Another issue that we need to understand as Muslims that are seriously trying to learn our religion, is that of who we go to to gain this understanding. Just like any other field of studies, we generally have in Islam different fields in Islamic Studies. Therefore, when we go to find out about things that we need to know about, it is a must to know how these sciences go together in order to be able to get the best answers possible.
Just as if you had to go to the doctor for an illness, generally you would go to doctor with a general practice. For the most part, as long as it was not too technical and in depth, they will be able to get you what you needed. Yet, there are times when he knows that you need a specialist, or you may know of one directly and you know that this is where their knowledge and experience lies. Then, it only makes sense that you go to them directly. For example, if you are having problems with your heart, you do not go to a skin doctor. If you are having problems with your feet, you do not go to a ear, nose and throat doctor. Rather you go to the one that specializes in that particular field. Well the same goes for specialists that have studied different sciences in the field of Islamic Studies.
Therefore, we need to understand what is the basic makeup of these fields, thus making it easier to seek out the proper type of individual when searching for the information that we need. So, below, there is a list of the major breakdown of the different sciences, making it easy to return to the people of these various types of knowledge to find out the specifics of the situations that we are looking to know.
From these specialties are;
- The Quran and its sciences
- Hadeeth and its sciences
- Aqeedah (The Islamic Belief System) and the related sciences
- Islamic History and its sciences
- Shareeyah (Islamic Jurisprudence) and its sciences
- The Arabic Language and its sciences
We must understand how these studies are broken down, so that we can begin taking knowledge from its proper places. All of you that know me personally know that I constantly give one particular piece of advice – “Take the knowledge from its people”.
