Going at your own pace with Islamic knowledge

[Husayni]

As salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatahu

 

I just wanted to say something to the Muslim brothers and sisters who are not at the level of "scholars" or "`ulemaa'". When on your journey to gain Islamic knowledge, I highly recommend going at your own pace and not reading complicated ahadith which may be difficult for you and cause you to doubt. It is really foolish to, for example, open up a book like Bihar Al Anwar, or Kitab Al Ghayba, and read it with the intention of wanting to learn about the ghayba of our Imam (aj), as these books are present for the scholars to classify the reliable narrations from the weak ones, and then write shorter books to explain to and teach the layman, (the Muslim who isn't a religious scholar or expert) and not for the layman to open it and believe everything in it as true. There are authentic traditions from our Imams which tell us that their Hadith will be difficult for us to handle, and that only the believer will have the endurance/capacity to take it in, and so why I think it's important for learners to go slow with these things and first read books by modern scholars to learn the fundamentals of topics like Tafseer, Akhlaq, Seerah, Usul, Aqeedah, etc., rather than to jump in to the hadith books and come out doubting your faith over some disturbing hadith you may have came over.

As an example, if you want to learn about Imam Al Mahdi (ajtfs), don't open up the big book of Kitab Al Ghayba by al Tusi, as this book is filled with hadiths which you will never understand unless you are well versed in hadith sciences and shi`i hadith history, and because of your lack of understanding, you will fall into doubt.. It is better to read the books like "The Awaited Saviour" by Shaheed Sadr (ra) & Shaheed Mutahhari (ra) ( https://www.al-islam.org/the-awaited-saviour-muhammad-baqir-sadr-murtadha-mutahhari ), which are books where the respected authors (may Allah bless their souls) explain the occultation of our blessed Imam (ajtfs) through authentic narrations which they derived from the above mentioned bigger works, and Quran verses. These are the types of books one should read when he wants to learn about his Imam. 

Another example, is that it would be utterly stupid to simply open up one of the four main shi`a works and read it for the sake of "knowing the hadiths of the imams". These books are for the scholars to extrapolate information from for their paraphrased works, and not for us less learned, laymen people to use as a direct resource for gaining Islamic knowledge. It's like, as a wise person once said, a newly high school student reading an advanced book on how to build a space ship while he himself hasn't even finished high school!

This is why, brothers and sisters, scholars exist! They take these large works and help us know what to take and what not to take. We should not go ahead of our scholars, as they spend their whole lives doing what I have just mentioned for our convenience. It would be very naive of us to ignore their works and dive into the hadith books with no knowledge really.
In the end, it is always best to follow what your marja` says in fiqhi (jurisprudence matters) issues, though
Note that all I am saying here applies to me first and foremost, and I write it because unfortunately I have seen what happens when laymen go into things too fast..

May Allah increase us all in knowledge and keep us steadfast on the path of truth!

Edited December 3, 2018 by Husayni

[ali_fatheroforphans]

Subhanallah a very beautiful post! I completely agree with everything you've said. Unfortunately a lot of the youth go down that path and end up confusing themselves - it then puts them off and they won't even feel like reading islamic literature anymore. It's very important to read stuff which we find interesting and can easily absorb. Religion should never be a burden, it should never be about reading through very high level technical discussions (like you read thesis or something), unless you have the relevant degree and qualifications.The hawza system is designed in a way so we can train our minds before we even look at complicated hadiths. 

The youth need to focus more on being sincere. It's about acquiring little knowledge that emnates faith in our hearts. There is no point reading 1000 traditions in al kafi if we aren't even gonna implement one. Imam Ali (as) even stresses that knowledge that doesn't have an effect on us is not really true knowledge. 

So where to start?

- Like @Husayni said, read books by our scholars who try to simplify it for the general public. For example, Ibrahim Amini has a lot of books for the youth. Also, 40 hadith by Imam Khomeini is another great one.

- Learn Islamic laws - you need to practice Islam properly and this is the only knowledge which is wajib for us to acquire (the laws which we will use on a daily basis such as taharah, salah etc.).

- Read the Quran - subhanallah Allah has made the Quran so easy for us to understand. 

- Read introductory theology books and go at a reasonable pace. Try to really understand concepts rather than feeling the need to finish the whole book in one day.

Finally, there is no competition. It's your journey to get closer to Allah, so do whatever it takes for you to get closer. Don't make life difficult for yourself.

 

Edited December 3, 2018 by ali_fatheroforphans

[Ralvi]

44 minutes ago, ali_fatheroforphans said:

Subhanallah a very beautiful post! I completely agree with everything you've said. Unfortunately a lot of the youth go down that path and end up confusing themselves - it then puts them off and they won't even feel like reading islamic literature anymore. It's very important to read stuff which we find interesting and can easily absorb. Religion should never be a burden, it should never be about reading through very high level technical discussions (like you read thesis or something), unless you have the relevant degree and qualifications.The hawza system is designed in a way so we can train our minds before we even look at complicated hadiths. 

The youth need to focus more on being sincere. It's about acquiring little knowledge that emnates faith in our hearts. There is no point reading 1000 traditions in al kafi if we aren't even gonna implement one. Imam Ali (as) even stresses that knowledge that doesn't have an effect on us is not really true knowledge. 

So where to start?

- Like @Husayni said, read books by our scholars who try to simplify it for the general public. For example, Ibrahim Amini has a lot of books for the youth. Also, 40 hadith by Imam Khomeini is another great one.

- Learn Islamic laws - you need to practice Islam properly and this is the only knowledge which is wajib for us to acquire (the laws which we will use on a daily basis such as taharah, salah etc.).

- Read the Quran - subhanallah Allah has made the Quran so easy for us to understand. 

- Read introductory theology books and go at a reasonable pace. Try to really understand concepts rather than feeling the need to finish the whole book in one day.

Finally, there is no competition. It's your journey to get closer to Allah, so do whatever it takes for you to get closer. Don't make life difficult for yourself.

 

If I may ask what’s tahara? Excuse my ignorance I’m trying my best to combine love and knowledge of ahulbayt in my heart 

[ali_fatheroforphans]

39 minutes ago, Ralvi said:

If I may ask what’s tahara? Excuse my ignorance I’m trying my best to combine love and knowledge of ahulbayt in my heart 

Nah no worries. 

Taharah means purity, so there's a whole section in Islamic law which deals with purity and impurity (najasah).

[dragonxx]

On 12/3/2018 at 12:25 AM, Husayni said:

Another example, is that it would be utterly stupid to simply open up one of the four main shi`a works and read it for the sake of "knowing the hadiths of the imams". These books are for the scholars to extrapolate information from for their paraphrased works, and not for us less learned, laymen people to use as a direct resource for gaining Islamic knowledge. It's like, as a wise person once said, a newly high school student reading an advanced book on how to build a space ship while he himself hasn't even finished high school!

 

I totally agreed with your post up until here.

Why not look at the main shia hadith books? Obviously, I agree it shouldn't be the first thing someone jumps into, but over time... 

For me at least, it's not for simply knowing the hadiths, but learning as much as possible about them and how they lived, what troubles they faced, etc. I mean, if regular muslims over 1200 years ago heard many of these hadiths in person, why shouldn't we read such important works now?

[Ibn al-Hussain]

I personally suggest anyone who is genuinely interested in learning about Islam - even if it is at their own pace, particularly if they want to understand scholarly discussions, that they invest as much time as they can in learning Arabic. You really cannot get a proper or deeper understanding of Islam without Arabic - this has been my personal experience and I am sure many others have similar opinions. Without Arabic and knowing where and how to use it, you will always be at the disposal of someone, some scholar, some well-read person. In other words, you will always be a muqallid (imitator) of someone and your main source of argumentation will be appealing to authority. Even if you come across differences, your ability to prefer one opinion over another will be very limited (simply because you do not know the language and have not read the discussions that lead up to those different opinions).

Arabic reading can be learned by spending some time in learning grammar. It may sound like an uphill and challenging task, especially for a year or two (given everyone's busy schedules), but at the end of the day, it is all worth it. Unfortunately, the culture of learning classical Arabic in Shi'a communities - be it the West or East - is not common at all. This is such a negative culture that it even impacts the seminaries (Iranian ones) where Arabic is not the main source of teaching even though the books are in Arabic (unless you specifically go to an Arabic school where they will obviously speak in Arabic), which generally contributes in producing weak and unscholarly students.

Wasalam

[AidAsSadik]

Wa Salam,amazing post brother.It is fajr time here,and i will have you in my duas

I,do not think that someone who is new into religion,or was not religious muslim should even take Qur'an

Here is why

Wa Salam

Edited December 5, 2018 by AidAsSadik