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Thirdly: Hadeeth

The first thing the student of knowledge should begin memorising is the ‘Forty Hadeeth’ by Imaam an-Nawawee (rahimahullaah), and I am almost positive that if I asked those who are present now, how many of you have memorised the ‘Forty Hadeeth’ by Imaam an-Nawawee most of you would say no, but yet most of the students have moved on to more extensive and comprehensive books like ‘Nayl al-Awtar’ or ‘Subul as-Salaam’ or ‘Fath al-Bari,’ but the ‘Forty Hadeeth’ by Imaam an-Nawawee is the foundation.
Go back to those books which concentrate on the biographies of the later day scholars and read their biographies, you will not find that anyone of them began seeking knowledge by reading the more extensive and lengthy works of hadeeth.

For example you will not find that any of scholars from the Salaf began seeking knowledge by reading ‘Fath al-Bari’ or ‘Majmoo’ [of Imaam an Nawawee], but you will find that he memorised the ‘Forty Hadeeth’ by Imaam an-Nawawee, ‘Al-Mulhah’ in the Arabic grammar, ‘Al-Umdah’ in fiqh and ‘Umdaht al-Ahkam.’ These are the concise books that he will mention that he memorised, but why? Because of two reasons:

The first: To show you the correct methodology of studying and seeking knowledge

The second: To show you the degree and level of that scholar and that his knowledge was firmly embedded and foundational due to the fact that he began with these concise works, memorised them studied them with the scholars of his time and did not precede until they were understood. The detailed issues contained in these books can only be grasped after you are firmly grounded in the fundamental principles of hadeeth.

So in the field of hadeeth the student should begin with memorising the ‘Forty Hadeeth’ by Imaam an-Nawawee, and memorising it is imperative, but if you find difficulty in doing so then you should read it everyday until it becomes easy for you to memorise just as you memorised Surah al-Fatihah, and complete it every week and every time you complete it your understanding of it will increase.

After memorising the ‘Forty Hadeeth’ you should read one of the explanations of it and if you can read it to one of the scholars then this is what is recommended and if not then you should read it and familiarise yourself with the explanation of those hadeeth and ask the scholars if there is any discrepancies about anything.

The most extensive explanation of the ‘Forty Hadeeth’ is by Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali al-Haafidh (rahimahullaah) [Jaami’ al-Uloom wal-Hikam] and the more concise explanation of it is by Ibn Daqeeq al-‘Eed (rahimahullaah) and there are many other explanations. So read the explanation of these ahaadeeth, for example, when you finish reading the explanation of the hadeeth: “Indeed actions are by intentions…”

[The first hadeeth in the ‘Forty Hadeeth’ by Imaam an Nawawee on the authority of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (radee Allaahu ‘anhu] close the book and begin to explain the hadeeth in light of what you read from its explanation and this will benefit you tremendously especially if you want to give some sort of admonition or reminder in the masjid.

Due to the fact that you have memorised and understood the explanation of the ‘Forty Hadeeth’ you have the ability to choose any hadeeth and begin with its explanation and this will be extremely beneficial, or you might be needed to do a khutbah on jumu’ah. There may be a masjid where many students of knowledge frequent and each one points to the other when it comes time to give the khutbah.

It is extremely important for the student of knowledge to always be prepared wherever he may be, and the least amount of preparation is to have a few verses from the Qur’aan memorised which are particular to the issues of fiqh or otherwise along with the tafseer of those verses, for example, Surah al-’Asr and its tafseer, Surah al-Ikhlaas or other than this or the ‘Forty Hadeeth’ by Imaam an Nawawee along with its explanation.

It is extremely important for the student to have this type of foundation which will assist him in his search for knowledge by the permission of Allaah. After this he should move on to ‘Umdaht al-Ahkam fil-Hadeeth’ and after that he should move on to ‘Bulugh al Maram’ and if he notices within himself that he has the ability and wants to move directly to memorising ‘Bulugh al-Maram’ then there is no problem with this and if not then he should begin with what we mentioned previously.

There is nothing wrong with the student reading the other compilations of the Sunnah like Saheeh al-Bukhaaree, Saheeh Muslim and others, but the student of knowledge should not begin initially with reading these books especially if he is not grounded in the fundamental principles of fiqh, as these books contain many hadeeth you may come across and you don’t understand their meanings and it is possible that some of these hadeeth may have some sort of apparent inconsistency between them or entail some detailed fiqh related issues which may cause some difficulty or confusion for you.