 Salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Welcome to Life in London. I'm your host, Mosin Shah. We'd like to congratulate you on the upcoming Eid, insha'Allah, Eidi Ghadir, and make sure you have a fantastic and excellent spiritual evening, insha'Allah. Celebrating Imam Ali, the gate to the city of knowledge. And many of us would like to gain more knowledge. Some of us would like to gain knowledge on tafsir, gain knowledge on Quranic sciences, knowledge on theology, ethics. But how does one start this journey? Where should one begin? Can one do it here in the UK? Or must we pack our bags and go over to Najaf Al Qum to study Islam? What is the correct near to begin with? Are we going to gain a spiritual benefit? Or are we just trying to learn words so that we can, you know, repeat like a parrot on a pulpit? And how do we know where to study, what to study, what sort of books to go for? Are we ready, mentally ready to go for this? Insha'Allah, we'll discuss this and a lot more through my own experiences at Hosa, where I was on a similar journey, where I was taught a subject known as Salaf-e-Nahu, very, very difficult, very, very challenging. But later I understood the importance of this and why this is necessary to learn in my journey. And insha'Allah, we'll discuss my journey and also Dr. Omar Naqshrani's journey. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu. Alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu. Alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullah. Alaykum wa rahmatullah. Alaykum wa rahmatullah. Alaykum wa rahmatullah. Alaykum wa rahmatullah. Very well, very well, thank you. Maasha'Allah. Dr, let's begin with Islam and its position on gaining knowledge. Well, I think when you're looking within the Holy Qur'an, which I believe, you know, is the base for our worldview and the importance of learning and building that relationship with our Creator, the first words one may argue to be revealed to the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, his family, are words which very much relate to learning, very much relate to education. When we see the word iqra, read, it's highlighted that we wanted to build a community of people who read, which in turn becomes people who are people of knowledge, in turn people of wisdom, in turn people who are able to reflect on their own heritage and the heritage of those who exist around them. Sadly, in the Muslim world, I think we've become a community which may be titled the community of la naqra, we don't read. There are many households in the Muslim world where either people want to learn, want to read, but don't know where to begin. Or there are those who really won't pick up a book at all. They'll say really their Islamic lifestyle is more of a following of a particular culture than a following of a religion. The sense that if you ask them, have you sought to read about the heritage of your religion, the teachings of your religion? Understand if we may call it the highway code that God provides for us, you'll find that there are many out there who will make excuses for why they don't read, even though they're willing to read on many other things in their life, and sometimes things which are important, sometimes things which are mundane. Then there are others out there who you'll find there is no culture of reading which is established in the household. There isn't, for example, a separate room full of books. There isn't a culture which is established in the house where the father or the mother are constantly reading. So when you're looking within the Holy Quran, you've got this presented to us with the first word which the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and his family is told to recite is the word iqra. And then the second chapter to be revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon his family, is titled qalam. And qalam, as we know, means pen. So there is this focus from the very beginning of Islam in the Meccan period on reading as well as writing, that if you really want to gain closeness to your Lord, then your abilities and these gifts that you have to be able to read and to be able to write. There are people in the world who cannot read or write. There are people in the world who wish they could read or write. Sometimes the biggest embarrassment for the human being is when that human being says, I'm sorry, I just don't know how to read or I don't know how to write. And it's sad when we see that certain parts of the Muslim world are full of people who are illiterate when a religion begun with a focus on reading and a focus on the tools for learning such as writing. Then you've got these traditions which highlight to us that your culture may tell you learn up until a certain age, but this religion wants you to continue gaining knowledge until your grave. So when you see a tradition, for example, like seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave, it doesn't say seek knowledge from the cradle to 16. If you look at some of our Medrassa systems in the communities in the West, for example, our, you know, the founding fathers of our community in the UK or in, you know, in North America, for example, in Australia, they worked so hard to try and have at least one day a week where we could gain knowledge about our heritage, about, you know, even our culture, but you find that many of us left those schools at 16 and many of the challenges of life came at 16. And so for many people, they assume that you seek knowledge from the cradle till you're about 18. And then after that, if you can pick up the odd book, pick it up. And that's sad. Not sad. The religion of Islam shows you through many of its tenants, many of its traditions that try and continue to read about those who came before you, learn the lessons from their lives, and try and also learn about the lives of those personalities who were the very gates to the city of knowledge. When we see the Holy Prophet peace be upon him and his family saying, I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate. That Medina is a Medina, a city of knowledge. And that man, his greatness is that you have to go through him to get to me. But their focus is that they're able to provide you with knowledge on every issue possible. You want to ask them about law, they'll give you an answer. You want to ask them about theology, they'll give you an answer. You want to ask them about ethics, they'll give you an answer. You want to ask them about how spiritually you can grow, they'll give you an answer. So without a doubt, the religion of Islam wanted its followers to be people who are constantly yearning to gain knowledge. And hopefully from the world of knowledge you move towards the world of wisdom and applying what you have learned. Just a quick reminder to our viewers that this is a live show and if you have a question that you'd like to ask to say it, please call us on 02035150199 or alternatively you could what's up us, the number should be there at the bottom. Say it now, the Quran is like the source of knowledge and surely we should be taking knowledge from the Quran. Do you feel that our community has kind of neglected the Quran and that I was neglected gaining and taking advantage of this book? I think the Quran itself mentions that there will sadly be a group of people who will not take full advantage of this book. If you look within the Quran either in chapter 25 verse 30 for example where there is a complaint from the Holy Prophet peace be upon his family that people have abandoned the Quran and I think in many Muslim households if we're going to put it very frankly many people don't enjoy reading the Quran and that's partly due to the fact that we haven't explained the wonderful wisdom that emerges from learning the Quran but naturally also a person has to take the first step. You can't be spoon fed everything. You have to take time out to try and ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that I'm gonna start reading some pages of the Quran but illuminate my heart so that I'm able to understand it and when I mention illuminate because ilm and nur go hand in hand that knowledge that you gain is no doubt a light from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala a light that allows you to be away from the world of darkness a light that allows you to be guided towards that which is that which allows your growth and allows you to actualize your potential and so the Quran itself and the abandonment of the Quran is constantly spoken about by the Holy Prophet peace be upon him and his family but I think one beautiful message when we're looking within the Quran is that the prophets of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran themselves are constantly striving to gain more knowledge in relation to God's creation in relation to God's wisdom you'll never find a prophet within the Holy Quran except that he's on a journey of illumination a journey where they're seeking to find knowledge that will bring them higher levels of wisdom and probably the most beautiful example in the Quran is when we're looking at someone like Nabi Musa alayhi salam in his interaction with Khidr alayhi salam that interaction shows your prophet of God who constantly even though he's defeated Pharaoh even though he's spoken to the Lord even though he's achieved everything because sometimes you can reach a level where you think you know what I know everything or you've read a couple of articles I'm very knowledgeable or you read a couple of books and you're on a high that you know what I've read a couple of books I know a few long words and therefore I pretty much know everything about this subject and that's the beginning of your downfall because the person with true knowledge is someone who will admit that they don't know everything and I think what happens with Nabi Musa alayhi salam in that story is that there's a message to the reader of the Quran that even though I'm one of the olil azim I still myself am trying to gain more knowledge and asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to help me gain that knowledge and that's why many of us will say and I always say this line before I go up to give my lectures rabbi zidni alma or Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala please increase my knowledge I know that my knowledge can increase through my personal endeavors but the light for me to be able to understand the concept quicker sharper the manil is behind the word or a concept that is a light that I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to shine in my heart I can never myself reach a level like Qaroon did in the Quran and never do I want to reach such a level where I arrogantly say if someone asks me where did you gain all this knowledge from oh it's all my hard work no ultimately it is the light which is placed in our hearts by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and so when we're looking within the Quran the Quran has to be that first place we begin Arabic grammar you can find a lot of its laws Quranically ethics and absolute universals concrete universals within the Quran theology within the Quran there's law versus of law some say 80 some say 500 within the holy Quran history and the knowledge of prophets of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and their life stories within the Quran so when there are many people out there saying provide me a book is there any good book out there for me to study right now you've got the book on your shelf at home don't just bring it out in weddings and funerals very enlightening where I say um excellent saying that I mean I do feel that with the Quran we have neglected it as a community and some of us actually like we need to learn how to read it properly and actually extract the knowledge that's there and mashallah say that you talked about your intention in regards to gaining more knowledge and being more quicker and faster and understanding theories and concepts quicker is this the the you know the initial intention one should have when trying to seek Islamic knowledge I mean when I started with my house and my intention was you know I wanted to first of all I love the religion I love learning there's a thirst for for knowledge as Imam Ali quotes that there's a thirst for knowledge is phenomenal and also I wanted to help my community if I could and those younger than me um what would you suggest for someone who wants to go out and learn Islam what is the correct intention to have the ultimate intention is to gain closeness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to gain closeness to the creator I'm not studying this subject because one level of intention maybe those who are studying this to show off that I've learned a few long words and I for example know about a certain area and I'm going to tell you about how much I know and I'm be condescending towards you to show you that really you don't know as much as I do then there are others who may go out to study knowledge because they're thinking that's the only career path I have left I'm a dropout from high school I'm a dropout from college I'm a dropout from university let me pack my bags and go somewhere where I'll study and who will know any better if I've studied there for a couple of years or I was there for six years but I've studied for two or I was there for eight years but I've studied for four I'll come back and I'll be wearing the holy garb and if I come back and wear the holy garb then there'll be a lot of people out there for example who will not know any difference so you have people whose intentions are one their intentions either for popularity then there are others their intentions that this is a last resort let me learn the laws of istikhar and talaq and nikah and may it and come back there must be communities that will accept me but the highest level are those who seek nanness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and that's why they ultimately go and gain that knowledge if we believe that for example let's say we study sharia and we study man's interpretation of sharia I say in the world of fiqh jurisprudence when we study this it's because I want to delve deep into the highway code of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala what was the reason behind this law when was it actualized I know that all these laws ultimately are for my saada for my and ultimately my bliss my happiness at the end so I want to learn about these laws I want to also learn the methodology behind how we derive these laws so that I can impart some of that knowledge back towards community members who are not able to necessarily go and study these subjects but when I'm studying law or I'm studying history is it so I can tell people the facts and figures of a story or the facts and figures behind how we derive a law or is it so that I can begin to implement the lessons from this in my life if I go for example to study jurisprudence when I'm studying the chapter on tahara for example am I studying it so that I can tell people that I know words such as hadith and khabbath and astinja and you know and for example istibra and I can tell you if well you know if a lady is in her in her menstrual cycle these are the following laws and this is the three to ten day period and a lady in the fast is the laws and this is the laws of istihaada and this is the laws of tayammum am I gaining that knowledge so that I'm able to tell people that look I've studied this chapter inside that or will I actually apply that knowledge to my life because then applying that knowledge to my life I find that I'm gaining closeness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through his lupf and through his rahma through his grace and through his mercy has provided me with wonderful treasure chests of knowledge in the Quran and the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi and the lessons from the lives of the imams of al muhammad alayhi wa sallam I'm studying these why I'm studying these so that I can show off to people that I have so many letters next to my name or I'm studying these so that I can help develop my relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and also build my community in turn so you will find in history there are those who gain knowledge but was there knowledge of avail to them like when we hear about that scholar from the children of Israel I think his story is mentioned in the Quran I think chapter 7 verse 175 that scholar had that knowledge but was not practicing that knowledge but you could show off that knowledge then there are those no they they go and gain knowledge their intention is ya Allah I want to get closer to you you love those who gain who seek knowledge and you praise the ulama that they are the ones who have this is khushu when they remember you oh Allah so I want to be amongst those ulama I want to see how I can reach a level where I am able to gain closeness to them to bait in turn closest to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala excellent see it saying up let's take you know an example here let's take a person called Ahmed Ahmed now has a choice between going to Najaf or Qom or doing a degree now what you know can we actually expect our youth to give up a Western academic education before they go to Qom or Najaf or housing in any other country well it's an amazing opportunity if a person is able to go and study in the holy land of Najaf or the holy land of Qom it really is an amazing opportunity but each situation is different I believe that our youth who are 16 years old 17 years old 18 years old in this country they have access to a wonderful secular education system and I think if you finish your degree at one of the universities let's say in the UK or the US after that you want to go to Qom you want to go to Najaf at least you have a degree to fall back on so you may go to Qom or Najaf for example for a year and at the end of that year you may say I want to stay here longer if you want to stay there longer fantastic if you don't want to stay there longer then you've got something to fall back on my humble advice would be that if they are able to get themselves a degree in this country and even if it's an Islamic studies degree here from a prestigious university over here or a prestigious university in North America or a prestigious university in Australia get that basic degree which I believe you are blessed to be living in a country where you're able to go to university many of our parents had to leave university because of war many had to leave because of very hard political times if you're able to be in a position where you can study say you want to do pharmacy say you want to do engineering study those subjects then after that make a decision go to Qom or go to Najaf if you go to Qom or Najaf you've got something to fall back on anyway you may come back towards that career path or you may continue to study over there what's wrong with doing the hausa first and then going to do the degree I don't I don't think there's anything wrong with it it's all back on the house I don't think there's anything wrong with it sometimes going to hausa at a young age randomly without really having family in these countries can be a daunting experience there are people out there who went to these countries at a young age came out broken there are some who went at a young age they'll say to you yeah I went at that young age nothing happened to me yeah but you've got about maybe 500 cousins in that hausa or you've got 100 of your friends there or you've got family members who live within the vicinity it's not like me who's going to Najaf and I have nobody I don't know anyone and I don't know anyone I don't know anyone when I go towards the wilayah area or I go you know a bit outside if you go to Qom I'm talking for those who maybe are at a very young age and no way we're discrediting it no way we're telling them not to but I would think if you're able to establish your education here in this country it also may provide you with certain methodological tools which are going to be valuable when you go there definitely you know the the ability you see sometimes I think when you finish a degree I find this on my own experience when you finish a degree I don't know whether it was the degree that was important or more the fact that I could tell myself that you can get through the struggle because none of us want to finish it half the time you want to chill you want to you know kick back um and then last year you'll procrastinate right at the end and try and get a grade but I think what what it was telling you is you know what you can be in here for the long haul I think that will power is needed when you go to Qom or to Najaf yeah just a quick question a personal question you were saying that you know uh sometimes it's unfortunate that someone has um you know hasn't really succeeded in academia and just falls upon Hauser as the last resort against some sort of respectful status yes or no is Hauser the level that you study at very very challenging and is it for academics so I'm trying to ask you is who is the perfect candidate to go to Hauser or to go into Islamic studies and and do well and progress and succeed well I think Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created us all with different abilities with different um different levels of even understanding and learning different backgrounds that we came from I think it makes the difference if you're if your father and your grandfather for example are alive and they're able to sit with you and you said discussing Nahu and Sardf I don't know if you discussed that at home when you were a kid but if you've got your grandfather sitting in front of you discussing Nahu and Sardf or talking with you know Nahu and Sardf type you know principles or then telling you okay let's discuss the Qur'an and the tafsir of the Qur'an I think that helps as an introduction um I think there are certain people who are bright enough to go to Oxford and there are others as hard as they try they won't go to Oxford so when these two both go towards Qum there's already one who's a bit sharper than the other however when they both get there it's sometimes not only about sharpness yes it plays a major role you'll find in later jurisprudential discussions it can be the difference between being a much-behaved and not can be the difference between the highest marja versus another marja that sharpness and ability to understand a particular concept but I think hard work pays off I think success in in the Hausa is about how much reading you do outside of class I think you know the Mubahatha which is probably the best part in my own experience in my years at Hausa the best experiences were when you're sitting discussing with your fellow classmates or classmates and you're grappling on this issue and then one of them doesn't explain it to you but then another one you're like now I get thanks I you know I can understand it or you buffer off each other did you understand that concept did you pick up that reference you know I think outside of class there are those who outside of class try and do some reading there are others who will go and sit in the libraries when others may be chilling and they're the ones who may not have been bright enough to go to Oxford but the hours they're putting in has a profound effect the hard work pays off from my experience I found Hausa very very academically challenging I thought it was almost as doing a degree it was at the same academic level now Sayedna you've studied both in the west and in in Hausa in traditional Islamic seminaries what would you say are the difference between the two and you know a little bit more about your experience you know studying Islam here in the west and studying in the east as well well I think when I studied Hausa one of the the greatest feelings was having the shrine of a holy personality just down the road that made a big difference you know to be able to go and sit by the grave of a family member of the prophet peace be upon him and his family is a wonderful experience a wonderful feeling and some people may think well what difference does that make books are books a library is a library but many ulama will tell you that their personal relationship with a member of the Ahlul Bayt buried in the vicinity of where they're studying has an inspirational effect has a motivational effect because there's that moment when you're thinking I'm not really bothered for all of this I just want to go home you know my boys are all back at home and they're all chilling and I'm alone over here and I literally remember when you know where I was I was in some cases alone you don't really have a friend circle as such you more had acquaintances and that maybe helped me put my head down and was probably the reason I chose where I wanted to study in in the Middle East I think likewise when you're looking Hausa wise you've got specialists who have who have studied that text and taught it for many years and I think the Hausa curriculum is a fantastic curriculum it's open for reform it's gradually you'll see different reforms happening but I think one thing you learn in the Hausa and I hope everyone experiences this but I know that not everybody does and that is sometimes the achlaq of your teacher is as if not more valuable than his one of my teachers may Allah bless him and I hope he's in a good way at the moment he he'd teach me and then he'd say why don't you come home for lunch now he doesn't have to say that to me I don't know many people in the academic world who say to you listen come over for lunch and be like listen here's my hours 11 till 1 you're more than welcome to come but after one you may see me again in four days time between 9 to 10 when you have somebody in a seminary type environment whether it's a muslim seminary a christian seminary a seminary of other faiths who says to you come home sit let's have lunch it's showing you it's not just about the knowledge that you gain it's also about your people's skills and your humility that grows with that there are many out there who have knowledge but believe you me you see their behavior lack lacking class condescending because their knowledge is purely to show off it's nothing more but then at house that that experience is a wonderful experience because there's more of a relationship with the teacher academically I believe that it opens new horizons because in many cases the person who's discussing Islam with you is a non-muslim professor so he's not looking at Islam from the same lens that you look at it when I look at imam aleem the teacher will say where is the professor at a western academic institution will say so ali said to for example Salman no salawat allah and knows he looking through the theological lens nor are they looking through the pious hagiography lens that we look through because the pious hagiography is we want to make sure that you know what these anecdotes and these stories you know they give a buzz to the student when you're giving it in the house there that you know what this is what wilaya is this is what amir al moqa is this is what ahlul bayt is your non muslim professor will not necessarily take these hagiographical or anecdotal stories you know they'll say well it possibly could have happened however i'm a bit skeptical about it maybe skepticism becomes the norm in the in the academic world but that's not necessarily a negative because that keeps you on your toes and it allows you to reflect that well how do I look at this on a different angle how do I look at this text objectively how do I look at this text from the angle of somebody who is not part of the tradition unlike me who is within the tradition trying to elaborate on a concept um and one great thing I would say about the academic world is that they'll say to you listen you want to prove your knowledge on this area write a hundred thousand words on it phd for example and when they're telling you write a hundred thousand words on that subject they're telling you so that when you come out this university we can verify that you actually knew your stuff you studied and so on and um you're able to quote all the journal articles on this area and so on so I think both of them there's you know there's positives in both of them which we can benefit from yeah fantastic saying that which brings me on to my next question which was going to ask you was what what do you think about studying in the west and the non-islamic uh you know teachers and scholars I mean you know to take ilm from them it's okay it's acceptable some of the some of the best works I've ever read on Shi'i law on Shi'i ethics on Shi'i theology on Shi'i history have been by non-muslim academics for me to name the likes of Wilfred Madelung, Ethan Colberg, Robert Gleeve, Linda Clark I look at their works on Shi'i thought and Shi'i heritage whether it be in the areas of Shi'i history or Shi'i theology or Shi'i law fantastic works which I'm able to benefit from and I believe there was a tense period between the academic and the traditional which I think now people are slowly starting to overcome that tension the Hausa was always skeptical about the academics and some of the academics were always skeptical about what the Hausa is producing and I believe both of them have produced great minds but if you're asking me is there an issue with me learning no I'm gaining knowledge I'm looking at how to study the text I'm looking at texts which hitherto that point I didn't even know existed when I read Madelung or I read Colberg I'm seeing some fantastic analysis what my supervisor for my PhD one of them was C.E. Bosworth non-muslim fantastic mind brilliant texts doesn't mean that he has to agree with me on everything I have to agree with him on everything even when we're looking within our Hauses there are Maraja who differ on certain issues and likewise in academia I could differ with my teacher but can I reject the fact that that teacher had studied texts inside out and taught me how to study them no that teacher was a major influence and when I look at these names and see the works that they produced you know Andrew Newman Linda Clark and you know Ethan Colberg Wilfred Madelung Robert Gleeve and there are others out there who I can mention fantastic works you know you look at for example Sabina Schmidtka and her analysis of someone like Lama Halley phenomenal piece you know she's at Princeton but look at the brilliant work that she's done you know professor Robert Gleeve you look at the brilliant work that he's done when it comes to Osul al-Fiq say do you think that these academics maybe you know challenged and because they don't have a an Arabic background and they don't get this you know direct the sources direct from the Arabic text and in some cases their Arabic is better than mine and yours put together don't you know sometimes our people when they hear these names they imagine these people because they are from a western background have not studied Arabic Arabic is open for everyone to study like French is open for everyone to study Spanish is open for everyone to study these scholars you see the way they talk about the syntax or they talk about morphology they talk about it like it's their bread and butter some of them had to leave their homes for a year or two to go and study in Cairo and Damascus in Qom so that they were able to gain a grasp of the Arabic or the Persian in its origin so let's not have this condescending view that well this person's English or this person's American or this person's German therefore they have no understanding of the Arabic language in some cases the way they talk about the Arabic language makes us really reflect who the Arab is yeah that's it inshallah we'll be going to a break now please join us after the break and we'll continue this discussion and if you have any questions you'd like to ask the Sayyid you can call us on 0203 515 0199 or alternatively you can get us on the whatsapp the number should be at the bottom inshallah we'll continue the discussion after the break salamu alaykum rahmatullahi wabarakatuh salamu alaykum wabarakatuh wabarakatuh welcome back to live in London today we're discussing Islam and its knowledge and how to begin studying Islam we've discussed having the right intention we've discussed the benefits of studying abroad and also studying here in the west so my next question is we know we have huzur abroad but we also have huzur in the west as well do you think this is you know good enough for us to go and study is it you know a credible well my first few years in in hausa were were here in in the uk and and the teachers i had were amongst the best teachers nejaf and qom has produced the only difference was they decided to come and teach in london and and i'm indebted to these teachers you know to have a teacher like itaulah said falun milani is is an honor you know this is one of itaulah who is students this is a person who people can emulate you know a person who knows his texts inside out speaks good english as well speaks fantastic english arabic persian turkish you know but you to be able to study under such a person has a major influence on one's life now i i'm sure he wishes that you know the oppressive era of of the ba'ath party in iraq was never there and that he was still there and is able to teach and he's able to continue to spread and disseminate knowledge but you know certain issues dictate that you have to move towards pastures new so to study under someone like that here in london is a huge honor you know to study under other great teachers may Allah bless the soul of of sheikh almi you know he was a brilliant teacher for us in quran sheikh ahmed ba'azi was a brilliant teacher for us in usul al figh so all of these are renowned names in their own area but to be able to study under them i don't care if i'm in london or i'm in in qum while they're here i'm gonna try and get as much as i can from them like i said earlier there is a difference when we're in qum or in najaf next to the you know to that beautiful spiritual surrounding uh in some parts of the day of uh of say the maasouma or imam amir al mu'mineen alayhi salam you know when you hear of the great scholars of najaf and their relationship with imam amir al mu'mineen it was it was really there for us to understand that you know uh that spiritual side gives the illumination to the heart with those books that you are reading uh so if there are western houses now and there are you know in london in in chicago you have a house and other parts of the western world you are seeing houses these are mainly with you know teachers who are brilliant teachers teachers who know their subject and teachers who also will invite you to go on to study in qum and najaf they're stopping you there's no one in these houses who are saying to you you can't go to qum and najaf if you study here on the country they'll tell you if you want to do your further reading your further studying then go towards qum and najaf but here in the west do you think it's difficult to emulate that whole the environment for example um the uniform in the west you're not going to see people wearing a bias in a qabai and and turbans or is it why are you so concerned with uniform you know i can get you rosary beads if you want and i can also get you a a dasha that hasn't been ironed for about six weeks you know these are things which we can make available to you um as well as a abaya if you want that as well but i'm really more concerned with your definitely your akhlaq first and foremost um not that you look like a dervish or something that really doesn't really concern me or that you walk like someone who's a you know uh agnostic or something really doesn't interest me once or whatsoever or that you are a person who's left the dunya therefore you've decided to stink you know even that doesn't interest me what interests me is um in mubahatha how we're both able to support each other discussing different topics but also in in difficult times being there for each other for someone to stand around tell me while walking around and looking at people who are dressed who are dressed in a certain way then that behlual anecdotal example of you know tell them if they want they want me or they want my tasbih and they want my abaya you know which one do you want which one are you more interested in um and how many how many are in the clerical wonderful garb but cover many a dark secret um so you know if you're telling me that that is a hindrance i don't think that's a hindrance um i think definitely if you're on a common naja if there's going to be a lot more people you can have that mubahatha with you know you could go to the haram of imam alayhi alayhi salam at 2am and see people sitting down studying you know uh the great works of someone like let's say sheikh al mubafa you know um but you will not see that in london necessarily that 2am there's going to be a house that's open where people are studying sitting in a in a halaqa for example and start discussing you know say muhammad baqir al sadr's halaqa that may not be there yeah say that it's 2018 can we study islam in terms of like distance learning online youtube seminars and stuff you know the majlis of imam al hussain alayhi salam is it's amazing how much knowledge it has given the followers of ahlul bayt in the last thousand years you know these majlis which were held by mesas mufid and saduq and so on have provided people with phenomenal knowledge and the majlis in different languages in arabic and persian and ordu and turkish and so on and now in the english language have provided people with knowledge now naturally can't say everything about a topic in in in that one hour you know people want you to have a 10 12 minutes on reminder of karbala and then you know any topic requires maybe five or 10 more discussions to look at the other sides of the arguments that you've posited and so on however i think you know learning through youtube that's one way and always try and have a mentor who can verify what you've learned distance learning is now being offered by many houses both here and abroad and i think distance learning is wonderful you know not everybody wants to become maulana x or ayatollah y you know or sheikh z for example people just want knowledge about their history about quran about ethics about law about spirituality and they're looking for a you know in their in their time it's very hard to get free time that you know there may be someone who is a mother to you know four kids and she's trying to find some time to just be able to study a subject nice distance learning goes online spends an hour every week and gains that knowledge i think it's very something that deserves credit deserves you know mention and is to be applauded very praiseworthy act that you're able to sign up so that you spare one hour out of 168 a week to just try and gain closeness to Allah through learning about what ahlul bait have left behind so let's not discount this distance learning because oh if you're going to do distance learning you can never really be a scholar because there's no more bother okay but for some people they just need that relationship to blossom again with the quran or with the ahlul bait aleyma say no about those who are quite academically strong um maybe have some experience what about self-learning would you recommend this or do you think that you know it's best to have a mentor or a teacher i don't think there's anyone out there who didn't have a moment of self-learning but without a doubt you need that specialist in the field who acts as a mentor for you you know in every Islamic science that i have studied and continue to study there's always one expert i have a close relationship with who i can buffer my thoughts or gain knowledge from and proudly say this not i did i wouldn't hide if i say that i gained knowledge from so-and-so or that i call so-and-so to help me when i'm preparing a lecture verify should i include this section or shouldn't i what do you think of this opinion a mentor is fundamental but for someone to discount being self-taught or self-learning because you know there are some people say this person for example they you know they they've just learned these things by themselves okay we're all asked to try and go out there and gain knowledge the only difference or something that i would add is in your local community there are normally very renowned scholars and those renowned scholars try and go and meet them once a month and say listen i've studied the following i'm not sure about the couple of issues i'd be delighted if you could provide me with some guidance or with some advice you know when it came to for example issues uh of of of nahu and sarf you'll study under a teacher but you're also happy to go and discuss whether you've got something right with people or not with different mentors in your life i'd say for example myself if i'm not sure about a certain issue i'm debating the nahu or the sarf or a particular you know this particular sentence i'm not sure particular wording or how the connections work sometimes i may even i discuss it with my mother for example because i know how strong her nahu and sarf is sometimes i discuss it with someone like sheikh ayyub because i know that he's very well trained in nahu and sarf i remember for example when i was at hausa uh sheikh ahmed who was our teacher without necessarily mentioning his surname he he was a fantastic teacher but even when you're studying these mobahat they used to help refresh and i think that's where when you're in naja for a common that environment there's that constant refreshing of those principles again and therefore a mentor if you are away from those environments is fundamental yeah say it now go into naja with that guarantee that i get a very very good education i will come back very very knowledgeable and an ideal leader for my community it's great if you're able to go there already knowing people there or people who were there who you can take advice from as to what do i do when i get there what should i look out for who are the teachers who are still there who are made who i'm able to get private lessons from because sometimes you got the public lessons but there are some teachers who tell you we will also conduct private lessons so i think from one angle there needs to be that due diligence that's done before you go there there are many who went there expecting i think there were some people who went there expecting that they were going to be in jannah in heaven because they hear so much naja of qum or they went on one summer trip with a group of others and it was made to seem like this is the most amazing place you're ever going to see and then you get there and you're like okay um electricity wise there's an issue there that bathroom is about all to fall on me teacher turned up but then this day he didn't turn up those students don't really like me why don't they like me maybe my because of who i follow is different to who they follow this is for some political things as well but if you could overcome these things with the guidance of Allah and hopefully you'll do well inshallah we have a caller inshallah we've tested the system it's working we know for sure it's working inshallah we'll be able to get the question salamu alaykum your name and where you're calling from mashallah your question please for the sake so much for sorting out the phones you know can you can you can you can you say that again let the brother let the brother write in their message until we sort out the phones yeah go ahead i do have some questions actually on the phones as you say that this is a good one here i would like to learn more on quranic tafsir which one do you recommend for me to learn at my own pace at home tafsir of the holy quran wow there's there's some classics but i would say i would say when it comes to the world of tafsir you've either got some classics from the earliest period of the greater occultation like the tabiyan of sheikh al-tosi for example then you've got for example of the recent texts i would say sheikh Muhammad johad mughni as tafsir of the quran as well as abdallah shubhars tafsir of the quran those are two fantastic tafsir of the holy quran i'm not sure if they're translated in the english language many of these tafsir are in the arabic language i don't think i may be wrong i don't think there's a whole tafsir of the holy quran translated into english except an enlightening commentary of the holy quran by faqih imani and enlightening commentary about 20 volumes and enlightening commentary of the holy quran by faqih imani but i would say you know sheikh Muhammad johad mughni as tafsir of the holy quran is an admirable work yeah so in that we have loads of different sciences such which we find really important in today's world politics sociology is there room for this in islam has islam ever discussed anything like political science is there is there room for it in islam or is there room for it in our traditional centers of learning in islam there's definitely room for it in islam if islam is not discussing you know politics and you know and the way a government is run and how it saved gods the interests of people and how it regulates laws within society then it can't be called a way of life um and i think that's where someone like said muhammad bakr sada was uh guiding us towards when he began to discuss you know the political system of the religion of islam the economic system of the religion of islam how society grows in the worldview of the quran uh so i think that that definitely can be in the future a module you know on on islamic political theories i think that needs to be a module definitely in the hausa in the future inshallah say that we have another caller on the line inshallah we take it through salamu alaykum your name and where you're calling from um and we're calling from sweden and our question here is if it's written anywhere in the quran or hadith about the so-called vision from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and what i mean by this is can you take knowledge from vision we have a brother who is through the presence of imams and the prophet in his dreams and we're concentrating on prayer and we also like to thank you for your work with community may Allah hopefully with blessings and making your life thank you very much brother thank you for your question and inshallah Allah give you the tawfiq it's again more knowledge inshallah say no and there are people out there who will will say that they have been illuminated through mukhashafa for example or kesh where there is a particular guidance that's given to them um because of a particular incident or a dream for example that they may have had i know that there are certain scholars who have discussed for example the ability to do an istikhara is very much related to a certain spiritual insight that's being given to certain people you know there are some scholars who say not anyone can do an istikhara for example you know some people today will go on the internet istikhara and then if it comes out yes they'll move on no there's meant to be a spiritual connection and they'll say that there are certain people who have been illuminated the problem with that is it become you go into this very relative zone where two people who claim that they've had a particular vision a spiritual insight a spiritual mystical moment one says that i was illuminated by the prophet muhammad peace be upon him the other says i was illuminated by the prophet muhammad peace be upon his family and they despise each other so we're a bit uncertain hold on a minute is what is going on is the prophet muhammad peace be upon him telling you to to despise each other or are both of you misinterpreting what you've seen or is there not even a vision but you're just trying to sanctify what you're telling the people through claiming to have had these visions and there are many people out there who will who will misguide because they've reached a level of popularity from being able to say these things they'll end up misguiding from those people out there who ended up going towards the world of seeking help from the jinn what does that mean the Quran say bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem kana rajalun mina l-insi ya'uduna bi rajalun mina l-jinni fa zaduhum rahakal the Quran says that there were you know some of the men who used to come towards the jinn seeking help so there are people out there who will actively go seek help from the jinn so that they're able to you know have this spiritual power over people and then there are others no it could be just blatant lies where they you know may have had a particular moment spiritual you know illumination and now they believe that affects every judgment that they make so we'd stay away from such things so I have some questions there from the facebook we have someone here from the usa american convert here one issue I have with reading the Quran is constantly being told that I'm not smart enough to know what it says I'm not a scholar who has spent her entire life studying it therefore I cannot possibly understand any of it it is very disheartening causes me to react in a in a way why bother oh I think Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us that knowing the original meaning and the different layers of meaning behind the verses of the Quran is a knowledge with him and those who he has chosen you know ultimately we need to go back to the you know to the discussions of Ahlul Bayt alayhm as-salam on every ayah of the holy Quran and that's where these books of tafasir are there so don't get you know disheartened by people telling you you can't rather just go out looking for the texts which allow you to understand that particular chapter of the holy Quran yeah saying we have another question coming in and it's in regards to the jurisprudential side of Islam are there any authors or any books that you actually recommend to those who want to study in terms of jurisprudence there's a few scholars who I will say personally that I'm indebted to because of their texts Sheikh once again Muhammad Jawad Mughniyya for his fantastic works on fiqh and usul in my opinion one of the best structured works on the principles of jurisprudence is his work which looks at usul from it you know from this with this wonderful title the thawbil jadeed you know it's a very it's very interesting work to look at and his work looking at the five schools of Islamic law and how they reach their conclusions I would say Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr may Allah bless his soul his fantastic works especially the halakat they really provide you with an analysis of why we need to study principles of jurisprudence and the first volume of the halakat is translated into English being translated twice into English say Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr definitely within the halakat is able to provide us with an understanding of how principles of jurisprudence allow us to understand the process of istinbaat istinbaat in its original meaning is that when you know when you take a water out of a well you know you're going deep to try and find that purity that source that understanding of law I would say as well sheikh abdelhaadi al-Fadli may Allah bless his soul his introductory texts sheikh Muhammad al-Muzaffar his texts in in you know the principles of jurisprudence these are fantastic works when it comes to al-Muzaffar and to when it comes to their fiqh works so I hope that would suffice in terms of in terms of scholar say Hussain al-Mudarrasi as well at Princeton you know his introduction to the you know development and history of Islamic law absolutely phenomenal so those are people I would recommend for sure yeah excellent excellent another question here coming from one of the viewers is that I would like to get involved more into hadith studies is there anything you'd recommend for me that I can delve in in regards to hadith in terms of hadith I would recommend starting off with introduction to hadith studies sheikh abdelhaadi al-Fadli again may Allah bless his soul yeah sheikh abdelhaadi al-Fadli his introductory texts are always concisely written whether it's al-Muzaffar whether it's understanding how hadith studies develops that would definitely be the first area I would delve into my uncle the you know this renowned scholar of naja sheikh baqar al-Irwani his works oh he's your uncle I'm studying his fiqh istedlali at the moment there you go so fiqh istedlali sheikh baqar al-Irwani definitely but not being translated in English has it it has oh no sheikh are you Rashid's teaching me that Arabic he's translating for him he's translating okay okay so you know sheikh baqar al-Irwani's work al-Fiqh al-istedlali as well as his work on the hadith and rajal studies as an introductory text as well as I'm sure he has a work translated into English recently on legal maxims yeah prince yeah yeah as well you know al-Fiqh al-Milani has a work also on principles of jurisprudence so on hadith I would say that definitely starting off with sheikh abdel hadid al-Fatli yeah another question here from the whatsapp salamu alaykum saydamat I'm 18 from Croatia this year inshallah I'm about to study Islamic history in the holy city of Qom I would ask you for some advice about quality spending time and how to get used to the academic system from your experience and your point of view yeah well if you're going there to study history you know I don't think history is seen as a main subject so most probably she's going there to study at a particular institute and you know try as much as possible to see if you could get time to study other subjects while you're there I don't think you only have to focus history I think it's a great opportunity for you to see the development of theology or the development of hadith or the development of law while you're there as well and there are you know brothers and sisters there who have studied in the west and are studying there maybe you can gain some advice from them while you're there as to which institutes or which seminars are held where you are able to also see other subjects that are being studied yeah so we have a question here it's from a sister in Birmingham and she's asking what is the best age to start teaching children Islam maybe we can go into a bit more depth of what should we teach young children who probably let's say eight years old ten years old what should we start you know what should we start teaching them and then you know when is a good age five first seven years you know just let them enjoy the subject you know and then in the second seven there could be a bit more of an understanding of you know the discipline um that's needed for that child's life in the next seven years you know tahara issues and all the issues regarding you know where there is a hkan taklifiya you know because all of a sudden within a couple of years wajib and mustahab and and mubah and makro and haram all start coming into our lives um and so between the age of seven and fourteen there has to be a lot more focus but that focus shouldn't just be legal i think sometimes we teach our children the legal structure so much that they begin to despise studying or learning about islam because all they ever hear are the words haram halal haram halal i think sometimes teaching them anecdotes about the great personalities of the religion of islam or about areas related to their everyday life in that seven to fourteen age range i think has a profound effect for their love of religion what we don't want to do is make our kids feel like what they're studying has nothing to do with their life or what they're studying is done in such a way that doesn't allow them to express themselves yeah excellent another question more should we get those questions in today in recent times we see that centers of research and knowledge creation has shifted from islamic world to the west what are the reasons for this have we failed as muslims or did islam not have a mechanism to sustain knowledge creation well you know at the end of the day when we're looking at at the demographic that's now in the west we needed to build research centers when we establish the imam ali chef or shea studies of the hardford seminaries because there is a demographic of shea living in north america when you're establishing for example islamic college for advanced studies because there is a demographic of shea living here doesn't show that there's a you know it's a negative on on your institutes of research and we have some fantastic institutes of research um in the middle east that shouldn't be discounted just because people don't know about them doesn't mean that they do not exist but to say that there seems to be a lot more learning in the west happening no in the country i think there's a demographic in the west and therefore because of that there are new centers of research and institutes to meet the needs of that demographic and there needs to be more as well so we've had a lot of discussion and we've been talking about different uh books and roots to find knowledge i think it's very important that we discuss for people who are interested in islam and the jafferic thick especially those who want to inquire um where should they start should they look at you know things like theology theological books or el me calama as we say or is there something you could recommend that you know what if you want to get a basic understanding of what shea islam is and and its and its principles and its laws what would you recommend to those people who are inquiring about the religion i think getting those people to meet a scholar in the community is vital because like the sister said who was a revered sister to the religion even when you open some of these books without having that expert next to you you may misunderstand a particular concept so if anyone has a non-muslim friend who wants to learn more about islam either they can be the ones who can answer their questions or they can take them towards an expert in the community alhamdulillah we have a lot of scholars wherever we may be whether if we are living in london or the brothers who are living in sweden or you're living in north america or you're living in australia or in canada we have a number of scholars there try and make an appointment with those scholars and let them have a discussion so i believe we have a caller on the line inshallah we'll be able to get through salamu alaykum rahmatullah your name and where you're calling from where are you from salam we had a calling from sweden mashallah again another question yes thank you we're calling we had a question about the salamu alaykum inshallah they say we'll be able to answer it fire away and we know they have the option to make a sin but they could not to but the question here the fundamental question that we have is what does it say in hadith or the quran thank you very much for your question infallibility hadith in quran well i think if you're looking within the holy quran the clearest ayah for the infallibility the error-free household of the prophet peace be upon him is surah 33 verse number 33 which is known as ayah to tatheer so that's ayah would be from the quran and of course the fact that the holy prophet leaves behind the quran and his ahlul bayt and tells us that if you hold on to them you will never go astray we know the quran is infallible whatever's alongside it has to be infallible and that through rationally we reached the conclusion that those who are appointed by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala are those who are protected from error and those who are following the guidance and protecting the religion on behalf of the holy prophet peace be upon him and his family so if you're looking from the quran then you would go to ayah to tatheer and if you're looking from hadith then you have for example many hadith which we can go into and we have gone into into other shows but i would say you know hadith of thakalain i leave behind for you the quran and my ahlul bayt hold on to them and you will never go astray that means that both of them are infallible sources of guidance for us excellent so we're coming to the end of our show just a final question i wanted to ask you was in regards to our centers here in the west oh are they doing enough to you know spread knowledge and to help others gain knowledge maybe they could act as you know intermediate between the hoses in the in the east and and people here or maybe they can hold their own workshops and lessons in in in london here i think originally when these centers were built a lot of credit has to go to the founding fathers who wanted a place where we could community could come together we could congregate where we could have majalis and so on and i think now we're reaching a stage where two tutorials are vital seminars are vital question answer sessions are vital even a mini hausa for men and women of the community is also vital and i see wonderful work being done in the western world on that front where many of the resident alims are working the hardest and those who maybe are not giving classes on hadith or on history on quran then it's up to the community to go to them and for them to tell them that we would be delighted if you would hold a short course on the quran or a short course on hadith or a short course on islamic law and he as the resident alim of the community with so many years of studies behind him um or her because we need the resident alim as an resident alims um hopefully will provide the guidance in short i feel sometimes that you know the resident alim and muamameen in london sometimes they're a bit reluctant to to you know um teach reluctant to step forward because there is a lot of time and a lot of effort that is required in order to pass on knowledge and sometimes you know it would be i think it's courteous and i think it's very well that if we were to send people to learn from a muamameen that we should pay them if you're going to get your your son or daughter tutored by from someone you'd definitely be you know putting money out your pocket so i think it should be the same i find interesting that you're using you know you're using the word um when we have to go to muamameen so that literally translated to our viewers is we have to go to turbines um you know or those who wear turbines and i think what you're really saying we have to go to those people who are our ulama yes you know again once again it's there's this thing which is it's as if it's part of our nature it's become that you know the dress is fundamental for me is the beard nice and white and does that person look like he's around the seventh century of arabia therefore that person is the one i'll gain knowledge from and i think that what's fundamental for us is to be able to go and sit with them and tell them listen there's about 10 15 of us and we'd be delighted if we can all come sit together and learn from you and i'm sure if they see that passion then i'm sure they're going to be of those who um who are going to be wanting to teach us inshallah yeah final question say now what was your favorite topic in hausa what did you enjoy studying um i would say uh al-mal-usul yeah al-mal-usul wonderful subject um and i can't say it was it continues to be my favorite subject principles of jurisprudence um it really takes you to the core and understanding of law yeah and understanding of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's grace and mercy in the way he has not left a single area without providing us with guidance yeah mine was always a guide yeah interesting final point for the viewers just you know um try and make use of your time you know your spare time before you know it you know make use of your youth before your old age make use of your uh health before illness make use of that wealth that you have before um you are in a state of poverty and try and look for those people of knowledge more important than their knowledge is their wisdom the wisdom that they have thank you so enough for an enlightenful discussion thank you inshallah you'll be joining the same again on the next episode where we'll discuss a new topic and take your questions in live until then salamu alaykum rahmatullahi wabarakatuh