Sheikh Al-Dado, speaking about his life: My mother memorized poetry and my father memorized the Qur’an, and my grandfather taught me 48 sciences and our center for the formation of encyclopedic scholars

When we asked him about the totality of what he studied in “Al-Mahdhara” (= the Arab Islamic National Education Institution in Chinguetti / Mauritania);

He answered us that he studied 48 sciences of knowledge dynasties that represent the original and sober construction of the Arab-Islamic culture.

The basis of this achievement was the faculty of strong memorization and interaction with the tools of interpretation and deduction;

Thus, memorization was not the goal alone, but rather the supreme goal is the interactive process between assimilation and the text, which revolves in the mind and conscience of the student “Al-Mahdari”.

Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hassan Al-Dado Al-Shanqeeti - head of the Center for the Training of Scholars in Mauritania - represents a standard model for this type of Arab civilized education, which the country of Chinguetti derived from many tributaries, most notably the tributary of the knowledge heritage of Andalusia. The contemplator of Sheikh Al-Dado’s speech easily penetrates a strong sense of the difference in composition that he obtained from his counterpart among his contemporaries among scholars in other countries, as the legal, literary and historical texts descend upon him, flowing smoothly, with control and flow in his hands.

Our dialogue with Sheikh Al-Dado is not only about the nature of his knowledge and comprehension, but about the mechanism and how he qualified in order to achieve this encyclopedic model of knowledge for him. For thinkers and scholars of Islam throughout the centuries, where knowledge represents a single whole, overlapping in influence, independent of specialization, pulling each other together, and never losing sight of the mind and mind of its owner!

The Sheikh told us about his childhood, where he was settled by the women of his family in language, poetry, biography and upbringing, which made him qualified for the world of “Al-Mahadhra”; Yes, it is a life of knowledge interspersed with living, where the student enters his faculties in a knowledge environment that begins before dawn and does not end until a large part of the night has passed. In this “forbidden” environment; The texts accumulate over the texts without the knowledge crowding out each other, and in it a special emotional relationship is established that connects the student with the triple achievement: the sheikh, the book, and fellow students. The Sheikh hesitated a lot in agreeing to talk about himself and his experience, but he agreed - after our insistence - when it was necessary to document his important and inspiring experience in dealing with heritage as a study and teaching.

• I have this hadith. I assure that my life is not pleasing to it and it is not a subject of emulation, and it is not mentioned in this field because I am weak in receptivity and weak in knowledge, then the beginning of my life is what I mention from it only, so what I do not count from my life in relation to study. Here, I remember one day - when I am about the end of the fifth year of my life - that one of the relatives - who was two years older than me - was written to him in the "Al-Lawh" (= a wooden board on which the students write their lessons) the beginning of the letters of the spell, and I became jealous of him and cried, so one of the women gave me a tablet that was written I had the letters of the spelling in it, and my aunt taught them to me in a short period, then I started reading the Qur’an with the narration of Warsh (d. 197 AH/812 AD) on the authority of Nafeh al-Madani (d. 170 AH / 785AD) and completed its memorization at the end of my seventh year.

At that time, it was the custom of our people that young children start their education with a Bedouin program called “Tamayouz al-Mami” in relation to its creator, the scholar Muhammad al-Mami al-Shanqiti (d. 1292 AH / 1876 AD), and for them “distinction” means the child’s ability to differentiate between parts of speech: noun, verb and letter. This "Mamy's Distinction" program is about teaching the Arabic language to children in a way that suits their age level and the perceptions of their minds. It is taught to them by mothers, and the time when they receive this program is between sunset and dinner.

One of the models of this program is that the mother reads a line of poetry - or a Quranic verse or a prophetic hadith - to the children, so they memorize it, then she begins to ask them about the different meanings it contains. 1295 AD):

The eye may deny sunlight from conjunctivitis ** and the mouth may deny the taste of water from

sickness. The mother asks her children questions, and whenever they answer one of them, she asks them the next until the end of the educational lesson. So, for example, you ask them about the word “may” mentioned in the previous verse: What is its “distinction”… Is it a noun, verb, or letter? Is it Arabized or constructed? On what is it based: is it on stillness or movement? Then the mother asks them about the meaning of the letter "may" and teaches them that it has three meanings (reduction, approximation and verification), then she asks them about his work grammatically.

Then the mother skips the letter “may” to the word after it in the preceding line, which is “denier”; So you ask them: Is it a noun, a verb, or a letter? They say, for example: “Act.” So you ask them: What are the three types of action? Is it a verb or a verb? And what is his expression? What is his sign? Then the mother asks about the origin of the subject of this verb “to deny”, and about the number of vocabulary words that consist of the possibilities of the combination of its letters (which are six: karn - rak - karn - kanar - ranak), and she asks them about the meaning of each word and whether it is neglected or used. .

This is a summary of some of what is going on in the night lesson for children. Sometimes the children answer rightly and sometimes wrongly, and their mother corrects them for what they did wrong.

I still remember that my mother - may God preserve her - threw a house for us when we were young, and this is what the poet said:

I think a quarter of those who are poor have disagreed with you ** and you did not care about the words of the poor!

So I “distinguished” the house, so I said: “Chatak” is a past tense verb with a hidden pronoun and its passive verb, so my sisters laughed at me because I made a mistake because the word “chagak” is an additive and not a verb;

I still remember crying because I was affected by their laughter from my mistake!

At this age, children learn some books dedicated to this stage, and we have studied the “Ajurum” system in the principles of grammar, and I do not remember now whether we memorized them written on wooden boards or on paper.

Then we studied "Mukhtasar Al-Akhdari" in jurisprudence, whose author began it with some general principles and values ​​in Islam, then mentioned the provisions of purity and prayer in it.

Stories and Poems

During this period, children also learn about the life of the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, and his companions by listening to biographical stories from their mothers; Every night they hear a story, and some of the stories are so long that they cannot be accommodated by a single story, so they are divided between two nights, during which the mothers get used to the “situations,” meaning that stopping while telling the story of the Battle of Badr (2 AH/624 AD), for example, is at the situation like this; There is a situation when al-Nadr ibn al-Harith and Uqbah ibn Abi Muait were killed, and a situation when the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, arrived at al-Ruha’ (= a place near Medina on the road to Mecca), and thus the positions are known.

These stories are told by mothers in the Hassaniya dialect prevalent in Mauritania, and through them the children learn the names of the characters (men and women) and their lineage;

One of my uncles asked me - when I was young: Do you know Abdullah bin Omar (d. 73 AH / 693 AD)?

I said: Yes, he came to us before that!

Because I imagined that he had come to us as a guest, as we were young and we know that he was nicknamed Abu Abd al-Rahman.

Then we know that his mother is Zainab bint Mazoon Al-Jamhiya and we count her lineage until he met his father Omar, and that his father’s mother is Hantama bint Hashem bin Al-Mughirah bin Abdullah bin Omar bin Makhzoom, and this is where she met his father.

We know that his father immigrated with him when he was young, and that he reached the third year of the Hijrah when he was fourteen years old.. to the latest information about him, and we have become so accustomed to it that we know Abdullah bin Omar in his shape and form, and this is how children learn about all the Companions with these stories.

Moreover, these stories contain poems, and these poems are also obligatory for children to memorize them, whether they are from the poems of Hassan bin Thabit (d. 54 AH / 673 AD) in the Battle of Badr or in the Battle of Uhud (3 AH / 625 AD), for example, his famous poem that begins with: He

prevented sleep with dinner Concerns ** and imagination when the stars

fall, and his poem in the conquest of Makkah: the

same fingers are chaste, so the atmosphere ** to a virgin whose house is empty,

as well as the poems of Ka’b bin Malik (d. Al-Zabari (d. about 15 AH / 636 AD) and Dirar ibn al-Khattab (d. 13 AH / 634 AD) Quraish. The children’s outcome consists of the biography of the Prophet with these stories, then he learns about the stories of the prophets, peace be upon them, contained in the Holy Qur’an, and I remember that we used to cry a lot when hearing the story of Joseph, peace be upon him, and other stories, and it affected us greatly when we were young.

During this period, children also begin to memorize and study some creedal abbreviations, and the annual and weekly vacations are used to review what they have memorized from the Qur’an.

In this program, it is usually the beginnings of getting to know poetry, especially pre-Islamic poetry, and among its decisions at the time: the poem “Lamiyyat al-Arab” by al-Shanfari (d. about 525 AD) and the debts of the six pre-Islamic poets, and some pre-Islamic elegies such as the lamentations of the poet al-Khansa (d. 24 AH / 644 AD) for her brother Sakhr, The epitaph of al-Asha (died 7 AH/629AD) by al-Muntasher ibn Wahb al-Bahili. Then, after the children memorize the poetry of the six poets - which is about two thousand verses!! - they begin to memorize the poems of some Islamic poets, such as the poetry of Hassan bin Thabet in other than the invasions, such as his poem in praise of the Ghassanids in the Jaffna family and his mimetic poem in the king of the Ghassanids Jableh bin Al-Ayham (d. 54 AH / 676 AD). At such an age, children may have local poems attached to some Mauritanians, as happened to me, whether they are the new poetry created by contemporary poets of the time of the child or the poetry of those who preceded them.

That is why I used to narrate the poems of my grandfather to my mother, the scholar Muhammad Ali bin Abdul-Wadud (d. 1402 AH / 1981 AD), all in my boyhood, and a story happened to me with him - after this period, of course - when we went in condolence to the family of one of his colleagues, so the sheikh - and we during the trip He composes a poem to eulogize his deceased colleague, and he was in the car dictating a house to me and saying to me: Memorize this, then create another.. And so, when we came to the village of the deceased and our greetings ended, he said to me: O Muhammad al-Hasan, sing the poem that I dictated to you!

It was very embarrassing for me, so I sang the poem because I kept it in the car, which is more than twenty verses.

A golden trilogy

• Of course, these are inevitable matters, as they are not complementary, rather they are indispensable conditions.

  For the sheikh can not a

  person to learn without, therefore, the father of

  Hayan Andalusian (d 745 AH / 1345 AD) says ,

  among other

  verses:

  
  

  If you

  threw away science without Sheikh ** astray from the

  right path

  
  

  and confused things you up ** become more

  astray from the

  "Thomas" wise

And the Sheikh’s condition for this is clear in the legal texts. When the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, began to descend upon him, he sent Gabriel to him, and Moses, peace be upon him, said to Al-Khidr, peace be upon him: {Shall I follow you to teach from what he taught};

The Sheikh, then, is an inevitable condition, and the Sheikh must be a mentor, experienced, and knowledgeable.

Then the book comes and it is the companion of the path for the learner, as he is his second sheikh, and he is his mainstay in memorizing it, because whatever memory is shortened or shortened, he will find it in the book, and that is why scholars used to count books as elders. And books must have diversity; Some of them are books for study, and they are the books of texts that are taught to us in the “Al-Mahadhar” or decided by the sheikhs for people to study and memorize behind the scenes. Some of it is taken from reading only.

Then come the books that are dedicated to reading, and these are not for prohibitive decisions, but are for reading only, and reading is not indispensable, rather a person must get used to it, even if it was for newspapers and magazines. Likewise, many books that are for reading in the first place are not intended to be explained because they are explanations in their own right, or footnotes to explanations, or they are intellectual books.

The strange thing is that this reading occupied people’s minds and took their time, so a person forgets food and drink with it. In fact, sometimes he forgets prayer if he immerses himself in reading a book and gets into a topic that he wants to complete and does not feel anything around him, for we used to love books very much.

I remember that one day I was reading a book for the first time I saw it, which is “The Admirer in Summarizing the News of Morocco” by the historian Muhyi al-Din al-Marrakshi (d. 647 AH / 1249 AD), and I entered into the history of the Almohad state and plunged into it - while I was in the desert - and I felt nothing but darkness between me and him, and I What did you pray Morocco yet?

As well as books of literature, poetry and stories, these are things that people like to read and books, and many children used to sleep on their books holding them on their chests while they were on their mattresses, and I used to - when I was young - had severe nosebleeds during reading and I did not feel it until it reached the book, so we now have a number From books on their pages blood because of this nosebleed!

After the sheikh and the book comes the issue of the competing colleague, and this is also one of the essential principles of seeking knowledge; After a person leaves his first school, the mother’s school in which he memorizes the Qur’an and the small books, which she or those with her from the women who entrust them with this matter explain to him; The student goes to adult teaching circles, and the first thing he is looking for is the colleague who will pull his hand and compete with him, and this competition is very important for the person to discover himself and his deficiency and to evaluate his memory. My

hostility to them is a favor upon me and a favor ** So, the Most Merciful is not far from me the hostile!

They searched for my slip and I feared it ** They competed with me, so I gained the sublime!

Therefore, man needs someone who competes with him and lives with him a life of demand, so that he tastes these sciences with him and reviews their explanations with him, and competes with him in reading, memorizing and studying, and in improving handwriting because the lines were not taught to us in the “Al-Mahazar” and people were used to competition in the lines and their mastery, especially that There were no printing presses in our country, and books were mostly manuscripts, and many books were originally required for a student of knowledge to write them for himself, so that he does not rely on his father having a copy of them!

Sometimes we find that some mothers used to write about her son, so she would say to him: You are free to save and compete, and I am writing to you what all your colleagues write!

We now have about 41 volumes in my grandmother’s handwriting, and the main goal was for her to devote her children to educational attainment, and among the books that we have in her handwriting is a jurisprudential book entitled: “Tmani al-Durar fi Sharh al-Mukhtasar” by the scholar Abd al-Qadir bin Muhammad al-Majlisi al-Shanqiti (d. 1337 AH / 1918 AD). It is in seven manuscript volumes, and had it been printed, it would have been in twenty-one volumes!!

Charged program

• After I studied with the mothers: the mother, grandmother, maternal aunt, paternal aunt, and my aunt, I directly, these women are my first elders;

  I took from my father the readings and the licensing in them and the primary sciences of the Qur’an (drawing, tuning, intonation and the letters’ exits), and Nafi’’s reading by completing it with the permission according to the narration of Issa bin Mina al-Masri known as Baqalun (d. 220 AH/835 AD).

Then I devoted myself to studying for my grandfather, the scholar Muhammad Ali, so I stayed with him for nine years, and I read to him the nine books of hadith, and also fifty-eight books on grammar and morphology, and a large number of books on the jurisprudence of the Maliki school and other schools of thought, such as “Al-Mughni” by Ibn Qudamah Al-Maqdisi (d. 620 AH / 1223 AD). And I heard from him “Al Shifa” by Judge Ayyad (d. 544 AH / 1150 AD) thirteen times, and “Fath Al-Bari” by Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH / 1448 AD) in full five times, and the interpretation of Al-Qurtubi (d. 671 AH / 1272 AD) we read it six times, and it was These readings are held in scientific councils outside the time allotted to explain the scientific texts.

As for my grandfather’s method of teaching, it is well known.

He was analyzing the words of the text, linguistically and idiomatically, with the utmost accuracy and detail, and then after he finished the lesson he would return to him by inference and rooting for each part in it.

* Was there an arrangement for the arts in the teaching council?

How was your sheikh's daily program?

• There must be an arrangement for textbooks because the "Mahadr" is very rare in which one student studies two technicians at a time. But Sheikh my grandfather sometimes went above and beyond to us; For example, in the morning I used to study with the students, and at night the Sheikh would choose another book for me in addition to that in addition to the books on listening.

As for the Sheikh's daily program; We did not know when he would wake up, but he would wake us up in the last sixth of the night (= approximately four at night) for the remembrances, ablution, miswak, and preparing for prayer. His place is until the sun rises, and he prays two rak’ahs, then returns home and finds that the students have taken their places. The students in “Al Muharra” are divided into two parts: individual and “dawla,” and “dawla” is the plural of “dawla,” which in their terminology is meant by a group of students studying one book in common with them. And singular is said to a person who studies a book alone, and usually the sheikh begins to teach “countries” before individuals, unless one of them has an excuse that merits submission, such as travel or illness.

The Sheikh did not arrange the “countries” according to arts, but according to priority, so the first to attend would be the first to teach, and there is a person charged with writing the attendees according to their precedence, and the list is in the hands of the Sheikh, so he presents the first and the first. And when the Sheikh begins his teaching, he does not get up from his session except for the noon prayer, and most likely the lessons have included most of the arts and come to all those present. If he prays, he receives in the mosque the guests, the petitioners and the people with needs, then he returns home to rest a little, then wakes up to call the afternoon prayer.

After the afternoon prayer, the time of the holiday begins, which is for the students to read to the sheikh what they will memorize, so he corrects it for them. After the students have finished their vacation; The Sheikh begins his daily response from the Qur’an, and he recites a quarter of the Qur’an every day. Then he begins the reading lesson, which the students usually do not attend, but only the people of the Sheikh’s household and a few individuals attend. It is what I mentioned that we read the previous books of interpretation and explanations of hadith and the like.

As for the Sheikh’s night programme, it is devoted to teaching women, where they meet after the evening prayer and are like students during the day. Mauritanian historian, Al-Mukhtar bin Hamid (d. 1413 AH / 1993 AD) studying women in my grandfather’s council by saying from a piece of poetry:

The women gather every night ** after they prayed in the congregation

behind the deadly of ignorance, the

reviver of the

Sunnah ** blessed *

The

rank of

those who preach high * very good and wise

Takween Makin

• I studied in the forty-eight flags, which are strains;

  In the science of the Qur’an we study the science of intonation, drawing, control, interpretation, interpretation of the verses of the rulings, the layers of the interpreters, the readings and the sciences of the Qur’an.

In the sciences of jurisprudence, we study doctrinal jurisprudence, comparative jurisprudence, judgements and calamities, the science of statutes (= inheritance), legal ethics, jurisprudence, jurisprudence, the graduation of branches on assets, the science of analogies and analogies, the science of differences and exceptions, jurisprudential controversy, and the translations of jurists in various sects.

In linguistics, we study vocabulary, poetry, grammar, morphology, and rhetoric with its three sciences, prosody and rhymes with the practice of loan poetry, the three sciences of derivation, and philology, recently known as linguistics.

In the sciences of the novel, we study the biography, genealogy, Islamic history, general history, the conquest of the regions, and the history of civilization.

In the mental sciences, we study theology, logic, philosophy and theological debate.

In the sciences of education, we study mysticism, behavior, and the sciences of literature: the etiquette of travel, urbanization, demand, and the etiquette of companionship.

In the "Scholars Training Center" that we established in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, we added other courses to these sciences, so they became sixty-three sciences!!

* What are the most important decisions of the educational curriculum that formed the scholars who had a wide scientific resonance in the countries of the Islamic East such as Egypt, Hijaz, Jordan, Iraq and India?

• With regard to science, it is a common inheritance for this entire nation, but some civic concerns are preoccupied with it.

  So the owners of grace who have blessings from God and always comfort their share of this knowledge decreases, and the share of those who suffer from hardship and hardship increases, although this is not always steady.

  And the people of Shadaf do not find many books, so they rely on memorization, unlike the people of the big cities where books were abundant.

Whoever compares the villages of Mauritania to Cairo or Hyderabad - or any of the cities in which the printing presses were located - has made a mistake in his perception. It was not concluded with reading, as it is not “forbidden” for books that are read, so it is not permissible to put it with them! Due to the scarcity of books, people used to memorize them behind the scenes, and the sheikhs often did not explain the lesson to their students before memorizing it.

The texts that I, for example, memorized during the days of demand in grammar and morphology, are “Lamiah al-A’laal” by Ibn Malik al-Andalusi (d. 672 AH / 1274 AD) with Tura (= a footnote) by the scholar al-Hasan bin Zain al-Shanqiti (d. 1315 AH / 1898 AD), and Alfiyyah Ibn Malik with “Al-Jami’ Bayn al-Tashel” Al-Khassas’ by Al-Mukhtar bin Bona Al-Shanqeeti (d. 1220 AH / 1805 AD).

And 'The Clearest Paths' by Ibn Hisham al-Masry (d. 761 AH / 1360 AD) and the rest of his grammar books, as well as Ibn Malik's other grammar books.

In the art of hadith, the “Forty children” of al-Nawawi begin with al-Nawawi and al-Umda by al-Maqdisi (d. 600 AH / 1203 AD), then the “Muwatta” of Imam Malik (d. 179 AH / 795 AD) and the “Sahihan” by Al-Bukhari (d. 256 AH / 870 AD) and Muslim (d. 261 AH/875 AD), then the rest of the six books. In the biography and genealogy, they begin with systems of the scholar Ahmed Al-Badawi Al-Shanqeeti (d. 1208 AH / 1793 AD) such as the 'conquests' systems and the great 'Ansab' systems (1380 beta), the 'Conclusion' systems in the history of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs and the Islamic countries, as well as the 'Dawwal' systems by Ibn al-Khatib al-Andalus (d. 776 AH / 1374 AD), and in the Prophet’s Shama’il they study ‘Shama’il al-Muhammadiyah’ by ​​Al-Tirmidhi (d. 279 AH/892 AD), and ‘Shama’il the Messenger’ by Ibn Katheer (d. 774 AH/1372AD), and the systems ‘Shama’il’ by the scholar Ibn Mutali al-Shanqeeti (d. 1287 AH/1870AD).

Then in the terminology of hadith, they begin with the system of the scholar Sidi Abdullah Al-Shanqiti (d. 1233 AH / 1818 AD) called “Tali’at al-Anwar”, then the millennium of al-Hafiz al-Iraqi, and some of them read “The Introduction of Ibn al-Salah” (d. 643 AH / 1265 AD) with the “training of the narrator” by al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH / 1505 AD).

In the field of jurisprudence, they begin with the abbreviations that mothers teach to their children, such as “Mukhtasar Al-Akhdari” and “Nazm Ibn Asher”, then they study for the sheikhs “Matn al-Risala” and “Mukhtasar Khalil” with all his Shanqeeti, Egyptian and Moroccan explanations.

In comparative jurisprudence, they begin with the 'laws of jurisprudence' by Ibn Juzay al-Andalusi (d. 741 AH / 1341 AD), then they are graded in the major books of jurisprudence schools.

In the origins, they start with the 'Warakat' of Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni (d. 478 AH/1085AD) or one of its Shanqeeti systems, then they study the systems of 'The Shining Planet' by al-Suyuti (1450 beta), which is a very tight system for 'Jami al-Jami' by Ibn al-Subki (d. 771 AH/1370AD). They also study Maraqi Al-Saud (1001 verses) by Sidi Abdullah Al-Shanqeeti Al-Advance.

Firmness and tender

• Based on our critical view of the curricula of universities that are unable to produce skilled scholars;

  At the Scholars Training Center, we tried to bridge this gap, so the center’s decisions were comprehensive and focused, with another dimension absent from modern universities and schools, which is the educational dimension. It includes “the work of the day and the night” according to the Sunnah of the Prophet in that, so the students will grow up working scholars.

  And what called us to this is the abundance of immorality and its victory over the scholars of the sultans who justify every unjust what he likes of bloodshed and the oppression of people.

We did not neglect the contemporary dimension in the Scholar Training Center.

Students are obliged to prepare comparative research, be librarian, and visit other institutions to benefit from them and learn about their beneficial experiences, taking great care to memorize the courses that are 226 books, absorb them and build scientific talents in 63 arts as previously mentioned. For his specialization in all these arts that contemporary doctors specialize in one of them!

* In the face of criticism of the text and preservation;

Some wonder about the possibility of a person being a scientist without studying and memorizing these texts?

• For the conservation of

  these texts can not be human originally called science without it

  , mere reading is

  not a

  scientist because he does not keep him from reading ,

  but some meanings stray, but what man has

  always saved shall be as Imam Shafei said (d 204 AH / 820 AD):

  
  

  scientific with

  me wherever Immt ** follow me my heart his bowl no inner box

  
  

  that you're in the

  house where science was with

  me ** or you are

  in the

  market was science in the

  market!

Memorizing and mastering these texts is what remains with man from these sciences, and at that time the person will be prepared for all these explanations and they will remain with him.

Also, memorization is a condition for full understanding and assimilation of the sciences, which helps to deduce them.

* It

• As for the trip to the East, it was in 1408 AH / 1988 AD;

  She performed Hajj for the first time that year and then performed Hajj about thirty consecutive times, and the Hajj and Umrah seasons and others were a great opportunity to meet scholars and sheikhs from all over the Islamic world.

On that trip, I studied for two years at Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, and also studied there for a master's degree in jurisprudence and registered for a doctorate there. What I benefited from during this trip was learning contemporary scientific curricula, research methods, preparing lessons, and other research methods that the people of our country did not know at the time. I also learned contemporary disciplines in which I did not have any participation before university, such as Islamic economics, modern teaching curricula and the realization of manuscripts. I also got acquainted with the books of contemporary thought, and I benefited from meeting the sheikhs, discussing them and benefiting from their minds. And my trip was not limited to the Hijaz, as I visited Egypt and met many of its scholars.

As for my evaluation of these universities;

I see that they are centers for research training only because most of the sheikhs do not have that memorization, narration and art, and they are predominantly specialized, although some of them have an encyclopedia.

The truth is that contemporary educational institutions and universities were not originally established to graduate scholars, neither in the long-term nor in the intermediate term, but rather were established to train distinguished researchers who are accommodating of their time, in line with Western universities.

Therefore, when we look at the decisions of contemporary universities, we notice that their scientific and academic councils do not decide on any science except the most abbreviated abbreviations in it. You are a serious researcher, so how about an expert encyclopedic scientist?!

* What are the outcomes of the scientific explanations that you made in your scientific councils during your studies in Riyadh?

What are the texts that you have explained during that period?

• بالنسبة لشروح المتون فلم يكن من عادتي الاحتفاظ بها وإنما كان يسجلها وينشرها بعض طلبة العلم والمهتمون بالمتون، وقد تستضيفها بعض المؤسسات مثل جامعة الإمام محمد بن سعود الإسلامية التي شرحتُ في مسجدها خلال فترة دراستي الجامعية: ‘صحيح البخاري‘، شرح ’السلم المرونق‘ في المنطق، و’لامية الأفعال’ في التصريف مرتين، وشرح ’ألفية ابن مالك’ في النحو، وشرحت كتبا في علم أصول الفقه هي: ’الكوكب الساطع’ للسيوطي، و’مرتقى الأصول’ لابن عاصم الغرناطي (ت 829هـ/1425م)، و’سلم الأصول’ للعلامة محنض بابه الشنقيطي (ت 1277هـ/1860م)، و’شرح اللُّمع’ لأبي إسحق الشيرازي (ت 476هـ/1083م)، كما شرحت ’ألفية العراقي’ في مصطلح الحديث، و’العمدة’ في الفقه الحنبلي.

كما أقامت وزارة الأوقاف بدولة قطر كثيرا من الدورات شرحتُ فيها ’المعلقات’ ونُشر منها فقط معلقة امرئ القيس، و’التمهيد في تخريج الفروع على الأصول’ للإسنوي (ت 772هـ/1371م)، وكذلك وزارة الأوقاف بالكويت فقد شرحت في دورات استضافوها كتبا منها كتابِي ’مراتب الدلالة’ في أصول الفقه وقد طبعته الوزارة، و’الأربعون المنذرية’ في أدلة الأحكام للمنذري (ت 656هـ/1258م). كما أقمت دورات في أوروبا أهمها دورة في دار الرعاية بلندن شرحت فيها ’مقالات الإسلاميين’ لأبي الحسن الأشعري (ت 324هـ/935م)، وكتاب ’مفتاح الوصول إلى بناء الفروع على الأصول’ للتلمساني (ت 771هـ/1370م)، ومتن ’الرسالة’ لابن أبي زيد القيرواني (ت 386هـ/996م).

جهود مقدرة
* يشكو كثيرون من أزمة الاطلاع على التراث العربي في منابعه الأصلية؛ فكيف ترون المنهج الأمثل لمطالعة كتب التراث؟

• بالنسبة للاطلاع على كتب التراث فهو أمر لا بد منه خصوصا لطلاب العلم والمثقفين والباحثين، فحتى ولو درس أحدهم الكتب المعاصرة المقرِّبة للتراث فإن الاطلاع على الأصول وأمهات الكتب لا غنى عنه لطالب العالم، بل إن بعض الكتب التراثية يحتاج إلى دراسة متعمقة متأنية تستخرج دررها وكنوزها، فـ’كتاب سيبوَيْه’ أصل لا بد من الاطلاع عليه لدارس النحو، و’ألفية ابن مالك’ صارت من الأصول النحوية التي لا بد من معرفتها، ويقاس على هذين كل الكتب المؤسِّسة في مختلف الفنون فالدارس المتخصص لا يعتبر كذلك ما لم يصحب الأمهات، وهي كتب صارت مطبوعة ميسرة ومحققة.

أما مناهج الاطلاع والمدارسة فقد تطورت، وهي مختلفة باختلاف الأشخاص وتكوينهم المعرفي وما يسهِّل لهم الانتفاع؛ فبعض الدارسين تعوّد النقاش والمثاقفة مع أقرانه وزملائه، وهذا منهج جيد لانتفاع الشخص بعقل غيره، وبعض المطالعين اعتاد الانفراد والخلوة ويراها أنفع لنفسه مع جَرْد المطولات ومقارنتها بغيرها من الكتب المؤلفة في بابها ليعرف حقيقة تكوُّن هذا العلم وتشعبه. وأرى أن المنهج الأفضل هو الجمع بين المنهجيْن لما فيه من فوائد تدبّر العزلة وتأمّل الانفراد ومقابسة الأقران والزملاء، ومن الوسائل التثبيتية المهمة للباحثين في هذا العصر كتابة البحوث التراثية ومناقشتها مع المتخصصين، فالبحث العلمي وسيلة من وسائل حفظ العلم في هذا العصر.

* كيف تقيّمون جهود صياغة معارف التراث عموما في الكتب المعاصرة التي تتناول علومه ومسائله (كتب تيسير علوم الفقه والأصول والحديث والنحو… إلخ)؟

• ينبغي أن يكون لأهل كل زمان كتبهم ومؤلفاتهم اللائقة بهم على مستوى لغتهم وثقافتهم وفهمهم، ومن هنا لا أرى بأسا في الكتب المعاصرة التي ألِّفت في فنون شتى تقريبا لعلوم التراث وتيسيرا لفهمه، وهي كتب مشهورة متفاوتة الحجم والمستوى العلمي وهو أمر طبيعي. وهذا التقريب والتيسير ينبغي أن يشمل جميع العلوم، ومن أشدها حاجة للتقريب والتجديد كتب الفقه؛ إذ يحتاج أهل العصر كتبا فقهية تنطلق من واقعهم، وتأتي بأمثلة معاصرة بدل الأمثلة القديمة فالمعاملات المالية الحالية مختلفة اختلافا جذريا عن المعاملات القديمة في التصور والأمثلة.

* شهد العصر الحديث كذلك حركة إحياء وتحقيق لكتب التراث المختلفة؛ فكيف تقيمون جهود هذه الحركة في بُعديْها الاستشراقي والعربي/الإسلامي؟ ومن هم أفضل المحققين في عصرنا من واقع اطلاعكم؟

• ما تجدد في عصرنا هذا من تحقيق الكتب التراثية -ببُعديْه الاستشراقي والعربي الإسلامي- هو مما نفع الله به تراث هذه الأمة؛ فقد كانت الرواية قديما تسُدُّ مسدَّه إذ لم يكن طلاب العلم يكتفون بقراءة الكتب انفرادا، بل كانوا يقارنون النسخ على أصولها وينقحونها ويضيفون الزوائد والهوامش. والواقع أن المسلمين سبقوا غيرهم إلى تحقيق المخطوطات، وأقدم من فعل ذلك شرف الدين اليونيني (ت 701هـ/1301م) رحمه الله حين أخذ نُسَخاً من ‘صحيح البخاري‘ وجمع ستة عشر عالما (فيهم الإمام ابن مالك النحوي)، فقارنوا بين النُّسَخ وكتبوا رموزا وإشارات لاختلافاتها. وبفضل جهود اليونيني التحقيقية هذه كانت نسخته من البخاري أصلا فريدا اعتمد عليه مَن جاء بعده من شُرّاح البخاري القدماء ومحققيه المعاصرين.

أما المستشرقون فإنهم ليسوا سواسية في خدمتهم للتراث؛ فبعضهم انطلق في تحقيقه واعتنائه بالتراث من خلفيات استعمارية حاقدة على الإسلام والشرق، فكان اعتناؤهم انتقائيا متحاملا وبعض تحقيقاتهم تعتمد التحريف كما في تحقيقهم لكتاب ’المصاحف’ لابن أبي داود السجستاني (ت 316هـ/928م). ومع ذلك لا ننكر أن بعض المستشرقين انطلقوا من اهتمامهم بالتراث -تحقيقا ونشرا- منطلقا علميا بحتا، فخدموا بذلك التراث وأبلوا فيه بلاء حسنا.

وأما التحقيق الإسلامي فقد أبلى فيه أعلامٌ بلاءً حسناً فكانت أياديهم بيضاء على تراث أمتنا إخراجا وتصحيحا؛ مثل آل شاكر: أحمد شاكر (ت 1377هـ/1958م) وأخيه محمود شاكر (ت 1418هـ/1997م)، وابن خالهم عبد السلام هارون (ت 1408هـ/1988م)، فهؤلاء أخرجوا كنوز تراثنا الشرعي واللغوي والأدبي منه، ولم تزل تحقيقاتهم أصولا يُعتمد عليها، وكذلك مَن في جيلهم من محققي مصر الكبار مثل محمد أبو الفضل إبراهيم (ت 1400هـ/1980م)، وعلي محمد البجاوي (ت 1399م/1979م)، وبعدهم جاء جيل الشيخ عبد الفتاح الحلو (ت 1414هـ/1994م).

وفي غير مصر كان محققون من كل الأقطار الإسلامية بالمغرب والجزائر والجزيرة العربية والشام والعراق وفي الهند، ولا ننسَ الدور الذي قامت به مجامع اللغة في القاهرة ودمشق وبغداد من إخراج متقَن لكتُب التراث، فتحقيقات أعضاء المجامع العلمية واللغوية تغلب عليها الجودة، وقد اعتنى محققون بتراث أعلام معينين، وكان الشيخ محمد أبو الأجفان (ت 1427هـ/2006م) من المحققين المشهورين الذين خدموا التراث المالكي خدمة جليلة. ومن الأعلام الأحياء الذين اعتنوا بتراث الذهبي وأخرجوه إخراجا متقنا المحقق العراقي بشار عواد.

وثمة محققون برزوا في تحقيق السُّنة وتمييز صحيحها من سقيمها، وكان فارس هذا الميدان الشيخ الألباني (ت 1420هـ/1999م) وهو من المحققين الذين عرفتهم. ولا يخفى أن التحقيق في عالمنا الإسلامي شهد نهضة كبيرة أفادت العلم وأهله وصانت التراث، قبل أن يُتَّخَذ التحقيق والنشر تجارة وتربحا؛ ورغم أن بعض الكتب التراثية المحققة قد تكون فيها أخطاء فادحة، إما لاعتماد المحقق على نسخة واحدة غير مروية ولا مقابلة أو لكونها طُمست سطورها لأي سبب.

اقتباس متبادل
* ما هي معايير "التراثية" في نظركم.. أي كيف نصنف كتابا ما على أنه من التراث؟ وهل التراث مقتصر على ما كتبه المسلمون فقط دون غيرهم من أبناء الحضارة الإسلامية؟

• بالنسبة للتراث فإنه في أصله يعني الموروث الذي يحرص الناس عليه، وهذا الموروث في حضارتنا أقسام؛ أولها: القسم الذي أنتجه المسلمون وغيرهم في عصر الإسلام، والثاني: أشعار وأخبار مروية عن العرب الجاهليين، والثالث: مترجمات عن الأمم الأخرى كالإغريق والفُرْس والهند وغيرهم. وكل هذه الأقسام من تراث هذه الأمة لأنها شاركت في تكوينها الثقافي وخيالها الأدبي وتأطير شخصياتها العلمية؛ فنحن الآن من تراثنا شعر الشعراء الستة الجاهليين و‘ديوان الحماسة‘ وغير ذلك، ومن تراثنا أيضا ما تُرجم عن الإغريق من المنطق والفلسفة، وكذلك ما تُرجم من آداب الأمم الأخرى مثل ’كليلة ودمنة’.

وثمة تصنيف ثقافي آخر يجعل بعض المنتَجات الأدبية عالمية الانتماء لمشاركة جميع الحضارات في صياغتها، مثلما تقضي به معايير منظمة اليونسكو المعروفة. فنحن قد أثرت عدة عوامل في حياتنا الثقافية من المترجَمات المستورَدة، وأظهر معالم ذلك التأثيرِ تلاحَظ في شعر بعض الشعراء الذين أثـّـروا بدورهم فيمن جاء بعدهم، كما نجد ذلك في القصيدتين السينيتيْن الشهيرتين لأبي نواس (ت 198هـ/813م) والبحتري (ت 284هـ/898م) عن ثقافة الفرس وآثارهم في ميادين الحرب ومجالس اللهو والشراب.

* ما ضوابط تعامل المسلمين مع تراث الأمم الأخرى أخذاً وتركاً.. في ظل ما يقال عن التأثير الساساني الفارسي الكبير في الفكر السياسي الإسلامي؟

• بالنسبة لنا لا نضيق ذرعا ولا نكتم أننا تأثرنا بالأمم الأخرى، وأنا نعتبر الحضارات إرثا إنسانيا عالميا مشترَكا، وأن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أخذ فكرة حفر الخندق من حضارة الفرس، وأخذ فكرة الخاتم (= ختم الرسائل الرسمية) من حضارة الروم، وليس لدى المسلمين أي عُقدة نقص في أخذ ما هو صحيح نافع من الأمم الأخرى، لا سيما في مسائل الحضارة المادية التقنية.

وفيما يخص الجانب السياسي؛ فإنه لم يكن لدى العرب نظام حكم لأنهم كانوا أمة بدوية، ولما توسعت الدولة الإسلامية احتاجوا إلى أن يقتبسوا مما لدى الآخرين، وحينئذ لم يكن هذا الاقتباس عفويا ولا ساذجا بل كان عن خبرة ودراسة، وتلك مهمة قام بها التراجمة المتقنون لتلك الحضارات ولغاتها، وكانت الدولة إذا احتاجت كتابا معينا أنفقت الأموال على ترجمته واقتنائه، وكان ذلك الانتقاء صادرا عن قرار سياسي ولكل قرار سياسي سلبيات وإيجابيات، ولم نختر غالبا من منتَجات تلك الحضارات إلا أعلاها وأسماها، وكان العلماء بالمرصاد لتنقية تلك العلوم المترجمة من شوائب جذور بعضها الوثني.

In contrast;

Other nations have been affected by Islamic civilization, including the modern European Renaissance, so that the French "Napoleon Law" was based on the Maliki jurisprudence, and Europeans and others took our flags - such as Al-Farabi (d. 339 AH / 950 AD), Ibn Sina (d. 428 AH / 1037 AD) and Ibn Rushd (d. 595 AH). / 1198 AD) and Ibn al-Haytham (d. 430 AH / 1041 AD) and Ibn al-Bitar (d. 646 AH / 1248 AD) - many issues of medicine, so they built on them modern medicine as well as philosophy, and nations depend on Muslims in the sciences of geography and astronomical insights!