Sheikh Abdel-Nasser Saleh
Assalamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh
All praise and gratitude are due to Allah SWT. May the blessings and peace of Allah SWT be upon His Messenger PBUH.
There are two types of people who learn Islam:
1. Someone who is learning for himself, in order to know how to worship Allah SWT in the correct manner, and not for the purpose of teaching others.2. Someone who is learning to be an accredited student, or one who is also learning in order to also teach others.
For the first, the best way to learn is to stick to a reputable and reliable Imam or teacher (such as in a halaqa group) and to learn from them. The person seeking knowledge can also refer to Islamic books on topics such as prayer, with the condition that they refer to a person of knowledge where they have doubts or cannot understand the information they read. Allah SWT specifically says in the Qur’an: “Ask the followers of the Remembrance if ye know not!” [Qur’an 16:43]. In any event, this person is not considered a student of knowledge.
As for the second type of learner, the most reliable route to be considered a student of knowledge is to be enrolled in a professional Islamic Studies or Shari’ah course at any reliable Islamic university or institution, such as Al-Azhar University or the Islamic University of Madinah. This could even be an online course considering current COVID-19 travel restrictions, as this would still provide the student with a certificate or ijaza, allowing them to teach Islam. These universities specialise in the Islamic sciences, such as tafsir, Qur’an, hadith, usool-ul-fiqh, aqeedah, da’wah, and so on. Whoever learns Islam this way would be able to understand the different views of the scholars (especially if they have studied usool-ul-fiqh) and how they use Islamic evidence, giving the student the ability to determine which view is preferable.
And Allah knows best.