Instruction of the Student – Imam Zarnuji

Burhan al-Din al-Zarnuji (d. 620 AH/1223 CE), a Muslim scholar, is the author of the celebrated pedagogical work Ta’līm al-Muta’allim-Ṭarīq at-Ta’-allum (Instruction of the Student: The Method of Learning). We took the book for our reading sessions. The following summary would be helpful for the ones who have read the text or joined us in the sessions. These bullets can help in reminding what is already learned, this cannot replace a teacher or the text.

Foreword by Hamza Yusuf:

1. Islamic Community is Rooted in Adab.
2. Adab is knowing ones place in hierarchy.
3. Argument for hierarchy
   1. “Are they the same – those who know and those who do not” (39:9).
   2. “I was commanded to treat people according to their stature.” – Prophet (saw)
   3. “You will continue to be healthy as a society as long as you have degrees of excellence, but should you all become the same, you will be destroyed,” said the Prophet (S).
4. Modern Age is the age of Nihilist Levelling
   1. Nihilism is the extreme view that there is no justification for values and in particular no justification for morality.
   2. This leads to refusal to accept preferred values (more so the other worldly ones).
   3. Necessary conclusion is that every position is fine and hence levelling of all.
   4. Soren Kierkegaard’s Criticism in “The Present Age”
      1. Uniting Principle in this age is Envy
      2. Envy leads to levelling
      3. The dialectic of the present age tends towards equality, and its most consequent but false result is levelling.
   5. Naquib al Attas’ Criticism in Islam and Secularism
      1. Loss of adab is the basic problem of this Ummah
      2. I am here referring to the loss of discipline — the discipline of body, mind, and soul; the discipline that assures the recognition and acknowledgement of one’s proper place in relation to one’s self, society and Community; the recognition and acknowledgement of one’s proper place in relation to one’s physical. intellectual, and spiritual capacities and potentials; the recognition and acknowledgement of the fact that knowledge and being are ordered hierarchically.
      3. Loss of adab is loss of justice
         1. Confusion and error in knowledge, creating the condition for:
         2. The loss of adab within the Community. The condition arising out of, 1 and 2 is:
         3. The rise of leaders who are not qualified for valid leadership of the Muslim Community, who do not possess the high moral, intellectual and spiritual standards required for Islamic leadership, who perpetuate the condition in 1 above and ensure the continued control of the affairs of the Community by leaders like them who dominate in all fields.
      4. Legitimate Hierarchy is denied due to envy.
5. Ignorance is a permanent status if adab is lost.

Chapter 1: Nature and Merit of Knowledge

1. Incumbent on everyone to seek knowledge.
   1. Meritorious knowledge is in keeping with one’s standing.
   2. Farz Kifaya is collective obligation of Ummah, it becomes farz ayn in some circumstances
   3. Knowledge of things that affect a person in all the circumstances hold a position like that of food.
2. Since one must perform Prayers, he must know enough about the Prayer ritual that will help him acquit himself of his obligation. Knowledge of religious obligations is likewise incumbent upon him, for whatever leads to the fulfilment of a duty is itself a duty and what leads to the establishment of an obligation is itself an obligation.
3. Purpose of learning is to act by it. Purpose of acting is to find what lasts forever.

Chapter 2: The Purpose of Study

1. Why important?
   1. Deeds are measured by intention.
   2. One must intend [with knowledge] to being thankful [to God] for a healthy mind and a sound body; one should not, however, [intend] to attract people toward himself, or reap the vanities of the world, or obtain honors from the kind, and the like.
2. Purpose:
   1. Pleasure of God.
   2. The abode of hereafter.
   3. Removal of ignorance.
   4. Revival of religion
   5. Survival of Islam (which depends on knowledge).

Chapter 3: The Choices of Learning

1. It is necessary to choose among the branches of learning those that are the most beneficial to oneself.
2. One should [also] select what is essential according to the stage one has reached in his religious development.
3. One should] choose what will be essential to one in the future.
4. Choose established traditions before new things, avoiding new things.
5. Choice of a teacher, it is important to select the most learned, the most pious, and the most advanced in years.
6. Seek counsel: A man is one who is of sound judgment and consults [others]. A half man is one who is of sound judgment but does not seek advice, or seeks advice but is not of sound judgment. One who is nothing is a person who is neither sound in judgment nor one who seeks advice.
7. Do not hasten to select your teacher.
8. Be strong in abstaining from what one’s soul and desires bid one to do.
9. As to the selection of one’s companions, it is necessary to choose one who is diligent, religious, and gifted with good character and understanding; and flee from one who is indolent and negligent, verbose, corrupt, and a troublemaker.

Chapter 4: Respect Knowledge and Those Who Possess It

1. Know that in the pursuit of knowledge, one does not acquire learning nor profit from it unless one holds knowledge in esteem and those who possess it.
2. respect is preferable to obedience, for you do not perceive a man becoming an unbeliever through his rebellion [against God’s revelation], but by [his] mocking of it and by discarding reverence [for it].
3. In venerating the teacher, avoid walking in front of him and sitting in his place. And do not speak to any great extent before him without his permission. One should not ask him any [question] when he is weary. One should observe the correct time and refrain from knocking on [his] door, but have patience until [the teacher] comes out. In short, one should seek his approval, avoid his resentment, and obey his commands in those things which are not sinful in the eyes of God. Revering the teacher includes respecting the teacher’s children and those related to him.
4. Respect the book by approaching it in a state of purity. learning is light and purification is light; thus the light of learning is increased by [purification]. not to stretch out one’s foot toward the Book; to place books of [Quran] interpretation above other books; and not to place anything else above the Book. duty to write the Book beautifully and not in a cramped style, and not to leave notes in the margin except when it cannot be helped.
5. Veneration of learning includes veneration of one’s companions in the quest for knowledge and of one’s fellow [students] during a lecture session.
6. It is essential to listen to [words of] knowledge and wisdom with reverence and veneration, even if one hears the same question and same words a thousand times

CHAPTER 5: Earnestness, Perseverance, and Assiduity

1. Those who have earnestly striven in Our cause, we shall surely guide them to Our ways (29:69).
2. Diminish your food in order to maintain a vigil.
3. Study and repetition, both at the beginning of the night and at its end, for the time between dusk and the hour of dawn is a blessed time.
4. Make use of the days of early youth for verily the period of youth does not remain with you.
5. temperance in this respect, for moderation is one great source of all success.
6. The chief aids in the acquisition of things are industriousness and high ambition.
7. Let go of laziness and slovenly ways
8. The joys of knowledge, learning, and insight are sufficient incentive for intelligent men to acquire knowledge.

CHAPTER 6: The Beginning of Study, Its Amount, and Its Organization

1. Imam Yusuf al-Hamadani undertook all his best work on Wednesdays. [He did] this because Wednesday is the day in which light was created and it is a day injurious to the ways of the disbeliever, though it is a providential day for the believer.”
2. Learning is [worth] one letter, while repetition is [worth] a thousand letters.
3. It is necessary to begin [one’s study] with matters that are more readily understood. Begin with a few subjects of broad content because these are more readily understood and retained.
4. Write down an extract [of the material] after memorizing it and then repeat it often, for this [method] is indeed profitable. But the student should not write anything unless it is fully understood, for [writing down of undigested matter] blunts the character, ravages intelligence, and wastes time.
5. It is important that the student exert himself strenuously to understand what he is offered by the teacher, applying intelligence, reflection, and much repetition.
6. It is said that memorizing two letters is better than listening to two loads [of books]; moreover, comprehending two letters is better than memorizing two such loads. But if comprehension bypasses one and he does not exert oneself [to repeat the lesson at least] one or two times [to learn it], one [becomes vulnerable to] getting accustomed to this [negligence], such that even an easy lesson will not be comprehended.
7. discussion, debate, and inquiry. It is [also] essential that [one do these things] with fairness, circumspection, and deliberation. One must fortify himself against altercation and anger. [It is true that] discussion and argument are [a kind of] consultation; and consultation aims at establishing he truth. This, however, is attained only through circumspection, the avoidance of violent dispute, and fairness – not through hostility and anger. For [argument and discussion] aimed at forcing [one’s views upon another] and crushing an opponent are illicit.
8. The usefulness of posing and discussing questions is greater than the usefulness of mere repetition, since in [discussing questions] there is repetition and an additional element. It is said that posing questions for an hour is better than a month of repetition; but this holds good only when the discussion is carried on with someone who has a just and candid nature.
9. Only by reflection can subtle problems be solved.
10. First principle of intelligence is practicing discourse with consideration and circumspection.
11. “I recommend to you five things when composing your discourse – that is, if you are obedient to a well-meaning advisor. Do not neglect the purpose of the discourse, its time, its quality, its quantity, and its place.”
12. Know the limit of Knowledge: For human reasoning does not encompass everything in all respects, just as vision does not reveal all things to the sight.
13. Take no intermissions and if you do then don’t stop discussions. “Indeed, this trade of [scholarship] goes on from cradle to grave; so he who wishes to refrain from this pursuit of knowledge for even one hour, might as well leave it entirely this very hour.”

CHAPTER 7: Relying On God

1. He who occupies himself with matters of sustenance, such as food and clothing, is not yet free enough for the acquisition of noble traits and elevated matters, [like knowledge and scholarship].

CHAPTER 8: The Time for the Acquisition of Knowledge

1. The best period [in life for study] is at the beginning of adolescence. [The best period of the day] is the time of dawn and that between the setting of the sun and the first Prayer vigil of the nights. It is necessary to fully immerse oneself in the study of knowledge at all times. But if one becomes over-fatigued by a given discipline, then he should move on to another.

CHAPTER 9: Helpfulness and Good Advice

1. A person of knowledge must be sympathetic and helpful rather than jealous, for envy is injurious and devoid of benefit.
2. It is necessary not to enter into a litigation with anyone nor have an altercation with him, for this is time consuming.
3. Prophet] (S), “Think well of believers.” Indeed, [evil thinking] springs from malignity of intent and wickedness of the character.

CHAPTER 10: Useful Means for the Attainment of Knowledge

1. Seek knowledge at all times and note down whenever you hear anything valuable.
2. commit to memory a moderate amount of knowledge and wisdom every day, such that it will grow and become significant in a short period of time.
3. Learn from everyone you can.
4. knowledge is nobility without debasement. But no one reaches it except through debasement, in which there is no nobility.

CHAPTER 11: Abstinence During The Pursuit Of Learning

1. “He who does not exert abstinence while learning, God the Almighty chastises [him] in one of three ways: either he deprives him of life in his youth or exiles him into [far-off] regions, or punishes him [by forcing him to enter] the service of the Sultan.”
2. Abstinence is to guard against satiety [from hunger], much sleep, and abundant talk about useless matters. One must also beware of eating food in the marketplace
3. You must be on guard against slander and keeping company with the talkative, proximity leaves traces.
4. Do not neglect [both] the etiquette [adab] and the practice of the Prophet (S), for whoever is negligent of the etiquette is likewise deprived of the practice of the Prophet (S); and he who neglects the practice of the Prophet (S) is deprived of the fulfillment of his legal obligations. Moreover, he who is deprived of the fulfillment of his legal obligations is denied [goodness] in the Hereafter.
5. Keep a book with you always.

CHAPTER 12: Memory and Forgetfulness

1. The most influential factors in [strengthening] memory are industriousness and commitment. Reducing one’s consumption, [increasing] Prayer at night, and reading the Quran are also factors for [improving] one’s memory.
2. Memory is a favor from God. A favor of God is not given to he who sins.
3. Those things that bring about forgetfulness are wrongdoing, committing many sins, harboring worries and anxiety over worldly matters, and being distracted by many occupations and attachments.

CHAPTER 13: One’s Livelihood and One’s Life

1. The student of learning must have sustenance and have knowledge of those things which increase it.
2. The Messenger of God (S) said, “The decrees of God are not averted except by supplication, and your span of life is not augmented except through piety. For a man is deprived of sustenance because of a sin he has committed.”
3. This statement establishes for certain that the perpetration of sin is the cause of sustenance deprivation, especially in the case of telling lies which brings about poverty.
4. Sleep in the morning cuts off sustenance. In fact, an overabundance of sleep brings about poverty and a dearth of learning as well.
5. Certain prayers for different times (Duha for example).
6. Increase in the span of life is further owed to piety and to leaving off what brings about harm. One should also venerate the elders and stand by one’s kin.
7. One should beware of cutting down green trees unless it is necessary. One should also perform ablution thoroughly and perform Prayer with heartfelt glorification [of God]. One should also read the Quran and go to both Hajj and Umra, [the major and lesser Pilgrimages to Makkah]. One should [also] preserve good relations with one’s fellowmen.