This is a remarkable volume that touches upon the method by which a student learns Islam in a meaningful and lasting way. Its author, Imam al-Zarnuji, has attracted the attention of Western men of learning for centuries, as they tried to decipher the secret behind the stunning educational success of Islamic civilization. Imam al-Zarnuji captured the essence of what it takes to be truly immersed in scholarship and the noble enterprise of learning. 

Imam Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani said: "Learn! for learning is an adornment for one who possesses it, a virtue and a prelude to every praiseworthy action. Profit each day by increasing [your] learning and swimming in the seas of beneficial knowledge. Give yourself up to the study of jurisprudence, for the knowledge of jurisprudence is the best guide to piety and the fear of God, and it is the straightest path to the ultimate goal. It is the milestone leading to the ways of proper guidance; it is the fortress that saves [one] from all hardships. Indeed, one godly person versed in jurisprudence is more powerful against Satan than a thousand [ordinary] worshippers."

"This book should be a starting point for the revival of the Islamic intellectual tradition that has always been the preamble to Islamic Renaissance," writes Hamza Yusuf in his foreword to the book.

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