As the new Islāmic academic year approaches, students of knowledge are moving into the higher years at every Islāmic institute of learning (dār al-ʿulūm). Many are prone to becoming overwhelmed by the volume of their studies and speed of their teachers’ lectures. At this point, they fall prey to making a ‘rookie mistake’ they later realise and regret. That is, the error of taking inefficient notes.

Years ago, I sat in Dar al-Ifta in Cairo reading with a teacher, and he asked, “Have you ever thought why the scholars use the word bāb (door) to title what you call chapters in English?” I responded, “Yes, but I did not give it a lot of thought.”

What followed was eye opening…

Reading is a fundamental aspect of one’s learning. It develops a individuals way of thinking and perception. Listed below are eleven benefits of reading:

If you’ve been blessed with passion to constantly learn and with courage to face the truth and accept it, make sure you learn a way to heal yourself of trauma and emotional issues that you may be carrying with you and make sure you face the truth about your issues and accept it.

Imagine a world where you are a talib ‘ilm but no one else will ever know what you’ve studied and no one else thinks anything special about specific religious studies.

It is extremely sad seeing young people connected to sacred knowledge wasting their time, as well as the time of others, in endless debates, arguments, polemics and argumentation.

One of the best advice I received when I started my journey to study sacred knowledge was to be ready to tolerate the nature of different teachers.

Sometimes I see certain students who give up studying because a teacher told them off or said something to them out of anger etc. The teachers are also human and will say things sometimes which you may not like but be patient. Have sabr. Not all teachers in history were nice and calm.

If you’ve been blessed with passion to constantly learn and with courage to face the truth and accept it, make sure you learn a way to heal yourself of trauma and emotional issues that you may be carrying with you and make sure you face the truth about your issues and accept it.

We sometimes forget in our enthusiasm to quench our thirst for knowledge that:

الأدب قبل الطّلب
Etiquettes come before seeking knowledge.

One of the most important struggles any intelligent person should undertake is to acquire excellent etiquette in one’s character. Both the Law of Islām and sound reason testifies to its high importance and academics and experts alike are vocal in congratulating those who possess good manners.

Even that emptiness itself was created for a purpose: To drive us to fill it. The problem is we try to fill it with the wrong things. Everything inside us was created to enable our journey to find the true fill, to find Him. Ironically even shaytan and the nafs – if reacted to correctly – can become a means to reach Him. Shaytan and nafs are our enemies. True. But how can we protect ourselves from them? Can the people help? Can money help? Can worldly power or weapons help protect us from our greatest enemies? Where is the *only* shelter from both Shaytan and our nafs? The only shelter is in Allah. It is like sending a storm to push us to the only refuge. To push us to Him (azza wa jal).