30. THE RESOLVE OF EARLY SCHOLARS
The early scholars’ resolve (himma) was strong (‘aliya), as evidenced by their literature reflecting the fruit of their lives. Much of their books however, were wiped out or lost because the resolve of students grew weaker, so they started requesting summaries of original works and stopped caring for the larger detailed books.
They then confined themselves to what they study thereof, so the books were forgotten and no longer copied. The path for the pursuit of perfection in knowledge (kamil al-‘ilm) is to read the books that remain neglected.
He should also read frequently because he will witness the strength of knowledge {‘ulum al-quwa) and resolve of those people, motivating him and strengthening his own resolve {‘a^ima) for glory, for no book is devoid of benefit (fa’ida).
I seek refuge in Allah from the common ways of those who live amongst us; we cannot find within them the type of resolve the beginner needs to follow or abstinence (wara) of the ascetic {dbid) that benefit.
I urge you to follow the lives of the early scholars, read their books and stories because the more you read from them, the more you will be able to see them. As someone said:
I could not see the lands with my eyes maybe I can see them with my ears
If I may talk about myself, I never get enough of reading; when I see a book I have never seen before, it is as if I have found a treasure. I have looked at the record of the endowed books in the school of madhahib, which contained around six thousand volumes—from the record of Abu Hanlfah, Al-HumaydT; our own Shaikh ‘Abdu’l- Wahhab, Ibn Nasir and Abu Muhammad Al-Khasshab that were many—and any other book I can find.
If I said that I have read twenty thousand volumes, it would be less than the real number. I benefited from them by following the lives of those people and the strength of their resolve (himma), their memorization (worship (‘ibadah) and the wonders (ghara’ib) of their knowledge to a degree that cannot be realised by someone who does not read.
Therefore, I started to disparage the condition of people and belittle the resolve of students, praise be to Allah.
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
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