Ismail Kamdar – The Need for Dynamic Scholarship
AI: Summary ©
The challenges faced by students in the digital age and the need for dynamic scholarship are highlighted as key challenges for students. They stress the importance of learning to address new problems and dedicate time to studying the future, as it is crucial to personal success and personal development. The speakers also emphasize the importance of commitment to learning and studying to become a scholar, as it is crucial to personal success in learning and becoming humble. A study on the topic is mentioned, but the transcript does not provide a detailed description of the study.
AI: Summary ©
Salam Alikum Allah who are getting
Welcome to this educational event organised by the International Open Universities, Eastern KSA brothers student committee, you can attend this event on zoom as well as I used YouTube channel International Open University.
The topic of this event is the need for dynamic scholarship delivered by our esteemed guest speaker shake is my recommend. The format of this event is as follows. First we have Quran citation and translation by myself though hit up the login, then system idea will give a brief presentation on International Open University followed by an introduction to our esteemed guest speaker. Then our guest speaker shake his mic on that will come there we'll deliver the talk.
Then we will have a question and answer session. During the talk. You can ask your questions in the chat box and when I saw that we'll read them out to the shake later. Inshallah.
Then brother Mishary Ahmed will share his experience learning at IU and student
led Let us begin with the recitation of a few verses from the normal Quran followed by the translation
Oh there'll be Mina shade one wanting me. Woman accent Oh let me in the HA Illa Allah Hema I'm slowly
well I mean also on how to in nanny mean as most Namie
Wallah the stubble Hassan to Allah say in miletti sent over either lady by email or by email or either
now huali on me
while I'm I will have
Larry you know Saba who you love.
Who a winner we
and who is better in speech when he says, My God is Allah and then stand straight and invites men to Allah Islamic ones ism and does righteous deeds and says I'm one of the Muslims, but good deed and the evil lead cannot be equal. repelled even with one which is better than my Lee he, between whom I knew there was enmity, will become as though he was a close friend.
But none is granted, except those who are patient, and none is granted, except the owner of the great portion of the happiness in the hereafter. And in this world of high moral character.
Now I call upon system idea to give a brief presentation of international opening, followed by an introduction to an esteemed guest speaker
Osama Alikum brothers and sisters. The International Open University was founded by Dr. Bilal Philips in 2007. It is an online campus where anyone can enroll and gain access to authentic Islamic knowledge from anywhere in the world. flexible and convenient. I owe you aims to grant global access to quality undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate level education programs for students at a nominal cost. International Open University is also globally accredited Alhamdulillah like I owe you, you can not only study Islamic subjects, but also study it finance psychology in an Islamic life from the comfort of your home. I owe you also offers Quran memorization amnesia programs I owe
us mission is to change the nation through education. Less than a century ago, people used to travel far and spend their entire lives to get knowledge. Now when authentic knowledge of our deen is really at your fingertips. what excuse do we really have not to learn? If you have any queries, you can contact us through mail inshallah. now introduce our esteemed guest speaker. Chef is my candor is an inspiring guy, author and founder of Islamic self help. He's a graduate of a traditional Ireland program or Dollywood D and also holds a bachelor's in Islamic Studies from IOU he has studied both traditional and modern settings and has been a student of Islamic Studies. For over two
decades. He served as a faculty manager
As the International Open University for 10 years from 2010 to 2020. He is He currently has the publication department at the European Institute for Islamic research. She is the author of several Islamic books. A few titles are having fun the halal way. But in the burqa, an Islamic guide to time management, best of creation, an Islamic guide to self confidence, and homeschooling one on one. His books are currently available in three different languages and sold in 25 different countries. Over the years chef is mine has has worked with Dr. Milan finance, and many of them to ensure Islamic scholars from around the world. He recently co authored an ebook with Dr. Omar Suleiman and produced
several online courses for Muslim Central. He recently made an online course called history of Islam, in which 1200 students are currently studying. It is a course in which chef takes the student on a journey through the past 1400 years, starting with the life of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, through all the errors all the way into the 21st century. You can find his code, you can find his courses and various inspiring works on his website, Islamic self help.com. May Allah accept his efforts and grant him the strength to keep striving for the best of goals. Now I hand over the platform to Chef
Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. Joseph going out here for having me here today and for the introduction hamdu lillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah. Firstly, I have to say I'm really happy to be at IU during this presentation, I hold a very special place in my heart, right? When I was 20 years old, and looking for structure looking for guidance looking for a way forward in the field of Islamic Studies. It was Dr. Bill Phillips. And I argue that that gave me the right that I joined IU as a student, and then as a teacher and then as the faculty manager. And really my entire young adult life my entire 20s and early 30s. Were at IU and I will never forget that and I will always
appreciate what Dr. Bilal Philips and are you have done for me to help me reach where I am today. You know, none of us get to where we are on our own. We all need help we all need each other. Of course, mostly we need the help of Allah subhanho wa taala. So I just want to start today by thanking IOU attacking Dr. Bill Phillips, thank you everybody involved with you for for building this platform that has 100 I helped so many people achieve their dreams of studying Islam and teaching Islam online. I'm one of the first to have done that. The first students at IU and graduated very early on, and hamdulillah many others have done as well. And I'm hoping as the years
go by, more and more people are going to graduate into IU and epic The differences are more. So my topic for today I chose something a bit different, something very close to my heart. And I call it the need for dynamic scholarship. What this really means is the need for Allah Ma, who are able to meet the challenges of the time.
You see we facing a double problem in the Muslim world today. It's no surprise to anyone that if I had to say that, you know we're going through a tough time as
we are dealing on one hand with ignorance with Jackie Lea. With Omar being overtaken by an Islamic concepts like liberalism and feminism and capitalism. And you have many Muslims who are caught up in these movements who are changing their religion in yoga to suit these movements. And this is a huge fitna.
On the other hand, we don't have enough Alama who are able to deal with this.
Because many of us who go through this process of studying Islam, we tend to just go through the motions, right? We don't we don't elevate ourselves to the level where we can deal with the challenges of our time. And what I want to do today is to present to you a bit of why that has happened, the history behind the Islamic Studies curriculum, and how each of us have within ourselves the capabilities of turning this around, that every single person who has dedicated their life to studying Islam has within themselves the capabilities to become a dynamic scholar to become a real ally. Not a low level di e a student of knowledge but rarely to accelerate to reach the high
levels of the Allama we all have that capability within us. But it takes something deeper to get you not go
Want to get there? By just doing what everybody else does, you have to aim high, you have to go deeper, you need to do more. So let's start off with a bit of history.
Now historically, the older ma the people of knowledge, were always the ones who protected this Dean from change. And what we see in the first few generations of Islam is that the orlimar were dynamic in every sense of the word. They were charismatic, or they were leaders. They were brave. They were deep thinkers. They were well versed in the religion. So if we look, for example, at the first generation, people like Aisha bint Abu Bakr, RadiAllahu, anha, and Abdullah ibn Abbas, radula, Houma, we see a people who were on a completely different level. No, they were brave, they were intelligent, they were well rounded in the knowledge of the deen and the dunya. They were outspoken,
they were able to meet the challenges of the time. So for example, when the coverage came about, Abdullah, even Abbas went to them to debate to them and actually won 1000s of them over back to proper Islam, because he had the capabilities of dealing with the issues of his time. And we see this throughout the generation. So for example, you might have already been humble, we know that the correct Aqeedah was preserved by him, because he was able to rise up to the challenge of the mortality lights, and face them and, and preserve the correct Aqeedah that can continue to hold on to until today. And we see this going on at all, but what happens with the later generations is a a
decline in knowledge and any methodology. So
about 500 years after the time of Rasulullah, salallahu, salam, the Aloha began to develop curriculums.
And they began to develop very set methodologies of study. So, you know, the curriculum for studying Islam became like a six year program or four year program, depending on which part of the world you are. And they were set subjects that set levels. And the goal and purpose of this was to provide structure and to provide educate the student on a journey, you know, from nothing to a beginner levels of knowledge.
Two things happen over time that caused the problem. Number one, is a lot of people began to think that after this four, six year journey, they are now Alama. And they don't need to study anything else. That's a problem. Because really,
if you're studying Islam, what you learn in four to six years is just the beginning. It's just the basics. In other scholars, you a beginning level shouldn't have knowledge. When people come out of these programs thinking to do that Allah, that they know what's right, they know what's wrong, and they never study anything beyond that. They come out as parents really just parroting what the teachers thought. The second problem that came up is people began to look at the curriculum, as if it's everything that Oh, our teachers chose these books. These are the only books on Worldstar you know, some people even going as far as to say that no reading any other book is haram, you know, you
have to stick to what our teachers taught us. So we find that in later generations,
a methodology of duck leader of just blind following of the teachers developed amongst the Colaba class, were to such an extent that in the late Ottoman era, each Jihad was actually prohibited was actually illegal for a scholar to do each jihad. And they were actually all about who were arrested for doing each jihad. And the reality is that in every day and age, there are new problems and new problems are required, you will not see the Obama will not be trained for HDR, they will not
they will not even allow to do it. And what we had instead was just blind following Alhamdulillah in the past 100 years, a lot of Institute's came about that focus on the revival of the early methodologies of studying better of studying deeper of thinking or deeper or being more authentic in your knowledge, and IOU 100 Like one of these Institute's where the focus is on studying deeper and gaining authentic knowledge and not just being a blind follower. However, what you'll find with students is sometimes students will become blind followers of their teachers, even at the institute where the goal is to train people to think higher, because that's just, I think it's just human
nature, that if we don't study beyond, we get caught up with like following. So what what what we find in the Muslim world today is that a lot of us who choose to study Islam, we adapt a very narrow study of Islam
so narrow that we find ourselves unable to deal with new problems
if the problem did not pop up in the curriculum, right. And reality is if you graduate, for example, in 2010, and it's 2022. Now, in those 12 years alone
other new things popped up that were not in your curriculum. So you have to be able to deal with the problems of your time. And what the curriculum is does, it's supposed to give you the tools that if you understand it properly, if you if you master those tools, you will be able to solve future problems.
The mistake many of us make is instead of mastering the tools, you just memorize the books, see that that's where the problem comes in. There's a very beautiful quotation that I just want to share with you. From one of my favorite books on the past century, the road to Makkah by Ahmed Asad. And before I share this, quote,
just the
disclaimer that Muhammad Asad, in some of his later works adopted a lot of modernist ideologies. So I don't approve of that. But these earlier works like the road to Mecca, are really amazing. So the road to Mecca is actually his autobiography where he narrates his life story. And it's a very powerful story that hit me. You know, when I read this, when I was young, it really changed my whole mindset. And I like sharing this with anyone who studied Islam, because I feel it. It's important to know this before you get into your studies. So in the study, Mohammed acid at one point, he's traveling to Egypt, and he, he meets one of the alumni as a university. And this alum, this color
tells him, do you see those alumni over there? The ones who are just eating up the printed people, meaning they just memorizing it, they gobbled it up, printed pages, pages from books written centuries ago, but they do not digest, meaning they do not understand it. They no longer think for themselves, they just read and repeat and repeat and repeat. The students listened to them only to read and repeat generation after generation.
Muhammad Asad asked to share.
Other is the seed of Islamic learning is the oldest university in the world. Every page of history books, you know, you find him talking about this university, does indeed produce great thinkers and theologians that historians and philosophers
and to this, the sheikh replied, It stopped producing those several centuries ago. Yeah, and then in the independent thinker might arise,
as will happen, but on the whole, the Muslim world today is suffering. Because those ancient thinkers, their way of thinking is gone. And instead, we have people just repeating over and over again, the opinions as if the opinions are infallible truths.
If there's any change for the better, thinking must be encouraged instead of blindfold.
So it's a very powerful passage where
one of the show you gotta have an answer recognizes the problem, and this is about 100 years ago, I'd say about 60 years ago, he recognizes that, in our generation, people are just blindly memorizing the opinions of their teachers, and thinking that that's knowledge. And he's saying for the Ummah, to revive and to regain its past glory, we have to go back to being tinkerers, and not just blank photos. You see, when it comes to studying Islam, you get three types of students who graduate from an Islamic Studies program, you get the lazy student, the one just goes in there, learns just enough to pass graduates goes out, call himself in early, and, you know, tries to get
famous off the religion or whatever it is, but really, they don't know much, they just they just barely pass the exams, you know, each semester.
Don't aim for that. Don't aim for that. Right. But then you get the dedicated students, you know, the one who works hard, make sure they get all A's. Make sure that that you know, they pay attention in class, that they graduate with a good report card
100 That's better, that's better. But what you will find also with a lot of the students who who do that, they, they still just stick to it to blind following. So they're good at memorizing the great passing exams. They're good at repeating what the teacher said. But they haven't internalized it. They don't understand it on a deeper level. It's just memorizing for exams. So they will be better for the community than the lazy student, but they're not going to solve new problems, you're not going to have the capabilities for dealing with new problems as they arise because they are just used to memorizing and passing on what they mean by that doesn't work. Like that doesn't work today,
because every year there's new things coming about. Every year there are new fitness and new problems and new misinterpretations of the religion. And you have to be up to date with knowledge of the religion and knowledge of the world to be able to deal with these new problems. So we then come to the third type of and this is the type of student that I advise everyone to because this is the need of the time. Students of this caliber. What is the third type of students, the person of gas a
person of perfection of excellence, a person pushes themselves to be the best that they
You can see, this is the student who goes out of his or her way to master the topic. They don't just learn the textbook, you find everything, they try to research everything they can find the topic, they ask the teachers for further research and reading material, they ask questions about the different opinions and difficult topics. You know, they they study from different angles, they study from different schools of thought, they are able to process knowledge on a deeper level, because they're not limiting themselves. So for example, if you look at, for example, the topic of Zulu.
Now, if you just read a book of Hanafy, pseudo thick, you just know, on a very surface level, what kind of vehicle sort of is, but I just studied that book with the teacher and exchange examples and challenge, you know, he challenges you know, to use the issue to solve problems, you begin to understand better how those issues will take work in solving problems, that contemporary issues, you go even deeper than that, you studied all sorts of other methods. And you compare and you begin to understand, okay, the shaft is looking at it this way, the molecules look at it this way, the Hanafis look at it that way, I'm starting to understand how the different parts of a house in our
GEMA have different ways of looking at things. And so you begin to think even deeper.
And this is what we need today. We need people not just to dedicate their life to studying Islam, but to be real problem solvers, and world changes. And to become that kind of person. You have to convert to be the absolute best student that you can be.
When I was studying, one of my teachers used to tell us almost every week, you should tell us this knowledge will not even give you an ounce of itself until you give it all of yourself.
Your the students have knowledge of the past. They would travel for miles, just to learn a single house. And we can just sit in front of our computer and just absorb knowledge all day long. But that knowledge is not going to transform you. If it's not accompanied with sincere sacrifice, thinking and hard work and processing and application. It's not enough to just memorize, it's not enough just to get good grades, the OMA needs which the hits the Ummah needs more facets, the Ummah needs more had this in the Ummah needs fuqaha the Ummah needs people who can meet the challenges of their time, through the methodology of Altoona algebra,
let's see what we need. And we're not going to get that without effort, we only going to get that if we, the students of knowledge, push ourselves to be the best that we can be. If we push ourselves to study harder to study deeper, to study more to go beyond expectations
I want to share with you today is five things you can do maybe six, five or six things that you can do to become a higher level student of knowledge. Because if you become a higher level student of knowledge, then inshallah you can also become one day, a scholar.
And this is really important to remember that you don't become a scholar, from graduating from an Islamic Studies program, you only become a scholar, when the Allah ma of your time recognize you as a score. And that can take 20 3040 years. It's a very, very long process. So what do you need to do, to reach beyond to become dynamic to become something more to become greater than the, you know, the people's expectations of when studying Islam? Number one, you need to study longer hours than the average.
If you want to be a higher level person at college, studying two or three hours a day, it's not going to get you there. Yes, if he does all you can do that do that on camera, it's better than nothing. Remember, two hours a day better than zero hours a day, but four hours a day, better than two hours do. You have to find a way to study more.
And it doesn't have to be hardcore studying. You know, like, maybe you're spending two hours a day on your modules. But then you listen to a supplementary series on the same topic while doing the housework while taking care of the kids while driving to work. So you're not wasting their time. Rather, you are consolidating what you learned and building upon it, you know, by absorbing it more information. So one of the best things that you can do if you really want to become a higher levels of knowledge is to increase the amount of time you spend studying Islam.
Now, think about it like this, if someone is studying for two hours a day, intensely properly, and someone else is studying for four hours a day, just as intense intensely and just as probably that that second person is absorbing twice as much knowledge as the first person
in one year.
How much one knowledge will Yep, you will have received double the amount of knowledge as the first person, right? unless ALLAH is this other one with an amazing internet, right to be able to process more than two hours. But we talking about the average dude. So we have to put in more time if we want to reach higher levels of
number two, point number two, ask a lot of questions. And we see this with a great amount of the past.
What separated I show up in the OB bakr radiAllahu anha, from the other great females of the sahaba.
And it made her have a higher level of knowledge there many things, but one of them that the Omar point out was that she was very curious, she would ask a lot of questions. A lot of the knowledge that has reached us is from the questions of Aisha that
seemed above the radar radula you know, he, he accepted Islam very late, you know, just like three or four years before the prophets early son passed away.
And
he accepted Islam late, but he narrated the most thesis, because he was number one putting in more time than everybody else. Right. Point number one put in more time to everybody else. Someone actually asked already.
Did you accept these lumps relate? How do you know this isn't me? I'm worried. I said, Why do you at the marketplace working? I was sitting with the profit slice I'm learning. So Elanco. Right, you put in more time, he came late, and you're still able to learn more than everybody else, because he put in more time. But number two, he asked a lot of questions. You will see a lot of these hadith is Abu Huraira asking questions and Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam replying to the question. And same with ISIS, Ebola, even Abbas, they were very inquisitive. They asked a lot of questions. And this is where the real learning takes place. You know that your teachers, you will find that they get very
happy. If you ask him a lot of questions of, of course, if the questions are relevant to the topic, right? Because what this means is you are paying attention, you are sincere, you're working hard. And you're thinking about what the teacher said, you are thinking about what the teacher said and trying to apply to the real world. This is what it shows when you ask him a lot of questions. And it's in the q&a segments that
real knowledge is built. Because that's when what the teacher was talking about theoretically, now comes into real world application. The teacher may be talking about the principle of oath of culture. And then you say, Well, what about this situation? Does it apply? What about that situation? Does it apply? Now you get into the real world things. And not only do you benefit, but the rest of the class benefits as well. So asking a lot of questions. This This helps you to think deeply, it helps you to process better, it helps you to apply the knowledge and helps everybody else in the classroom as well.
Point number three, do not limit yourself to the textbook. Do not limit yourself to the textbook. If you've only read one book on Illumina, the Quran will show the Vic or Aqeedah.
Well history, then you are not doing justice to the topic.
Ask your teacher for recommended resources. Ask your teacher for what other books are famous in this field? What books should I be reading Next, try to study at least three or four of the main books related to the topic that you're studying. This can be supplementary reading, it could be reading you do on your own time, it could be something that you need during during the semester breaks. So for example, if you are studying Tafseer, one on one, and you don't have time for extra reading, make a reading list of all the other books available in English on that topic. And then during the break between semesters, read those books, so you get a different perspective. So they may cover
different examples, they may cover other concepts, they may cover different opinions, your knowledge goes deeper in this way. So one of the best things you can do when studying a topic that interests you and that you want to go further in that you want a deeper knowledge of is ask your teacher, what are the main books in this field that I shouldn't be reading besides this one, and try to get a list of four or five of the main books minimum three of the main books in that field, and make time later to read them. Because in this way, you gain a more comprehensive understanding of the topic than someone who just studied one textbook.
Point number four study classes outside of your core curriculum, study classes in the 10 classes outside of your core curriculum. And you will find this amongst the greatest scholars of every generation is they didn't just stick with a curriculum. You know when class time was over when it was a break between semesters or it was a weekend or it was some free time. They were studying with somebody else should they be gaining Fick from three or four different scholars and they were learning tafseer from three or four different scholars.
They are building the knowledge in this way. So you may be doing your Bachelor's in Islamic studies. But also on the side, you are attending a local tafsir halacha. And you are studying Arabic, you know, one of the local teachers so you can get faster and more fluent at it. And you are sitting in learning didgeridoo, one of the teachers in your city so that you can master it, it's not, it's not good to just limit yourself, when it comes to studying if you want to reach the higher levels. Again, if you just want to graduate and teach what you studied, it's fine. But we're talking here about becoming dynamic. By reaching higher level, you're not going to get there. By limiting the
amount of teachers that you have, you have to go deeper, you have to go further. And sometimes this may include travel, sometimes this may mean that oh, so and so scholar is going to be in that city, teaching a course for one month, let's find a way to do it, let's find a way to get there, let's find a way to be his students. These kinds of experiences,
you learn so much just from being in the presence of a scholar, just from spending a month in their company, just from observing the clock and the other. It these things are are things that affect you not just in terms of intellectually, but spiritually as well. So tip number four, find out other topics either online or in person where you can study this deeper and commit to doing so.
And you could even you know if you know a scholar personally, who has the time, ask him to teach you one on one. Ask your teacher after class you can I have one on one sessions to go deeper into this topic. Because I want to understand this field deeper. I want to master this field. And Shala maybe one of your teachers has the time to do that for you. But rarely is the students who have done this throughout history who always end up being the best of the best. Right if we look at Imam Abu Hanifa students, you will have students like Mohammed even hustler Shivani. He studied with Imam Abu Hanifa. But then he goes and spend three years with Imam Malik as well. And he brings the two
together to form his opinions. We see that Remo Shafi as well. He studied with Imam Malik, he studied remote Abu Yusuf, he studied with lazy but solid, and he brings it all together. He doesn't limit himself. He tries to go deeper by expanding his sources of knowledge. And this is one of the best things that you can do for yourself as a person with knowledge.
Finally, my final tip, the fourth and final tip for anyone who wants to go deeper and wants to become a true student of knowledge. To be one day perhaps you will become an ultimate scholar who is a specialist in a field that will help us all to reach them one day. The fifth and the most important thing. If you commit to studying Islam, commit for life. Commit to being a student for life. Don't say I'm going to study Islam for four years, I'm going to study Islam for eight years now. I am a student for life.
And this is something almost every teacher of mine told me that if you want to be the best in your field, never ever think of yourself as a scholar to study and study and study deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper for the rest of your life. Hamdulillah I started studying Islam at the age of 30. I'm 36 now so that's 22 years, still studying everyday, still studying everyday. And inshallah I won't stop you I still consider myself a student after 23 years of study. So don't think after six years or eight years, if you are now early, remove the floppy Bucha head in which I did whatever it is now. We are students but to become the best of students to become the best of students, we have
to have the student for life mindset that
this journey of studying Islam, this is my life. That's what we all should think. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said whoever embarks on a path to study Islam embarks on the path towards paradise. The path towards paradise take your entire life. It's not a shortcut. It's not okay, it's set in stone before he is done going to paradise. It's not like that. It's it's a lifelong journey. And one of the modules, the miracles of Islam is that there is like almost infinite knowledge about this religion. You can study Islam for 200 years and not be done studying it, it just doesn't end it's like this ocean of knowledge that never ends. So why limit yourself?
Why Why stop you? This is actually a trick of shaytaan that after four or six or eight years, no, she doesn't comes to you and says, Oh, you are a scholar now. Don't need to listen to them. You don't need to study with them. You don't need to read any more books. You go and get photos. You go and make YouTube videos. You go and tell people you know what's right and what's wrong. And they put us in your heart that you are now the authority.
This is why so many of my teachers used to say the day that you think you are a scholar, they that you have failed to become a scholar. The day that you think you are a scholar, too.
De that you have failed to be a scholar. Because a real alum is someone who thinks is a student for life. And I have teachers who are like, in their 50s, and 60s, and they still, they still sit every night, to late at night, studying the books of Hadith and studying the books of tafsir. This is a habit they have for like 40 or 50 years. And they still consider themselves students, they don't consider yourself scholars.
And these are the most knowledgeable people I know.
And this, these are our role models. These are the people we want to be like those individuals who have committed their lives to the sacred knowledge.
So yes, we want scholars, we want people who can change the world, we want people who can revive Islam, who are people who can solve the problems of our time we did the EDA problems of fit problems that have seen problems. But that's not going to come without effort.
There is nothing worth getting in this world or the next. That doesn't require effort. You want to make money requires effort, you want to go to Jannah, it requires effort, you want to be a real ally, it requires effort, you have to work hard, at the end of the bonus point, right, one more thing that you can do to help you become a scholar.
Always make sure you are writing down notes. Don't just sit there and absorb things into your ears. No just sitting and listening to the teacher. You're not Imam Bukhari, wherever you are, I'll know what I know, I'm not
most of us need notes. When the teacher is teaching.
The person who is sitting there and thinking and writing it out, in his own words, going over his notes. And you know, linking up examples and using those notes to memorize better and to consolidate things and to understand things better, that's the person who's going to get ahead, that's the person is going to excel in that field. So make sure that you are not a passive learner. You're not just sitting there and listening to lectures, but you are actively learning by writing and by the way, psychologically proven that if you write by hand, you will remember it better than typing on a computer. So if you want to learn even deeper, have physical books, and actual pens and sit and
write your notes by hand while the teacher is talking, and you will find that you will get more benefit out of that because this gets your brain thinking on a deeper level. It just sparks something in your mind that gets you thinking on a deeper level. So to conclude, we need all AMA, we need dynamical, we need people who can change the world. But to become that you have to commit to the long term.
You have to study longer hours, ask a lot of questions, study many different books in the field. Attend extra classes,
be committed to being a student for life and take down notes. If we do these six things, and we make into our worshiping Allah, we are sincere and doing this for the sake of Allah and inshallah Inshallah, Allah will help us to one day reach that status. Allah will help us to one day, become the kind of people that this woman needs. But it's not going to come quickly. There's no shortcuts to becoming a scholar. You can't put a microchip in your brain and download Islamic knowledge and think you are a scholar. It requires commitment. It requires spiritual purification of the soul. It requires hard work. It requires long term thinking and vision planning. It requires deep thinking
requires a good relationship with your teachers. There's a lot to it. But is it worth it? Well, the Hadith says it that the person who embarks on this path is on the path agenda.
Is there anything more we want the agenda.
So this is the path agenda. And the path agenda is not easy. So we must be committed, and we must work hard, and we must push ourselves to be the best that we can be. Because the human needs. Human needs us to be the best versions of ourselves. If we are all collectively growing to be the best versions of ourselves, inshallah together. Together, we will be able to help solve the problems of the sofa. So ask Allah to guide us all to help us on this path of knowledge to help us to study better to understand our religion better to make a sincere scholars who are dedicated a part of our history in our drama, to protect us from deviant ideologies to protect us from laziness to protect
us from from weakness and to make us all from those who he uses to serve this team that we are all of that scale of good deeds are the last day is paid for your time and attention. We'll open the floor for q&a now. Welcome Dhawan.
Is that laissez faire insights? It was truly inspiring.
Now we have a question and answer session. You can turn on the raise hand option and you'll be unmuted soon. Alternatively, you can send your questions in the chat box and we
leave them out to the sheikh. If you're new, do we can also send it in the live chat.
Salaam Alaikum?
Yes, yes.
Okay, there is a question in YouTube, where we draw nine when it comes to the free thinking.
Excellent question, right? So I said deep thinking about three things.
You see, this is why we studied your soul.
If you're studying Islam, this is one of the most important points of studying Islam. It's not enough to memorize books of them, or books of Tafseer. You have to master the soul, the principles, the foundations, if you master the soul of a Muslim, so for example, you you study, let's say 150, right? So it's not enough just to learn the opinions of the other peoples. But to understand the Quran and Sunnah Iijima the opinions of the Sahaba PRs of St. Hassan, how all of this works? What are the goals of the Sharia? What are the Maxim's of fixing your Madhab, this now becomes your foundation, this now becomes your filter that you use for dealing with the rest of the world. This
is what allows you to see what you can take and what you can't take. And this is why every field of Islamic knowledge begins with resume. If you look at your your curriculum and how you take one on one of seen one on one, Hadith one on one, it also lists all principles. Why? Because that gives you the framework. If you have that framework, you can deal with anyone from any ideology, and be able to take the good and leave the bad because you are operating on a framework of our culture and our trauma. So for example, if someone comes to you and says something that goes against each bar, you can say, Hold on, I can't accept that opinion. Because we have the principle of each month of
consensus. If somebody comes to you, and they and the extended opinion that contradicts the Quran and the Sunnah, as understood by the early Muslims, you can say hold on that opinion is wrong because it contradicts XYZ, right? But this is where the mastering of the issue comes in. You need to master the form. It's not enough to just learn them pass an exam. It's not enough to just memorize them. You need to understand them. They become your foundation, they become your filters, they become your way of thinking. And if you are able to think within a framework of Altoona, well, Jamal, so you have your principles of Aqeedah your principles or fifth your principles of Tafseer,
the principles of hotties then you are able to navigate the world. And you're able to remain firm within a house in our drama, no matter who you're dealing with and what you are dealing with. Right so that that that is the essential key is learning and mastering, you should have the hope that answers your question.
There's another question on YouTube. I just qualified 12th grade Now should I go to Islamic University just studied then? Or should I first study worldly education then study Islam? Please answer.
That's really up to you. That's that's a personal choice. Right?
My advice would be figure out what's your lifetime? What's your life patient? What one? Where do you see yourself in 10 or 20 years? And what do you need to do to get there. So ideally, I prefer that people study Islam with you. Because your minds are more fresh, you're able to absorb more, and you're able to take the journey longer. Right. So for example, I started now 30 years old, most people don't have the advantage to do that you have to start with you 19 or 20. Right. But if you are at that age, that's a good age to start. Because what happens now is you start studying Islam at the age of 18. And by the age of 28, or 38, you now have 28 you have 10 years of studies by the age
of 20 years of studies, and that all compounds that all builds up so you could study Islam, and then after get a degree in something else, or start a business and on the side, continue studying Islam. So you never stopped studying Islam, but you get your soul and your foundations early. And that guides the rest of your life. It guides the career you go into it guides the business choices you make it It guides the choice of field of study that you choose because this gives you foundations. So there is no hard and fast rule yet but what I would say is because number one we if you start off young, then you're you're giving yourself more time to study Islam. Number two when you are younger,
able to absorb the principles and
and learn the language, etc. Much faster. And number three, it will help you with your other decisions as well. I would say prioritizing Islamic Studies is best, right? So for example, what happens if you don't have knowledge of Islam, and you go to university and you study a field that's wrong, if you don't even know it's around, because you go to have the knowledge, and you spend seven, eight years studying that field and you graduate, and every job in that field is haram. And then you study Islam, you're like, oh, so haram. Right? So, I mean, that is possible, that can happen. There are people who have done that, you know that you'll meet a Muslim who spent his whole
life working in a riba based bank, never knowing it's haram, because he never studied his religion. either. You got the insurance salesman, you've never, never thought that his job is haram. So you have to have any some knowledge before you go into the worldly fields. The more you have, the better it is. Like I myself, No, I first studied Islam. And then after that, I didn't do another degree. But on my own, I studied business. So now I have the law. I have my business and I have my Islamic world. And they complement each other. But because I studied Islam first that guided my study of business because a lot of the business books I studied a lot of haram advice, not only directly just
based loans, and to pile up your money and compound interest, you need to use your Islamic knowledge navigate all that. So it's never a bad thing to study Islam. Allah is going to help you Allah is going to guide you Allah is going to open doors for you, Allah is going to provide for you, Allah is going to show you the best way in life is never a bad decision. So the end of the day, it's up to you. But personally, I feel it's better to study Islam young and build upon that whatever you do, whatever else you choose to do with your life
okay, shake I have this question and this is from myself. Okay, personally.
I have observed two extremes, for example, okay, we come to no way of self Okay. Some people go on other extreme like, okay, all my jobs are wrong. Annie they give you like, they tell that
mother following mother was like, they give the grade up shake. Okay. And some people they
stick to my two Madhava they don't want to come out of a mother. But Islamic online university where it without compromising correct Akita correct way. It teaches us toleration? Like what is your advice for the people who like go into extremes?
Okay, so excellent question.
So, one thing remember Islam is the balance but apart, right? There's always two extremes on every single issue. And so I find it fascinating. Almost every single issue in this world, you always have two extremes and Islamic.
So when it comes to the issue of mud hubs, we do have those who treat the mazahub Like it's a religion, right? You know, this Mawlana in India 300 years ago said this, that's what we stick into until they can't be wrong. That's a problem. Right? Because he made that fatwa based on his place his time problems and the culture of his time is not meant to be followed till the end of time. On the other extreme, we have you know, those who are saying that, what helps a bit, but that's, that's how the math habits if you're thinking numbers have is better or shorter than you don't understand what a bellhop is a madhhab is a methodology. It is a framework. It is a way of understanding the
Quran itself. For example, Abdullah ibn Umar Radi Allahu Anhu he would take the Hadith very literally, if the prophets Allah is absurd that's what he's going to do. Abdullah even must order the level he would look at the Hadith from the context of why What did the Prophet was a mean by this? Now, is there a deeper meaning is there a reason behind this what he for that person was what the for everybody. So he will look at the same ideas in a very different way. They both were right. Both ways. They write a believable almost way became the Hadith methodology, which became the humbling method have updated even much automated became the right methodology, which became the
Hanafi madhhab they are both within our culture in our Jamaat Both ways are fine. The problem is when we don't understand what the madhhab is, so we think it's like a sect we think is like, you know, like Shia or something like that. No, it's nothing like that. It is a framework within a house you know what Gemma for understanding the Quran so that they are different ways within a house in our jungle for understanding the Quran and Sunnah. This is the way that I'm, you know, some people refer about honey first way some people prefer you. Somebody's been humbled by some people before Mr. Shafi, that's fine. It's a framework within the framework. We're going to find out hundreds of
scholars throughout history, all of whom had differences of opinion with you
Shall we look at the Sharpie Messiah, Mama Shafi was early adobe, they had very different opinions from each other. But they all considered part of the Sharpie must have because they follow the same methodology. The same with the Hanafi madhhab. No, we have Abu Hanifa, Abu Yusuf Mohammed a che Barney, later on we have, you know, like Shawal EULA. And many other scholars, and they all have different opinions. And it's all considered Hanafi, because it's all from within the same framework. So the correct approach is to consider most hubs as frameworks within our culture in our Java frameworks that help guide you research frameworks that help you from going astray, going to
extremes, right, because these frameworks they fit within what is known as 100. So now, what are people who are trying to follow the Sunnah and the majority understanding of Islam. So there's, there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is when people take the must have studied, that's where the problem comes in, you know, where you have a fatwa from 200 or 300 years ago, and you're treating it like it's the Quran. Not that that's problematic. That's when you have now gone to Hulu, to extremism following on myself. So as long as people are cheating, there's a framework Hamdulillah, whether they are Maliki Shafi Hunter, we humbly, humbly Allah, we need frameworks
because they keep us grounded. They prevent us from losing our minds, you know, and, and just picking whatever we want, however we want. But a framework is important, and a framework is necessary. And that's why birds have naturally developed over time. Right? That's why they naturally develop over time in every field. In every field of Islamic Studies, we're just more familiar with the multiplier effect, but really, in every field of Islamic studies, you will find these different ways of interpretation. So hope that helps answer your question.
Okay, there's a question in the chat here. How many people there many people with high qualifications but they don't know how to communicate use good words they tolerant? What's your advice on the very good question that I'm actually reading a book on the topic of divorce? Let's see if I can get hold of it. So this is a beautiful book I'm reading at the moment for sure. I think it did put a recall in with the heart in mind by Myka l Smith. So this is about the emotional intelligence of Rasulullah saw your recent publication, emotional intelligence. That's something that's missing in our curriculums today is the part of the HELOC etiquettes. And the other part of
offsetting Islam.
How do you process emotions? How do you display emotions? How do you understand the next person's emotion? This is something many of us learn we need to learn it. We can learn this directly from Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam because he was a master of emotions. Rasulullah saw him was the person who must be but he would, he would look at a camel and know that that camel is said and as people who oppress this camel, that's how well he understood people's emotions, not even people even any motivations. He he was someone who would tell his wife, I know when you angry with you, if you don't say it, I know when you angry. Because he is able to understand emotions. He is someone
who, you know, once one of the Sahaba came to him and he was very angry with it's a hobby. And you know how this hobby described him. He said that Rasulullah saw some smile, but in his smile, and we made out that he was happy. He wasn't angry smile. This is emotional intelligence. You angry, but you compose you angry but you controlling that anger and channeling it in a productive Rasulullah. So in some ways, the ultimate example of emotional control. And really, this is something that needs more more discussion in our time. So a lot of us see a lot of us keep this one very important stage of studying Islam. And that studying o'clock, studying the character of Rasulullah saw
the methodology of the early Muslims once they will learn adapt and flop first before seeking out. Today we are seeking aim without any o'clock in order to avoid problems or disaster. The problem is then you go out there and you've got arrogance and you've got that speech and you've got bad manners and that becomes a function of the deen. So it's very important that we understand the character and the manners and the dignity that the believer is supposed to, to carry himself or herself what have we learned that from the life of Fula so I sent me the early Muslims. And we learned from studying a HELOC in adulthood, our teachers.
We have any other questions
okay, there is a question in YouTube * Tao dalam. Check, what is your opinion on the sunroof?
So we'll just okay.
So the sum of is a broad term that means different things to different people. Right? It's one of those words where you're like the word seller
may mean different things to the
For people, these terms are very vague.
If you are talking about the soul of as the field of purification of the soul, also known as let's get to nuts, then this is an important part of our religion that everyone's supposed to do. Supposed to work on your inevitable should be checking your intentions. It's supposed to be, you know, working on improving your clock becoming more humble, becoming more pious, doing more liquor, or playing masala, doing water hygiene, all of this is technically the soul. And all of this is our religion. This is our religion. It is a very important part of our culture. But now if you're talking about the soul warfare, as you know that you did a certain guy in your city, and he's
saying, you know, you must come to him and give him a pledge of allegiance, and follow everything he says. And if you do that, you go into Ghana. And you know, you have to join his click to go to Ghana. And you know, you start going to these type of areas, then it starts with sketchy then you start to say, Okay, let's take a step back. Is this the way of Rasulullah saw a psalm? Is this the Sunnah? Are they teaching this? Are
they coming up with their own things? So it's, it's one of those areas, where you have to use your intellect and your soul, to to be able to find the right teachers. That's what if you find the right teachers, if you find pious people in your community, who are dedicated to the Sunnah, and you sit with them, and you learn from them, how to make the call, how to make these they're far how to wake up on time for tahajjud How to Pray Salah will show then this is the the solar roof of Altoona, Huachuma. And this is something everybody needs. This is a necessary part of our religion. But if you're joining some guys, click some guys cult, where he claims that he talks directly to Allah. And
you know, he will intercede for you on the Day of Judgment that, you know, he starts coming up with new ways of worshipping Allah that you've never heard of before. This is dangerous. This is entering the realm of innovation and deviancy, I would advise you to stay away from that. Because those groups, some of them are some people who will do these things basically within an hour Gemma, some of them are far away from it. Spending to stay away from from from that altogether. But we do need purification of the soul. Right? So by the soul of you mean reification of the soul, everybody needs them. But do it according to the principles of our house in our Jabba do it in a way where you know,
okay, this act of worship I'm doing the prophets lifetime did the same acts of worship, the Sahaba did the same acts of worship.
Don't do it in a way where you're sitting and you're doing some acts of worship. And you think to yourself, Where did this come from? Now, this guy just made it up and we're doing it, that that's when you you know, getting into the area below. That's something you know, we should stay away from because Colombia $10, every innovation is misguidance.
So yeah, that's my answer. No one knows best.
Just like the machine. Now we have a question in YouTube by brothers Acharya. I am in 30s, and an interior architect, I want to enter my last days in Path of Allah. Where do I begin between Arabic language or Islamic Studies degree?
Okay, so
I think if you study with audio, you do both at the same time, you study Arabic, which is Slavic study. So that kind of solves your problem.
In general, if someone is young, I would tell them to spend two or three years just studying Arabic, and then to start studying, studying Islamic Studies. Because if you master Arabic, a whole new world of knowledge opens up to you. If you look at the shelf behind me, we don't matter but you can't access the books. It's a whole world of knowledge that you can't access. So for someone who is young, and they just getting started, I would highly advise them to master the Arabic language as quickly as possible. And that means spending two or three years just focused out of it. But if you feel that, you know, you're at the age where you can't learn a new language that fast or that well
then start studying. You know, other parts of Islam started early in our methodology. So you can start doing Dawa and start learning fixers to correct your practice of Islam. Start learning Aqeedah you can correct your beliefs and learn Arabic words. Now one of the things that I love about IU is that you studying everything else would Arabic so like you need semester you have Akita effect of seeing and Arabic, so you don't have to choose one or the other you you're studying all of it at the same time. And while I still think studying Arabic first works better for young people, for everybody else. This is the best approach to do both at the same time.
Just to kind of check one of the audience is asking you a question any contact details. I think Islamic is the main conduit the rate of smile Canva dot Islamic survey, the smile.com down at Islamic self help.com Islamic self help.com You
My website just my name is smile Carter at Islamic self help.com And you can also contact me through Twitter or Facebook I check my inbox there almost daily on both of those platforms as well. So yeah, those are the main ways to reach me
Okay, any more questions
no more questions.
Okay if you found this beneficial and you want to learn more with me my history course is open. They love we have 1200 students and you know, we always have space for more since it's online. It's really I think the only online Islamic history course that covers 1400 years that the video so very beneficial to supplement whenever you are setting an IOU so feel free to join me in shower
okay, brother rubber machinery Have you joined or
think differently we don't have any more questions Is that gonna shake forever time?
It was really beneficial in lecture, really any? Maybe many audience did not attend because it is our time in Saudi Arabia everyone leaving the office, but definitely they will watch in the YouTube when it is recorded. Okay, my word is watch we will watch inshallah it will be highly beneficial inshallah en de la. Now they accept our efforts and we make this a means of Betterment for the Ummah and it's a forgiveness for our sins. So that leads to all of you for hosting me and for giving me your time and attention and your wonderful questions. I'll sign off on my end to upgrade that one and you'll have the lateral meaning or salah, Bali Kuma rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh