Ahsan Hanif – My Journey with the Scholars at The Islamic University of Madinah

			Learn you manage shavon alongi
		

			Bismillah him off money law Hey
		

			smilla rahmanir rahim hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa cinemawall Baraka Allah say the
lower Lena will have hearin Nabina Muhammad in wa ala early he will often be a drummer in my band.
		

			I was asked to choose something to speak about for the next 15 to 20 minutes and inspirational event
to something which inspired me. And what I wanted to bring before you was
		

			the inspiration that I took during my time in Medina when I studied at Islamic University of Medina.
And I had the opportunity and the blessing of Allah subhanho wa Taala, to be able to meet, and to be
able to study and to be able to interact with many of the great scholars of that city, the city of
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, whether inside the university or outside the university,
whether he was studying during the day in the university classes in the university environment, or
whether it was studying outside of the university in the mosque of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wasallam, or generally in the city of Medina. And from the Rila, I had the opportunity to meet many
		

			of the great scholars of Medina, many of them were probably well known to all of you, maybe some of
them are not well known to you as well. And Hamdulillah, I benefited a lot from them, obviously, in
terms of the knowledge, first and foremost, but also in other things which left an impression upon
me. And that's really what I wanted to highlight for you today. And what I wanted to emphasize in
the session,
		

			one of the things that we noticed when we study the biography of the scholars generally, and one of
the advices, the pieces of advice that they would give to people was that when you study knowledge,
whenever you go to a gathering like this, whether it's a conference, whether it's a regular lecture,
whether it's something which you do one on one, whether it's an intensive course, or whatever it is,
when you come to someone who's more knowledgeable than you, and you come to seek knowledge to learn
about your religion, then one of the most primary benefits that you should attain, one of the most
primary things that you should attain is benefiting your conduct and your character. And this should
		

			be a benefit that you attain before the benefit of knowledge that you see a person's character. You
see the way they are, you see their respect for knowledge, the respect for the other scholars, the
respect for the fellow brother, brothers and sisters. And this is something that you take from
before you take anything else. And that's why Emma Malik's Mother of him, Allahu taala. She famously
said to Mr. Malik, when he went to one of his early and first teachers, or ob, she said, Go to him,
and take from his character before you take from his knowledge. And the mother of human manacles are
a scholar, she wasn't anyone well known. She's not someone that we know of today for her knowledge,
		

			and a hadith and so on. But she was a very wise and intelligent woman. She was someone who's very
mature. And she knew that one of the main benefits one of the fruits of knowledge is character, so
that your character and your conduct is also exemplary. And this is something which we see from our
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, before the knowledge of everything that he had, that Allah
bestowed upon him, he was exemplary in his can conduct and his character. And unfortunately, many of
us even though we study Islam, many of us have attended maybe hundreds of lectures, attended dozens
of conferences, met dozens of speakers. But unfortunately, this concept of character, this this
		

			journey, or this issue of character, and our conduct is still something which we lacking something
which we need to work very hard, and perfecting our character and making something more exemplary.
And that's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that nothing will be heavy on the scales
on Yeoman per Yama, then good conduct good character, because of how wait here is in the sight of
Allah, but also because of how difficult it is to attain. So basically, what I wanted to do was just
mentioned to you some of the ways that I benefited from my teachers. And that was the first benefit
that I attained the character of my teachers, and there were many teachers that we had asked you to
		

			do in University, and the University System in Saudi Arabia is somewhat different to the university
system here, where you study a full day. So you don't just choose a course and have maybe like two
lectures a day, or five lectures a week or something very, very minimal. There is five lectures
every single day, five days a week. So you have 25 lectures, and so you're barely you're talking
about roughly 14 to 15 different teachers per semester. And then there's two semesters a year and
then the course is like a six year course. And so you interact with many, many different teachers.
So maybe like in the hundreds
		

			So one of the things that you benefit from them, and they were all famous scholars, some of them
were very famous, others were just normal teachers, they were professors at the university. But one
of the things that I benefited from all of them collectively was the good character, we would have
Mashallah some of our teachers who, even though they were very famous, they weren't known in Medina,
outside of Medina, they were just professors at the university, not very well known. But they had
one of the most beautiful characters that you would ever see, you would have teachers, for example,
who, just before the holidays, they would say to us, all of you, and they would say like this, like
		

			all of the students is, like, 100 of us in the class, I want to see all of you on my house, on the
day of read, all of you are invited. And we don't know him personally, he doesn't know us. And
obviously, he's busy with his family and relatives, as people generally are on the day of rain. But
they would say we want you all to come and visit us on the day of read, we want you to be with us,
we want you to visit and eat with us, we want you to spend time with us and our family. And so you
would find these like pearls and gems from them, the way they had such a beautiful character. And
many of our teachers never treated us like students, they treated us like like brothers. And I still
		

			remember to this day that one of our teachers used to consider us to be the scholars, the way he
would address us, the way he would interact with us the way he would respect us. It was as if we
were the scholars, and he was the student. And he's teaching. He's a professor. He's the one
teaching us and he's the one with the doctrine. He's the one that studied, but he was just a
beautiful way of character. And they would say, and one of our scholars was chef Schumpeter, I feel
the hula, who's a great scholar of Medina, and a great scholar of our times, he would say that
because you're holding knowledge, you've come to seek knowledge. And you're, you're people who
		

			possess knowledge, you're seeking knowledge, then you have a great status in the sight of Allah
subhana wa Tada. And that status is something which needs to be exalted is something which needs to
be honored. It's not about the individual person, I know you are, I don't know you. But the fact
that you have knowledge that you've memorized the Quran, that you are learning about the religion,
and so on, that in itself, we are exalting the knowledge, not the person. And that was something
which I really benefited from, that when we respect our scholars, it's not because of the name of
the person, or the tribe that they come from. But it is because of the knowledge that they possess,
		

			it was the respect of the knowledge, not the respect of the person that we have. And so that was
something which I really benefited from something else, which I really benefited from, for many of
the scholars of Medina was their humility, and their humbleness, and SubhanAllah. It's amazing how a
person becomes older. And some of these corners were in the 70s, the 80s, really old, and they
became older. And then as they get older, and they get more knowledge, and they become more famous,
they increase in their piety, and they increase in the humbleness and their humility. And I remember
like, one of the best examples that I can give of this is our share of the national, our bad, I feel
		

			the Allahu taala, one of the greatest scholars of hadith of our times, and a great scholar of
Medina. And the chef is probably in his 70s 80s. Now he's really old, he's nearly blind, he can
hardly see. And even though he's so old, I have rarely seen a man, so humble, so humble, we would
come and we would sit in his class, and he would be in the university, and he would teach us and
people would ask him questions, and he wouldn't answer with his own questions. He would say, I heard
shocked embassy. I read the Shanghai but I say mean said, I heard that so on so said this, and that,
and at times, like, especially when questions would come, where there was a difference of opinion,
		

			or a question or an issue, which isn't very clear, he wouldn't give his own opinion. He would say I
heard the other scholars say, and some of those scholars are his, like students, some of them are
his contemporaries. Some of them are his teachers. But he would use the name even though he's a
great scholar in his own right. And this showed me his humbleness and his humility. And I can't
remember the amount of times that we asked him questions as a class, and he replied, allow them, I
don't know. Or someone else go on as soon so and these are like much younger professors in the
University. He is a specialist in this department asked him and this is like one of the most senior
		

			if not the most senior scholar of Medina. And he would say, allow him I don't know, ask someone
else. And this was his humbleness and his humility. May Allah subhanahu Wata Allah preserve him. And
this is something which I really benefited from the way that he was really humbled with his
knowledge. And even though he possessed us and he would say to us, that unfortunately today people
are so quick to answer a question comes up an issue arises, something happens in the world, and
everyone's very quick to jump in and say yes, no halal haram whereas we know that almoradi Allah and
when an issue would come to him like this, he would gather the companions of bundle. All of them
		

			hundreds that participated in the Battle of bundle and he
		

			He would say, give me your advice. And so the chef was very, very careful and conscious about this
issue. And he would display his humbleness and his humility, may Allah Subhana. Allah preserve him.
One of the other things that I saw, which I really loved and Hamdulillah, we saw an example of this
yesterday in the debate that we had, between our chefs abou sama she has him was the love and
respect that our teachers had for one another, the love and respect that they had for one another. I
remember so many times the shampoo masala bad was very old, as I mentioned, and he's nearly blind,
he needs a guide to walk. So he can't just look because he can't see where he's going. He needs
		

			someone to hold his hand and to walk with Him. And normally he has a son or a nephew that studying
in university or a grandson, someone that's in the university that will take him from classes to
class, they bring him into the university, they'll guide him from one class to another. And so
that's what they used to do. But when they would come in the corridor, our other teachers would see
the chef. And these guys are professors themselves and shadow Woodson are bad isn't a doctor, he
doesn't have a PhD is not a professor. And he studied Islam, the old the old way, right, the old
school method, which is that you go to the scholars, before universities and so on, became famous.
		

			And so he's a great scholar in his right. But then there's other scholars who are professors, now
the PhD holders, the doctors, and so on. And they would see the chef being guided by one of his
grandsons or one of the students and they would go and they would kiss him on his forehead, and they
will take his hand and they will walk him to wherever he wants. And they would grab his hand and
they would guide him. And this was a beautiful display of the mutual love and respect that they had
for one another. And even though the chef is famous, like this person who's coming, he's probably a
great scholar Association pretty do this, and others, just grab his hand, kiss him on his forehead
		

			and take him. And because the chef was nearly blind, he can't really see who it is, who's grabbing
his hand, and so on. And so they will say chef, is my is me so and so. And they'll mention that and
they won't say his doctors on so they'll say it's Mohammed, the champagne, or whoever, whatever
their name is. And they were mentioned in a very beautiful, humble way, they'll kiss the chef on his
forehead, they'll take his hand. And even though they have lessons to get to themselves, they're
busy, they're teaching, but they'll go and they'll take him wherever he wants to go. And this is a
beautiful display of love and respect to our scholars and the respect that scholars have amongst
		

			themselves as well. And often it's something which we don't really see. Because we see people come
they come on stage, they do their lectures, they leave, and you don't really get to spend time with
them. But when you see scholars and many scholars in the same gathering, and in the same setting,
you'll find the way that they respect one another. And I know that from my own experience, the in
Medina chef with the National are bad in his lectures is which is one of the biggest gatherings in
the mosque called the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, one of the students in his lectures, one
of the people sitting at his feet, is His own Son shall have the rose up and are bad, and shall have
		

			the result for those of you who know, is a great scholar in his own right. And he's someone who's a
specialist in Athena. But every single day, more or less without fail, he'll be there himself. And
he will sit there, and he will wait. And he will patiently listen to his father. And this is the
respect that he has, not only for his father, but likewise the scholars as they respect for one
another as well. One of the other things that I really benefited from as well from my scholars is
how they made their knowledge easy. The love for the knowledge that they possessed, and how they
made it very easy. They would make it really easy and simple for people. And so the vast majority of
		

			the manuals in universities you have good professors, and bad professors, here are people who are
very good in the teaching style, other people who are not so good, not so gifted in the teaching
style. But the best teachers that I had I found were the ones who made things very, very easy. They
made things very, very simple. And I remember one of the teachers that I had yesterday, man Rohini,
may Allah preserve him, he would really make things very, very easy and a subject which was very
difficult. He would teach us kawari, the fifth year, which is legal Maxim's, which is a technical
subject, it's about rules, and, and Maxim's and principles and so on. And it's a technical subject.
		

			And so he would teach the subject and the way you would teach was that he would give 10s and 10s of
examples for everything that he mentioned. He will just give example, after example, after example,
where even the thickest student in the class, he has to understand that some examples he would give,
and he will just carry on giving examples after example, after example, and sometimes I'd be there
writing example. And I be like, I've got the point, right? I know, let's move on. But he would
continue to do so. And it was a very beautiful teaching style. And so hamdulillah I benefited from
this as well. The way I was scholars not only love their knowledge, they respect the knowledge as
		

			well. And they have this humility, which is attached to the knowledge that they possess, and then
they make it really easy for people as well. One of the other things and perhaps I'll conclude with
this, that I bet
		

			benefited from one of our scholars as well, is the way they treated people who came to seek
knowledge. They will never turn away questioners, when people would come, they wouldn't say I
haven't got time, but they would always make time for people, obviously within parameters, but they
would come and they would give people time. And they would respect people. So for example, if they
had a lecture and they found someone who was old, they would respect that person, I remember we
would sit we shall put it in the harem. And he had a very large gathering much larger than this
probably one of the largest in the mosque of the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasallam. And it's so
		

			big, that they would have to put up external speakers around his class, because there's so many
people, and the speakers in the home weren't catered for such a big gathering. So they will put up
stand alone speakers as well, to gather to cater for his class. And so he would have his way of
teaching, which is that he speaks he teaches for about 15 minutes. And then at the end, he does q&a.
But because he's such a famous scholar, there were many people who would come just to ask a
question, this average people, they would come, they don't really want to learn. They don't want to
study the fact that the scholars teaching, they just want to ask the question, and they want to go.
		

			And I remember on more than one occasion, some of those people were very old, old in the sense that
their back was arched that a very white long beard, they looked very old. And so these people as the
shank was speaking, he they will just stand up. Just imagine like everyone just sitting here now.
And really old brother, he just stands up. And he just says, just shuts out what are the short
speaking your chef? And then he wants to ask his question. And the chef who let him ask his
question, and then he would say, normally, I wouldn't allow this. Normally, I'd say to him, sit down
or go out, go away if you don't want to listen. And this is the time for my teaching. q&a is
		

			afterward. But because he's someone older than us, we respect him for his knowledge. We respect him
for his, for his knowledge for his age, we respect his old age. And so we'll answer his question,
and then I'll carry on. And this was a very beautiful way of dealing with the people. And obviously
it goes back to the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that from the glorification
of Allah subhanho wa Taala is honoring the old Muslim, and the one who has memorized the Quran. And
this is something which we saw in our teachers that they wouldn't just narrate these a hadith and
say these are Hadith, but they would implement them in a very practical way. It was something which
		

			you would see in the lessons, when these when these issues would arise when these things would
happen. They would implement these ahaadeeth and they would respect them. And so to summarize, to
conclude, one of the greatest things that I benefited from my teachers as well as the knowledge, but
I would say that I would rate this more is the character and the conduct. And unfortunately, it's
something which we don't always take benefit from. We take from people's knowledge, but we don't
really take from the character and that is something which is equally as important, if not more so
in some respects to benefit from a person's character and the conduct. May Allah subhanho wa Taala
		

			advantus exemplary character, and may subhanho wa Taala allow us to follow in the footsteps of our
great scholars, how they will lower them Astana lows around early user management
		

			Bismillah him off money on all Hey,