Category: ilm (Islamic Knowledge)

A student should arrange his books in such a way that it is easy for him to refer to them if there is an issue that requires him to research some of his books. This means that he should maintain his books in a certain order. The way the books are to be organized depends on the preference of this student. So if he requires that all of his books on Tafseer be arranged together and all of his books on Hadeeth be arranged together, and he further divides the Tafseer section into its various sciences and the Hadeeth section into its various sciences, and the Fiqh books into their respective madh-hab’s and so on and so forth, then there is no harm in this. And if he decides to arrange his books in some other order that he feels is more beneficial, then there is also no problem with this. The objective is for the book to be in a place where if he looks for it, he will find it.

Books are divided into two types: Large books and small treatises. As for the large books, then these are the ones that we see in a library. This is since they are big – 10 volumes, 15 volumes, 13 volumes, 14 volumes, etc. This is clear. Rather, what deserves special attention are the small treatises, which are also important. It is possible that these smaller books may contain knowledge that cannot be found in the bigger books.

When he needs to refer to one of these small treatises, he looks for it but can’t find it. Why? It is because he has not put it in its proper place. One should take special care of these small treatises by putting them in a separate area. This means that they should not be put amidst the works of research and the larger books. So for example, a person may put a large book on his shelf and then next to it place a small book, in terms of its pages, and then next to that a small 40-50 page treatises and so on! The scholars have devoted some of their attention to this aspect, such that they have put forth what they call “compilations” consisting of a volume or more in which there can be found 10 or 12 treatises or more.

So if it’s possible, a student of knowledge should compile these small treatises into a collection, placing booklets of a similar subject into one volume. This means that he should put all the small treatises that deal with the manners of seeking knowledge in one specific volume, for example, or the small treatises that deal with the subject of Hadeeth terminology in a separate volume or the essays on the sciences of Tafseer and the sciences of Qur’aan in one specific collection and so on and so forth.

Likewise, he should place his Fiqh-related books and treatises separately. It is also appropriate to divide the Fiqh-related books and treatises into different sections, within themselves, according to what topics of Fiqh (jurisprudence) they fall under. So for example, one should place a treatise on crimes in its proper place amongst the chapters of Fiqh, thus organizing his books in this manner. He should begin with the treatises that deal with purification, followed by the treatises that deal with prayer.

Even those treatises on prayer should be subdivided into those that deal with the conditions of prayer first followed by the rulings on prayer which include the prostration of forgetfulness, for example. Each book should be put in its proper place. They should not be placed in the section of Zakaat, say, which comes after the prayer. The same should then be done with similar treatises, i.e. these small booklets that are hard to locate if one needs to refer to them. They should be organized according to their subjects of jurisprudence.

The same goes for the rest of the Islamic sciences whether they deal with history, Creed or their likes. One should put the books that cover Creed in general amongst the general books or treatises on Creed. Or he should place those subjects on Creed that he is researching into different sections on Creed so that it is easy for him to refer back to them.

So the first etiquette with regard to books is that one must organize his books in a good manner. Maintaining one’s library in order is an indication of a student of knowledge’s regard for his books.

However, if you visit and are granted access to a person’s library and find that his books are scattered around, in disorder and so on, this is due to ether one of two possibilities. The books are this way either because (1) the person researches his books a lot and needs to refer to them, thus causing his books to be scattered about – and even though this is something praiseworthy he should still put them back in their proper places afterward – or (2) he does not organize his books at all to begin with.

In his book on the judges of Egypt, which is called Raf’u-il-Isr ‘an Qudaat Misr, Al- Haafidh Ibn Hajr records a biography of one of the judges in Egypt and mentioned that when he was granted his judicial position, he would sit in a place where his books were on display. His books would be arranged in a nice and neat order. A student of knowledge entered his office once and saw his books and said: “What excellent order these books are in!” He was insinuating that the neat order and arrangement that his books were in indicated his lack of referencing them and using them. The judge understood this and kept it a secret to himself.

Later on, this man that had criticized the judge for having his books neatly arranged was put in charge of recording people’s marriages, i.e. the marriage contracts – something like an official that is licensed to wed couples. So the judge discovered that he had made an error in one of his marriage certificates and then rebuked him harshly. This shows that he had preserved that statement he made (a long time ago) in his memory.

The point is that this student used the fact that the judge’s books were neatly arranged as proof that he didn’t read or use them. But this is not always the case. If a student of knowledge wants to work on a subject or research an issue and he takes a number of books out, putting them in front of him and looking into this one and looking into that one, when he finishes, he should return them back to their proper place so that it will be easy for him to refer back to them at a later time.

Taken from : The Student of Knowledge and Books : Shaikh Saalih bin ‘Abdil-’Azeez Aali Shaikh

From the manners of dealing with books is that a student of knowledge focuses his attention on the revised and accurate editions of books only. In the old days, books used to be bought from a manuscript transcriber known as a warraaq. A person was called a warraaq if he had a place where he would manually transcribe a copy of a book and sell it to buyers or sell it to someone who intended to sell his manuscripts (i.e. dealers). These people were known as warraaqoon – those who devoted their time to transcribing books by hand or to just selling books. Amongst these transcribers were those who were vary careful in their work and others who weren’t.

The closest things in resemblance to them in our time are the publishing houses and print shops that exist today. They have inherited the work of the warraaqoon throughout the passage of time. This is why we say that the occupation of the copyists was taken over in detail as time passed on by the scholars. A student of knowledge should strive to buy a verified and edited book or to transcribe one by hand whilst comparing what he has copied to the original manuscript. Or he should buy a book and compare it with a reliable source copy that is studied in the presence of scholars and so on and so forth.

What this means is that a student of knowledge should focus on acquiring the authentic and verified editions of book whether in manuscript or published form. In this day and age, most of the students of knowledge devote their attention and concern to only the published books. This is why we see that the books in print today are many.

The publication of books in the Arabic Language began a little more than five centuries ago, i.e. printing books in Arabic started more than 500 years ago, which was around 1400-1500 AD, since that is the time they were dated. However, the majority of the books that were printed in the Arabic Language in the Arab and Muslim lands only occurred in the last two-hundred years. Whatever was printed before that was published in the western countries due to their high regard for publishing books.

The point of all this is to show that the publication of books is something old and well established. Today one can find displayed in the marketplaces and stores a variety of different publishing companies, books, and names of verifiers and editors, etc. This is why many times that a phrase or a sentence is quoted from a recently published book, which is not necessarily revised accurately or precisely, the result is that discrepancies and mix-ups occur.

This happened to me several times while teaching in the mosque’s study area. I confirm the reading of a passage (from a book being studied), for example, based on an accurate edition of the book, then one of the students of knowledge comes and presents a recent edition of the same book in which the passage in there is inaccurate. The reason for this is because the contemporary publishing companies are not all precise and meticulous with the books they print. This also can apply to the older publishing companies. So regardless if the book was published a long time ago or recently, you should strive to find which edition of the book is the most accurate.

If you are interested in purchasing a book or acquiring knowledge on some subject, you must seek to attain the most accurate edition of the book that has been published with precision. So you should ask the people of knowledge or those who have expertise on this subject, saying for example: “What is the most reliable edition of such and such book?” “What is the most accurate edition of Tafseer Al-Qurtubee?” “What is the most accurate edition of Tafseer At- Tabaree?” “What is the most accurate edition of Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree?” – which if you acquire, you will keep in your library and have no need for another edition of the book to go along with it.

What we have observed today from many publications is that you find the publishing companies only print books for commercial purposes and so they come out unreliable. This is why you should ask about which edition you should acquire or which edition you want to purchase. So you should not just buy any book that is thrown at you. Rather, you should ask about it and become aware of the publishing company that has produced it.

If a certain individual has verified and reviewed the publication of the book, you should ask about whether or not this individual is accurate or inaccurate in his verification. Is he a businessman or not? And so on and so forth. To reiterate, a student of knowledge should focus on acquiring only the most accurate edition of a particular book.

He should only buy a book after enquiring about it. For example, you should ask: “Which is the most accurate edition of Tafseer Al-Qurtubee?” So if you receive an answer to this question, you should then go and strive to acquire this edition of the book regardless of whether it is printed or photocopied or published in modern times via computer formatting. You should strive to acquire only the correct and accurate editions of books.

What I have noticed according to my opinion is that most of the books that the brothers have in their hands are editions that are not accurate and precise. They may have a valid copy of the book however it is not completely accurate.

Some individual has taken charge of the overview of its publication but what he has done can hardly be called “taking charge.” Or it is said that the edition was amended by the publishing house and so on and so forth, however, it contains mistakes and errors the likes of which make the edition defective and not fit for a student of knowledge to acquire and reference and use for researching information.

Therefore, the second etiquette is that a student of knowledge should strive to acquire the accurate and precise editions regardless of whether they are printed in older form or they are recent publications. What is important is that the edition is accurate. So one should get to know and become acquainted with which publishing companies are meticulous and precise and which publishing companies are not. This is so that he will be able to know and distinguish which editors are just interested in business from which ones show great concern and care for their verifications. By doing this, he will also be able to tell the advantages that certain editions have over others, as well as how many times one book has been published.

We will diverge from the topic a little here and say that a student of knowledge should also be careful when looking into verifications and what people do nowadays such as placing footnotes and comments in their books. He should be aware of the different editions that exist for a book because it may be for example that an editor makes a reference to a volume and page number of a particular book and the reader believes that the book was only printed once. So when he goes to reference the volume and page number of the edition that he has, he cannot find it and says: “This person has erred or made a mistake.” It is possible that this same book was published over a hundred times or twenty times of thirty times or five times or four times and so on and so forth. So if a student of knowledge is aware of the different editions of the book and the number of times it was printed and the advantages and merits that some editions have over others, this is from the supplementary forms of knowledge that is from the general etiquettes that a student of knowledge should abide by.

Taken from : The Student of Knowledge and Books : Shaikh Saalih bin ‘Abdil-’Azeez Aali Shaikh

The third etiquette with regard to books is that one must strive to keep his books clean and preserved. This means that his books should be clean and have no dust attached to them. They should not be dirty nor should they have any bad markings on them. They should also not be put in an improper place, meaning the book should be put in an appropriate place that is befitting for it.

From that which is not befitting for books – especially the books of the people of knowledge in which can be found a clarification of the meanings of the Qur’aan and the Sunnah – is that they have dirt, dust and filth on them. Keeping books clean is a sign of one’s respect for what is contained in them and a proof that one magnifies the symbols of Allaah. Allaah says:

ِبﻮُﻠُﻘْﻟا ىَﻮْﻘَﺗ ﻦِﻣ ﺎَﻬﱠﻧِﺈَﻓ ِﻪﱠﻠﻟا َﺮِﺋﺎَﻌَﺷ ْﻢﱢﻈَﻌُﻳ ﻦَﻣَو
“And whoever magnifies the symbols of Allaah, then that is truly from the piety of the hearts.” [Surah Al-Hajj: 32]

So if the book is on Tafseer or on the Sunnah or on Fiqh – the lawful and unlawful – or on Creed, then a person should strive to preserve them. Maintaining books clean falls under honoring Allaah and honoring the religious knowledge that is taken from the Qur’aan and the Sunnah.

When dealing with books, from the perspective of preserving and safeguarding them, a student of knowledge should also be careful of not turning his book into a parcel for his documents, special essays or receipts, i.e. such as the sales receipts for the books he bought and so on. If you were to pick up one of his books and look at it you would find that there is a receipt and a treatise inside it or that there is a pen and an eraser inside it and so on an so forth. Some of the scholars have said: “Do not turn your book into a bouquet or a parcel.”

This is one of the important etiquettes with regard to books – that you not turn them into storage bins such as by placing pens inside them or treating them like repositories for money and currency. So if you were to open up a book you would find all of these things inside them and notice that the book’s binding has become worn and that the book has changed and so on due to the book not being preserved properly.

A book should also not be turned into a bouquet, i.e. it should not be folded in an inappropriate manner, since a book contains the words of Allaah and the words of the Messenger of Allaah (Peace be upon him). So it is not proper to treat a book in this manner.

It is also not proper to put a glass of water or a cup of tea or their likes on top of books. The books of the people of knowledge, which contain texts from the Qur’aan and the Sunnah should be put in the highest places and not in the lowest places with pieces of paper and such on top of them. Abiding by this etiquette instills respect in the heart for the words of Allaah and the words of the Messenger of Allaah, not to mention the knowledge that is derived from these two sources.

What is also related to preserving books is when a student of knowledge is careful in the manner that he records text from books. Sometimes, we see books with written comments in them that are annotated in such a way that their benefit is squandered. In what has preceded, we have seen that the scholars forbade from writing small letters in books, such as when you write notes using tiny lettering or when you make notes on points of benefit found in your book using such small letters that if a student of knowledge wanted to, he would not be able to benefit from them. In what has been reported, Imaam Ahmad one time regretted having recorded ahaadeeth with small handwriting. This is since when he needed to refer to them in his old age, he was not able to extract these points of benefit because they were written in very tiny letters and the ink from the letters were so close to each other that it was hard to read and thus the benefit was lost.

Some scholars or students of knowledge may not have good handwriting. This is not a flaw. However, one should arrange his letters in such a way that they are written clearly. This is since some of the scholars who didn’t possess good handwriting would not be able to read even their own handwriting, as was the case with Shaikh-ul-Islaam Ibn Taimiyyah whose writings would have to be extracted by one of his students. This is mentioned in the books on Biographies.

Al-Haafidh Ibn Katheer indicated this in the 14th volume of his collection al- Bidaayah wan-Nihaayah while discussing the year in which this student of Ibn Taimiyyah passed away. He said: “And he was the one who would be able to extract the second sermon of Ibn Taimiyyah. And whenever Ibn Taimiyyah would want to take a portion (from his writings), no one would be able to extract it except for him since Shaikh-ul-Islaam (Ibn Taimiyyah) would write in a hurry and his writings would be unclear, so at times it would appear obscure to him.”

This was due to the letters being written very small. This could work, however it is not possible all the time, which is why a student of knowledge needs to know how to write in his books.

The scholars of Hadeeth have advised in their etiquettes on writing that when a student of knowledge wants to write, he should start from the line that he is in or in which can be found the note, then continue by going up towards the top and not the bottom. This means that when you study a book with a teacher or you make notes in a book and you come upon an area where you begin writing (a comment), you should transfer from that line to a line above it. The reason for this is because you may encounter a point of benefit in the line that follows that one, which requires you to write a note for it, and so then you will be confused on how to write it. Start ascending to the line above it. If you write from the bottom to the top, this will ensure that your writing will be clear.

You should also try to make your lines straight but designed in a sloping manner such that if you want to correct anything later, you can insert that correction in the empty spaces that are between the slants. Perhaps some of you have seen some of the old books with notes in them and noticed that these (notes) were written in blocks of text that appear to be in the shape of triangles. This was not done in vain and without purpose. Rather, these books were written this way – in the manner of the ancestors – because they needed to be verified afterward. The corrections would be placed in the empty spaces (on the sides of the triangle) or the book would be compared to another manuscript and notes from that manuscript would be annotated in these empty spaces.

So therefore, you must give great importance to having handwriting that is clear and organized in terms of knowing the place where the writing starts. So if I were to look at what you wrote and the notes you made, I would know where the note you made for this sentence begins and in which direction it will go.

Also, if you reference the books on terminology, their authors have explained how to write and make notes in books using guidelines and details that they have established on either preserving the text, explaining a word, making a correction, writing a footnote, clarifying which manuscript it is or how to write valid phrases and so on. So we should refer to these books on terminology because their authors wrote about this and talked about it in detail.

Taken from : The Student of Knowledge and Books : Shaikh Saalih bin ‘Abdil-’Azeez Aali Shaikh

Another etiquette regarding books which deserves attention is: A student of knowledge should maintain (a list of) selected points of benefit for each of his books. This means that if someone reads a book and he doesn’t feel that he will remember or be able to recall what he read later – even if he is young – he should select points of benefit from this book and write them down in a special notebook. Or he can make references to them in the preface of the book, such as in a page at the beginning of the book. So he makes something that resembles a table of contents, however, it is specifically catered to him since these points of benefit that apply to him may not apply to others.

So they are specifically for you when you need to reference something you learned from this book at a later time. Two nights ago, I took the book al-Fadl-ul- Mubeen fee Sharh al-Arba’een of Jamaal-ud-Deen Al-Qaasimee from its place in my library. It had been almost ten years since I last read the book, but when I opened it up to its first page, lo and behold, I found the points of benefit in the book that I had written down a long time ago. And there were many, many points of benefit of which I had forgotten almost ninety percent of them. So instead of reading the book over again, all I had to do was look at this point of benefit and that point of benefit and so on.

One of the points of benefit found in the book, for example, was the author’s discussion on the difference between the ‘Aalim and the ‘Aarif and the reason why the Sufis renounced the word ‘Aalim in favor of using the word ‘Aarif and why they say the ‘Aarif so and so and not the “‘Aalim” (i.e. scholar) so and so. This is one of the points of benefit found in this book.

Another point of benefit in the book was an excellent and firm quote from Ibn Hazm found in his book al-Fisal on the meanings of the (verbs) qadaa (to divinely ordain) and qaddara (to divinely pre-decree). At the end of the quote, Jamaal-ud-Deen Al-Qaasimee says: “And this is the most brilliant of what was said concerning the meaning of qadaa and qaddara and what has the most right to be accepted.” And it is just as he said. Perhaps I will relate that to you at a later time.

These points of benefit that you record at the beginning of the book are very important. If you refer to the book some time after reading it, you will find these points before you. This means that when you read a book or a group of books, you should select points from them, which you feel are beneficial and useful to you and annotate them at the beginning of the book in the first page. So it will take the form of an index with brief phrases describing the point of benefit (and the page number where it can be found).

There is no doubt that this is extremely important for a student of knowledge. If you are able to make a special notebook in which you can place selected points that you may need, then this is important and you will definitely refer to it later on in time. It is not proper for you to read a book just like this and say that this (one-time) reading is sufficient because after one or two months or maybe after a year, you will forget what you read.

But if you write down (the most important points of) what you read, you can refer back to it years later and find that the points of benefit are available for display before you, as the saying goes: “Understanding is contingent – it comes and goes, whereas writing is recorded.” Write down what you have understood or record what you have learned from the book.

Taken from : The Student of Knowledge and Books : Shaikh Saalih bin ‘Abdil-’Azeez Aali Shaikh

From the etiquettes related to books, also, is: The manners of lending out books. Giving out books for people to borrow is not allowed unless you are giving them to someone that you trust will care for the books. The reason for this is because you have the most right to your book, unless you find someone else that is in need of it and who, when finished using it, will return it back to you.

It is mentioned in the biography of Al-Khateeb Al-Baghdaadee that a man once asked him if he could borrow one of his books, so he replied saying: “You have three days to use it.” The man said: “That is not enough time.” So Al-Khateeb said: “I have counted its pages, so if you want to make a copy of it, then three days is sufficient for you. And if you want to read it, then three days is sufficient for you. And if you want to do more than that with it, then I have the most right to my book.”

This is correct, since in the past I had lent the first volume of a large book consisting of eight volumes to a brother – I don’t want to mention the title of the book, since perhaps he may hear this and think that I’m insinuating him – and now nearly twelve years have passed on, and he still has not returned it to me! And he tells me he doesn’t know where he put it. Similarly, the eighth volume of another set – even though I’m not worried so much over it – however, more than twenty years have passed and until now, he has not given it back. This is why a poet once said:

“Do not lend your books
And make your answer some excuse
Whoever does in fact lend a book,
I swear he has not done something good.”

Another person said: “The perdition of books is in lending them.”

It was once said to a man from India who had opened up a huge library: “How did you create this library?” He replied: “By borrowing books from people.” He was asked: “How is that?” So he said: “I borrow a book and don’t return it. This is how I was able to create this library.” The man asked: “Isn’t this a crime against those you borrow from?” He replied: “Whoever lends his books to people is insane. And whoever gives back what he borrows is even more insane than him.”

This is since souls are attached to books. In his book al-Qawaa’id, while speaking about a principle, Al-Haafidh Ibn Rajab mentioned that there is no capital punishment of cutting off the hand for stealing them – i.e. if a person steals a book, then according to some scholars, he does not have to have his hand cut off. This is since there is a doubt in this – i.e. that the truth contained in books is (free) for everyone.

So for example, one of your fellow students or colleagues may get a book and then believe that he has a right to it, especially if the book is a charitable copy or it was given to you as a gift or so on. So this would cause him to take the issue of returning it lightly. He will be lax in giving the book back. And you will be the one who loses out on the book.

Therefore, if you are not sure if the one who is asking to borrow a book from you is serious and will benefit from it in a short amount of days and nights, then do not lend him the book. This is since when you lend your books out to people, you are depriving yourself from their benefit. And not every one that borrows a book can be trusted with it, for how many people have borrowed books and not returned them!

Taken from : The Student of Knowledge and Books : Shaikh Saalih bin ‘Abdil-’Azeez Aali Shaikh