Zaynab Ansari – Who To Take Knowledge From Part 1 Student Assembly
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A student at a school is impressed with the instructors and teachers, and is instructed to consider the broad range of the Islamic school system and not set up barriers for students to learn from. The transmission of knowledge through Ahlul Sunzik wal Guinea'ah, a universal framework based on a text framework, should not be viewed as rules, but rather reflect the depth and breadth of the Islamic school system. The speaker gives advice on discerning if scholarship is sound and choosing a teacher, emphasizing the importance of learning online and being connected to local communities. The speaker advises students to stay as long as they need to stay to benefit from the teacher's knowledge and experience, and to be patient and stay as long as they need to stay to benefit from the teacher's knowledge and experience.
AI: Summary ©
Everyone can hear me. If the moderator will
just let me know if the volume is
okay.
Please let me know if the audio if
the audio and the
the the video are are alright.
And then we'll go ahead and get started.
Okay. Excellent.
I'm very happy to be here,
joining this student assembly with Seeker's Guidance. This
is my first,
time attending the student assembly. It's quite an
honor to be, with students of knowledge.
My name is Zainab and inshallah. For a
few minutes, I'm gonna take you through some
of the basics of,
how to discern
sound scholarship
as well as how to choose a teacher
and what role locality plays in that process.
The dua that I began with for those
who are learning Arabic, just a very basic
invocation,
always beginning in the name of God, most
gracious, most merciful,
and, invoking God's peace and blessings upon the
beloved, prophet Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wasalam, Very important
in the month of Abu Dhabi Al Awel.
And then just a a prayer for knowledge.
It's really good to preface one studies with
some invocation.
For example, my lord, increase me in knowledge.
We're asking Allah to teach us what will
benefit us and benefit us through what he
teaches us. Because verily Allah, God is most
knowledgeable,
most aware, most wise.
So in terms of,
the the topic here, you know, so all
of you obviously
are really fortunate in the sense that you're
taking classes through Seekers Guidance and you can
be assured that the instructors at Seekers Guidance
have, alhamdulillah, a really firm grounding in the
topic that they're they're teaching. So right off
the bat, you know you're getting,
authentic
knowledge and I personally know some of the
instructors or had the opportunity to sort of
be in the Middle East
with them when they were studying. So they
really did acquire knowledge from these very reliable
sources and now that alhamdulillah,
praise be to God, they're bringing it back
to,
the west, you know, to places like to
places like Australia,
as well as really extending to a global
audience where there are seekers of knowledge really
from all over the globe,
taking this this knowledge and applying it in
their lives.
So sound scholarship. How do we know if
it's sound scholarship?
There are
really in the realm of Islamic Studies today,
particularly if you have affiliations with Academia, there
are a lot of sort of competing voices
and trends, ideas and philosophies. But,
fortunately,
we do have the tools to discern what
makes scholarship what makes for sound scholarship. And
primarily,
it's the
presence of a sound,
a chain of transmission.
And that is knowledge that really is has
been directly transmitted
from teacher to student
to student
and so
on and a direct line of transmission
that can be traced all the way back
to the prophet peace and blessings be upon
him. So what that means is that the
person is not sort of teaching this topic
whether it be tafsir or filth,
Quran commentary or jurisprudence
or Aqidah theology. They're not teaching out of
a vacuum.
They are teaching based upon a very particular
methodology,
philosophy,
epistemology.
And that's in and their teaching is informed
by the broader tradition of Ahlul Sunnah wal
Jama'ah.
And that is what is called traditional Islam
according to the according to the Sunnah of
the prophet peace and blessings be upon him.
And
as far as the transmission of knowledge, it's
not just the knowledge itself, the text itself,
the the information itself that's being transmitted but
the approach to the information, the paradigms,
the way we sort
of, I would say the way we kind
of internalize
and
process and interpret
the tradition, that is also passed down from
teacher to teacher.
And, it really is a very beautiful thing
because it reminds us of the divine promise
in the Quran
that,
where where God
promises that he will preserve
this,
this this dhikr, this reminder
that he has revealed,
this revelation, this Quran, and he will preserve
it. And the way that God has preserved
divine revelation is through the authority of the
sunnah
and through this legacy,
of passing down knowledge
and understanding
from teacher to student.
The prophet, peace and blessings be upon him,
said,
that whosoever God wishes well for, God gives
imparts to this person deep understanding of the
religion.
And by deep understanding,
we mean an understanding that is connected. It
has a providence that, as I said, does
not emerge from a vacuum,
but is transmitted,
in a very particular way,
based upon a particular methodology.
As far as this scholarship is concerned,
it should not contravene what is necessarily known
to be of the Sharia. If it does,
it's not sound.
And the teacher
of that science,
as well as the scholarship produced should have
proper regard for the sources of sacred law.
Quran,
sunnah,
ijma' which is the consensus
of,
generations of scholars as well as other juristic
tools such as analogy. It needs to necessarily
take these into consideration.
And it should be sufficiently broad
that, you know, that the scholarship should not
set up barriers between,
for example,
schools of law and so on. So it
should
reflect and embrace the breadth and depth
of the Islamic tradition as represented by Ahlul
Sunnah wal Jama'ah.
But it should be non sectarian. And note
that there is extinction there. It's perfectly okay
to embrace the very vast Sunni tradition
without being sectarian.
There's no room for
seekers of knowledge here for example to sort
of be learned learned into those traps that
some students are lured into in terms of
getting into pointless debates or,
or for example, where there's a list of
scholars that are approved and some aren't approved
and there are books that are okay and
some aren't okay.
This has not been my experience sitting down
with various shayuth
and,
sheikat,
and Anisatz to study,
male and female teachers that,
there is this there's a very,
there's a recognition in this tradition that there
is difference of opinion,
That there is diversity within the schools of
law. There are different approaches
to
formulating law.
There are different ways that scholars have arrived
at their fatawa and conclusions
and all of that is meant to be
embraced and appreciated
not discarded.
So that's just some advice that I have
in terms of how to discern if scholarship
is sound.
How does one know whom to study is
another important question and I get this question
a lot. How do you choose a teacher?
And number 1, pray.
Make dua.
Ask Allah to send a teacher one's way.
And the beautiful thing about studying online is
that one does have access to teachers around
the world that normally, one could really spend
a fortune travelling to sit with. But people
are able to, on their own time, come
and take these classes which is a wonderful
thing. It is important though for those who
are studying online to also have access to
a local teacher Which kind of brings me
to the, other point, what role does locality
play? Locality does play an important role.
Make sure that you're not isolated.
Make sure that you do have contact with
your local community
whether you set up a,
for example, seeker circle
or
you are you're active at your local masjid.
And there's a question, can I just sit
down in the masjid, halakal, for example? Will
this serve my my my, my needs?
And I would say from a social standpoint,
absolutely. You don't wanna cut yourself off from
your community.
But as far as the quality of the
halakkah
and the approach and their methodology, I mean,
that really kinda depends upon the masjid
and the the people who are running those
programs.
Obviously, I can't comment in in a sort
of specific way, but I can say in
general,
it's good to be connected to your local
community. And alhamdulillah,
praise be to Allah, some Masajid or mosques
are very solid programs. And some are a
little bit more informal,
where the person doesn't necessarily have formal training
but is very well meaning and wants to
have,
a study circle.
You know, when it comes to deciding who
to study with and,
you know, another another thing that should really
inform your decision is what do you want
to know? What do you need to know?
I see a lot of people make the
mistake of trying to do too much at
one time and if you if you take
a look at this book right here, Instruction
of the Student,
the method of learning by imam Azar Muji
translated by Sheikh Hamzal Youssef.
May Allah preserve him. That,
well, actually the foreword is by Sheikh Hamzah
Yusuf. The translation is by someone else. But,
the the Imam al Sadducci spends a lot
of time talking about not piling on too
much and being really really patient when it
comes to picking a teacher. He advises students
to sit and wait at least 2 months
before picking a teacher. He says they should
observe the teachers who are around them, decide
if the teaching style suits them. So that
when they actually become a student of this
teacher, they can commit.
The last thing you wanna do is sort
of teacher hop or teacher shop. You really
do wanna kinda sit with that person,
to the extent that you need, to to
benefit from their knowledge and their wisdom
and their experience. A lot of times, when,
you know, students that are maybe new to
this, process of seeking knowledge might be put
off if the teacher is a little bit
gruff or or or doesn't or or seems
to be really strict. But it's really important
to be patient and to persevere.
You know, I can kinda share with you,
in Damascus many years ago when we were
trying to find a Quran teacher, we met
a teacher who had a really great
reputation, but she was also known as being
super strict.
And I had a really hard time handling
that and I kinda backed off. But then,
after a a few years, I I thought
back. I said, you know, this is an
opportunity I'm missing. I need to go back
to this teacher. In Canada, I'm really honored
that I got a chance to sit with
her and really get some rigorous Tajweed training,
towards the end of my stay in Damascus.
So it's important to be patient. It's important
to understand that everybody has their personality.
Some teachers are more strict than others. Some
teachers are more encouraging or questioning than others.
It really depends, but,
stay as long as you need to stay
so that you you can benefit.
It's really important to have that attention span.
And like I said, don't take up don't
take on too much. Focus on to the
extent possible on one topic at a time.
And, the topic that you choose should be
one that is essential,
to your situation. So I'm gonna go ahead
and wrap up.
But,
the my final note is that,
you know, there are core Islamic sciences and,
the tendency of many of us is to
try to take as many courses as we
want because everything just looks so
inspiring and so fascinating. But focus on what
is essential knowledge in the beginning. Aqidah,
fiqh,
teshwid.
And really try to go into those topics
to the extent possible.
So, I welcome questions. Thank you very much
for your,
having joined this assembly and may Allah,
may God most high give you Tawfiq, divine
facility in your studies.