🍃 *Instill a High Spirit in Reading*
The enthusiasm for reading nowadays is fading due to the widespread availability of technological facilities, which leads to relying solely on PDF books or those available in digital libraries. This eventually diminishes the zeal to purchase scholarly books from the salaf, even though one might be capable of buying them.
Evidence shows that students of knowledge who read on laptops or phones do not experience the same endurance for prolonged reading as they do with original texts of the scholars. Thus, some students of knowledge, even if they have a book in PDF, are willing to spend their money to buy the original book.
This is the path of the salaf scholars, who were passionate about buying books, even to the point of going bankrupt.
We will observe how our salaf scholars showed great enthusiasm and persistence in reading books, sometimes re-reading the same title repeatedly, hoping that by reading these writings, our spirits will be uplifted to read more and derive benefits.
🖊 Ismail bin Yahya al-Muzani (175-264 Hijri) said:
"I have read the book 'Ar-Risalah' by Imam Ash-Shafi'i (150-205 Hijri) five hundred times. Every time I read it, I found a new benefit that I had not found before."
📚 Manaqib al-Imam Ash-Shafi'i by Ibn Hajar, page 150.
🖊 As-Subki narrated that Imam al-Muzani said:
"I have been studying the book 'Ar-Risalah' for fifty years. I don't think I have ever read it without finding something new I didn't know before."
📚 Thabaqat Ash-Shafi'i al-Kubra 2/99.
Looking at ourselves now, sometimes a thin book, we struggle to finish it even once. Likewise, beneficial knowledge that comes through Telegram channels or WhatsApp groups often goes unread, merely passing by as we participate in various groups. Allah is the one we seek help from.
🖊 Imam Ash-Shawkany said about Sulaiman bin Ibrahim bin Umar Nafisuddin Az-Zabidi:
"He excelled in hadith, became a prominent hadith scholar in Yemen, and people from various generations and regions traveled to him for knowledge. He narrated about himself that he read 'Sahih al-Bukhari' more than fifty times."
📚 Badr at-Tali' 277.
🖊 Imam Ibn Kathir said:
"'Sahih al-Bukhari' was read to him (Ahmad bin Abi Talib bin Ni’mah al-Hijari, known as Ibn Shahnah) about sixty times."
📚 Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah 14/157.
🖊 Imam As-Sakhawy said about Ibrahim Hajjaj bin Mahraz Abu Ishaq al-Anbaasi Ash-Shafi'i:
"He read 'Al-Tawdih' (clarification of Alfiyyah Ibn Malik) more than seventy times."
📚 Ad-Daw’ al-Lami’ 1/38.
🖊 Ibn As-Sam'ani said:
"I read my father's handwriting, he said: I heard Abu Sa'id al-Buhairy say: I read 'Sahih Muslim' to Abu al-Husain Abdul Ghafir al-Farisi more than twenty times."
📚 Siyar A'lam an-Nubala 19/272, and Tarikh al-Islami 43/35.
🖊 Imam Adh-Dhahabi said about Abu Sa'id al-Buhairy:
"He was trustworthy, righteous, a hadith scholar, from a family of hadith scholars, and always read 'Sahih Muslim' to travelers and those who moved frequently."
📚 Siyar A'lam an-Nubala 19/272.
🖊 Imam al-Faqih Abu Muhammad Abdullah bin Ishaq, known as Ibn At-Tabban (died 371 Hijri), narrated about himself:
"When I first started, I used to study all night. My mother forbade me from reading at night. So, I would take the lamp, hide it under a bowl, and pretend to sleep. When my mother slept deeply, I would take out the lamp and continue studying."
📚 Tartib al-Madarik by Qadhi Iyadh 1/78.
🖊 Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Abi Bakr al-Hanbali, an imam and jurist from Iraq, mentioned:
"He studied 'Al-Mughni' by Sheikh Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudamah twenty-three times. He often recalled much or most of it and added notes and benefits to it."
📚 Dzail Thabaqat al-Hanabilah 4/338.
🖊 Al-Bassam said about Ibrahim bin Abdullah bin Ibrahim al-Huwaish:
"He loved to study, continuously doing so, and long books were read to him. He read 'Al-Mughni,' 'Kitab al-Tawhid,' Ibn Kathir's Tafsir, hadith books, works of Sheikh al-Islam, and his student Ibn al-Qayyim. He did not limit himself to this but would read on his own when he found time."
📚 ‘Ulama Najd Khilal Thamaniah Qurun 1/365.
🖊 Sheikh Ahmad bin Muhammad al-Ansari said:
"I studied 'Mizan al-I'tidal' by al-Hafiz adh-Dhahabi thoroughly, and I might have read it more than a hundred times because I had no other book in the beginning of my hadith studies."
📚 Al-Majmu’ fi Tarjamah al-Allamah al-Muhaddith Hammad al-Ansari 1/419.
He also said:
"When I was young, I would read or write until dawn, and I only slept a little at noon."
📚 Al-Majmu’ fi Tarjamah al-Sheikh Hammad 393.
🖊 Sheikh Salih Alush-Sheikh said:
"I remember being advised by our teacher, Sheikh Mahmoud Muhammad Shakir, a writer from Egypt and an Arabic language scholar, from whom I read some literature books. I once asked him: 'Give me advice on which book to read in Arabic.' He advised me to read 'Lisan al-Arab.' I said: 'Lisan al-Arab is twenty volumes, I want another book.' He said: 'If twenty volumes are too much for you, then find another occupation besides knowledge!' This was a very impactful statement. He then said: 'We read it through our teacher Muhammad Sayid al-Mirshafi twice, and during the third reading, he passed away before we finished it.'"
📚 Liqa'at wa Jalasat Sheikh Salih Alush-Sheikh 1/476.
May Allah bless us all in using the remaining time of our lives to seek His pleasure. We conclude this message with a saying of a scholar:
Ibn al-Aqil al-Hanbali said:
"It is not permissible for me to waste an hour of my life. When my tongue is not engaged in study and debate, and my eyes are tired from reading, I use my mind while resting. So, I do not get up without having new ideas to write down. I find my eagerness for knowledge in my eighties stronger than when I was twenty."
📚 Ibn al-Jawzi quoted him in 'Al-Muntadham fi Tarikh al-Umam 9/214.
✍ Compiled by
Abu Hanan As Suhaily Utsman As Sandakany
17 Muharram 1440 - 27 September 2018
Follow NashihatuLinnisa' on TELEGRAM: https://t.me/Nashihatulinnisa
Twitter X: @ilmuisl
#free_share, #without_logo, #without_asking_donation, #without_foundation
0 Comments