the small treatises that deal with the subject of Hadeeth terminology in a separate volume or the essays on the sciences of Tafseer and the sciences of Qur’aan in one specific collection and so on and so forth.

Likewise, he should place his Fiqh-related books and treatises separately. It is also appropriate to divide the Fiqh-related books and treatises into different sections, within themselves, according to what topics of Fiqh (jurisprudence) they fall under.

So for example, one should place a treatise on crimes in its proper place amongst the chapters of Fiqh, thus organizing his books in this manner.

He should begin with the treatises that deal with purification, followed by the treatises that deal with prayer.

Even those treatises on prayer should be subdivided into those that deal with the conditions of prayer first followed by the rulings on prayer which include the prostration of forgetfulness, for example. Each book should be put in its proper place.

They should not be placed in the section of Zakaat, say, which comes after the prayer.

The same should then be done with similar treatises, i.e. these small booklets that are hard to locate if one needs to refer to them. They should be organized according to their subjects of jurisprudence.

The same goes for the rest of the Islamic sciences whether they deal with history, Creed or their likes. One should put the books that cover Creed in general amongst the general books or treatises on Creed. Or he should place those subjects on Creed that he is researching into different sections on Creed so that it is easy for him to refer back to them.

So the first etiquette with regard to books is that one must organize his books in a good manner. Maintaining one’s library in order is an indication of a student of knowledge’s regard for his books.

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