The Beautiful Character of the Upright Student of Knowledge
Shaykh ʿAbdullāh ibn Ṣulfīq al-Ẓufayrī
A phone link from Toronto (2018/04/14) translated by Ustādh ʿAbdu-ilāh Laḥmāmī exemplifying the beautiful characteristics of the guided, upright young student of knowledge – his traits, his challenges, what safeguards him, and the bounty of his relationship with the scholars and the faḍl (excellence) this brings to his community. A timely advice in a time of phantom callers built upon the digital ‘house of cards’ that is social media. Nowadays, a person may create multiple click-bait pages or accounts that lure Ahl al-Sunnah towards attention seeking youngsters who wish to confuse and distort the truth. This lecture clarifies the correct path an upright student charts in his quest for beneficial knowledge.
Points of benefit from the lecture
- From the great blessings of a youth is that he is guided to an upright scholar
- The righteous guided student will adopt the manners of his noble teacher
- Take knowledge form those who are deserving of being benefited from
- The young man should travel and seek knowledge, returning to his community to aid them
- He should follow them (the scholars), imitating them so that he may have thabāt (firmness)
- He will have istiqāmah (and likewise his community) if he learns, benefits and then cultivates upon it
- Observe caution when seeking knowledge, be sure that you know who you are benefitting from, have precision
- The young student should be very careful to take his knowledge from the firmly grounded (scholars and students, past and present)
- A student may be destroyed through partisanship, turning away from the major scholars
- A student may fall into misguidance due to being amazed with himself (thinking he is magnificent and deserving of status and following)
- The humble student (and caller) is the one who does not wish status, shunning the spotlight and the credit
- Most of the people are fumbling around, confused, jumping from one partisan (strategic) allegiance to another
- Align yourself with the upright scholars
We ask Allāh to protect us from trials and tribulations.