When I was in my first year in madeenah uni, I visited a shaykh called Ubaid al Jaabiree and I had a very important question. Important to me at least. I said in my broken Arabic after studying it for less than a year “Shaykh, there’s this teacher, and he said xyz, is he a deviant?”. Upon hearing my question he said “study knowledge, may Allaah bless you”.
That answer was the best advice, and answer I received at the time, as I was able to extract from it way more than what I asked for.
1) My question isn’t as important as I thought it was.
2) The answer isn’t going to solve my fundamental problem, which was ignorance.
3) By following his advice, I would solve all the above in one go.
4) Just because I asked a question, doesn’t mean that the answer is what I need.
5) Listen to those who have been through the trenches and have survived countless battles and learn lessons of life that they are now conveying to you.
6) Be humble to accept what may sometimes be a painful lesson/answer (as it was embarrassing to have that answer in front of everyone)
7) Don’t solve problems by attacking the branches, but kill it from the root.
