What Should I Do If I Find Difficulty and Dryness in Studying the Subject of Fiqh?
Answered by Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Fayez Awad
Question
What should I do if I find difficulty and dryness in studying the subject of Fiqh?
Answer
Praise be to Allah. Blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and his companions.
Seeking Knowledge is Worship
Whoever chooses to study the Islamic Sciences must keep in mind the intention of worship therein and purify it for Allah (Most High). Seeking knowledge is indeed a great form of religious worship.
Mus‘ab ibn Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas narrates from his father that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “The superiority of knowledge is dearer to me than the superiority of worship, and the best of your religion is pious diligence.” [Maqdisi, Hakim, Bazzar]
Abu Darda (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that he heard the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) saying: “Whoever takes a path in search of knowledge, Allah will make easy for him a path to Paradise. Verily, the angels lower their wings for the seeker of knowledge, pleased with what he does. All those in the heavens and on the earth seek forgiveness for the knowledgeable person, even the fish in the water. The superiority of the scholar over the worshipper is like the superiority of the moon over the rest of the stars. Verily, the scholars are the heirs of the prophets. The prophets did not leave behind a dinar or dirham, but they left behind knowledge, so whoever takes it has taken an abundant portion.” [Sahih Ibn Hibban, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Darimi, Ibn Maja]
Correcting One’s Intention for Studying
Therefore, his pursuit must be for the sake of seeking Allah’s pleasure, not for boasting among peers or gaining anything from the dunya.
The scholar Muhammad al-Aqib ibn Mayaba al-Jakni al-Shinqiti (Allah have mercy on him) said [in poetic Arabic verse]:
Whoever seeks knowledge sincerely, seeking the pleasure
Of the Majestic, will win what he sought
Whoever adopts the path of boasting
And thinks himself upon goodness, indeed perishes
And his teacher in knowledge, after knowing
His intention is his partner in sin
The seeker of the dunya is without any worth
Like the one who migrated to marry Umm Qays
Aids to Memorization and Study
If the intention is pure and the purpose is sound, then the student of knowledge should strengthen his resolve, and dedicate himself to seeking knowledge as much as possible, relying on Allah (Most High), staying away from everything that distracts him from that, and avoiding what Allah (Most High) has forbidden. These are all aids to memorization and understanding.
Imam Shafi‘i (Allah have mercy on him) said in his poem,
I complained to Waki‘ about my poor memory
So he advised me to abandon sins
He informed me that knowledge is a light
And the light of Allah is not given to the sinner
How to Study Fiqh Correctly
The best method to study Fiqh is for a person to follow the following instructions:
1) Study Fiqh according to a specific madhhab from the four well-known schools. Once you master one madhhab, then look into other madhhabs.
2) Stick to one text until completion. Studying several texts at the same time scatters the mind and leads to not mastering any of them.
3) It is very important for a student of Fiqh to familiarize themselves with the terminology of the madhhab they are studying. The technical terms are numerous and varied, including traditional terms as well as modern ones.
4) Keep your progress in Fiqh texts gradual, starting with the smaller, then the medium, and then the larger. Among the best Fiqh books (in the Shafi‘i School) that a student should study are:
- Safinat al-Najat by Shaykh Salem ibn Samir al-Hadrami
- Then Safinat al-Salah by Abdullah ibn Omar al-Hadrami
- Then Al-Muqaddimat al-Hadramiya (Educational Issues) by Abdullah ibn Abdul Rahman ibn Abi Bakr Bafadl al-Hadrami al-Sa‘di al-Mudh’hiji (d. 918H)
- Then Matn al-Ghaya wal-Taqrib (Matn Abi Shuja‘) by Ahmad ibn al-Hussein al-Asfahani (d. 593H), who was known as Abi Shuja‘,
- Then Al-Iqna‘ fi Halli Alfadh Abi Shuja‘ by Shaykh Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Khatib al-Sharbini (d. 977H)
- Then ‘Umdat al-Salik wa ‘Uddat al-Nasik by the Imam and jurist Shihab al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Lu’lu’ al-Qahiri al-Shafi‘i, known as Ibn al-Naqib al-Misri (702-769H)
- Then Anwar al-Masalik in explaining Umdat al-Salik wa ‘Uddat al-Nasik by Shaykh Muhammad al-Zuhri al-Ghamrawi
After studying these books, the student then qualifies to look into the extensive books of the madhab and its detailed works, as well as books of other madhabs, and navigate them competently.
5) Study under a knowledgeable and proficient scholar in the science that you are studying. Beneficial and correct knowledge must involve transmission from scholars and face-to-face interaction. No beneficial, correct knowledge has reached the nation from the time of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) until now except through this method. It is the Sunna chosen by Allah (Most High) for the inheritance of knowledge and the practice of the predecessors in it.
It was said long ago: “Do not learn knowledge from someone who just read the pages, nor the Quran from someone who just read the mushaf.” This refers to someone who memorized the Quran from the mushaf alone, without receiving it through narration and face-to-face interaction from proficient teachers and reciters. “Someone who just read pages” refers to a scholar who took his knowledge from books alone without undergoing the tutelage of the people of knowledge and graduating at their hands.
What some students of knowledge do in contemporary times, studying by themselves, or through forums spread on the internet or the like, is not proper. Despite the immense benefits of these forums and the vast amount of information they contain, it is not correct for the student to rely entirely on them for his studies. A teacher is necessary to unpack the difficult sciences that the student cannot quickly understand and to explain what is difficult for him. Thereafter the student can use such resources to the degree that they are trustworthy.
6) Combine memorization with understanding. Do not neglect either of the two. It is advisable to start with memorization, committing the text to memory before studying it with the shaykh in the classroom. The student should also have a notebook to record the shaykh’s comments and benefits that he says during the lesson, to then review and master them later on.
7) Teach what you studied with the shaykh. It is beneficial in this matter to have another person studying the same text, so each of them can play the role of the teacher and the student in turn, as this is proven to solidify information and firmly embed it in the mind.
And success is ultimately and solely with Allah.
[Shaykh] Dr. Muhammad Fayez Awad
Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Fayez Awad, born in Damascus, Syria, in 1965, pursued his Islamic studies in the mosques and institutes of Damascus. A graduate of the Islamic University of Medina in 1985, he holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from Bahauddin Zakariya University in Pakistan.
He has extensive experience developing curricula and enhancing the teaching of various academic courses, including conducting intensive courses. Shaykh Awad has taught Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, Quranic sciences, the history of legislation, inheritance laws, and more at several institutes and universities such as Al-Furqan Institute for Islamic Sciences and Majma‘ al-Fath al-Islami in Damascus.
He is a lecturer at the Sultan Muhammad al-Fatih Waqf University in Istanbul, teaching various Arabic and Islamic subjects, and teaches at numerous Islamic institutes in Istanbul. Shaykh Awad is a member of the Association of Syrian Scholars, a founding member of the Zayd bin Thabit Foundation, a member of the Syrian Scholars Association, and a member of the Academic Council at the Iman Center for Teaching the Sunna and Quran.
Among his teachers from whom he received Ijazat are his father, Shaykh Muhammad Muhiyiddin Awad, Shaykh Muhiyiddin al-Kurdi, Shaykh Muhammad Karim Rajih, Shaykh Usama al-Rifai, Shaykh Ayman Suwaid, Shaykh Ahmad al-Qalash, Shaykh Muhammad Awwama, and Shaykh Mamduh Junayd.
