Online resources for understanding Islam
The internet contains a lot of resources on Islam. Unfortunately some are unreliable and may give the reader a distorted or deviated understanding of Islam. In this module, we try to provide external links to some global online resources in English to make it easier to access materials necessary for understanding the teachings of Islam.
It is better to read structured reading materials or view structured lessons on videos rather than view short video clips. This may take hours of learning but will inshaAllah provide us with grounded knowledge on Islam and will help us to defend ourselves against intimidation by those who lack understanding on Islam.
Every Muslim is obliged to learn the minimum Personal Obligatory knowledge. Failure to do so is sinful.
Great Muslim Scholars
Narrated `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As:
حَدَّثَنَا إِسْمَاعِيلُ بْنُ أَبِي أُوَيْسٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي مَالِكٌ، عَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ عُرْوَةَ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَمْرِو بْنِ الْعَاصِ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ “ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَقْبِضُ الْعِلْمَ انْتِزَاعًا، يَنْتَزِعُهُ مِنَ الْعِبَادِ، وَلَكِنْ يَقْبِضُ الْعِلْمَ بِقَبْضِ الْعُلَمَاءِ، حَتَّى إِذَا لَمْ يُبْقِ عَالِمًا، اتَّخَذَ النَّاسُ رُءُوسًا جُهَّالاً فَسُئِلُوا، فَأَفْتَوْا بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ، فَضَلُّوا وَأَضَلُّوا ”.
قَالَ الْفِرَبْرِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا عَبَّاسٌ قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ حَدَّثَنَا جَرِيرٌ عَنْ هِشَامٍ نَحْوَهُ
I heard Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) saying, “Allah does not take away the knowledge, by taking it away from (the hearts of) the people, but takes it away by the death of the religious learned men till when none of the (religious learned men) remains, people will take as their leaders ignorant persons who when consulted will give their verdict without knowledge. So they will go astray and will lead the people astray.” (Bukhari)
Some of our great Muslim scholars:
Scholars from the salaf (first 3 generations of Islam)
- Imam Abu Hanifa (80 – 150 AH)
- Imam Sufyan al-Thawri (97 – 161 AH)
- Imam Malik bin Anas (93 – 179 AH)
- Imam Shafii (150 – 204 AH)
- Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (164 – 241 AH)
- Imam Junaid al-Baghdadi ( – 298 AH)
- Imam Abu Jaafar At-Tahawi (239 – 321 AH)
- Imam Abu Hassan Ash’ari (260- 324 AH)
- Imam Abu Mansor Al-Maturidi ( – 333 AH)
Scholars from the khalaf (subsequent generations)
- Imam Al-Juwaini aka Imam Al-Haramain (417 – 463 AH)
- Imam al-Ghazali (450 – 505 AH)
- Imam Nawawi (631 – 676 AH)
- Imam Ibnu Hajar Al-Asqalani (773 – 852 AH)
- Imam as-Suyuti (849 – 911 AH)