Mutun Talib al-Ilm - al-Mustawa al-Awwal
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- Dr. Abd al-Muhsin ibn Muhammad al-Qasim
Mutun Talib al-Ilm - al-Mustawa al-Awwal (Texts for the Student of Knowledge – Level One) is an educational compilation of foundational Islamic texts (mutun) edited and arranged by Abd al-Muhsin al-Qasim, the imam and khatib of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina . It serves as the opening stage of a comprehensive, six-level memorization curriculum covering twenty-two core pedagogical works across various disciplines of Islamic learning .
Scope and Contents
The curriculum is structured around gradual progression in memorization alongside diversity in subject matter . Following a preparatory level (al-Mustawa al-Tamhidi) dedicated to daily supplications and etiquette, Level One encompasses four foundational treatises in creed (aqidah) and hadith :
- Al-Usul al-Thalathah wa-Adillatuha (The Three Fundamental Principles and Their Evidences) by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab .
- Al-Qawa'id al-Arba' (The Four Foundations) by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab .
- Nawaqid al-Islam (The Nullifiers of Islam) by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab .
- Al-Arba'un fi Mabani al-Islam wa-Qawa'id al-Ahkam (commonly known as al-Arba'un al-Nawawiyyah) by Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi .
Editorial Method
The texts comprising the first five levels of the series were critically edited relying on 230 selected manuscripts chosen from more than 600 copies gathered from various libraries and private collections worldwide (an earlier printing relied on 160 manuscripts selected from over 500) . The editor provided full vocalization (tashkil) and punctuation calibrated to the meanings of the text . To facilitate memorization for students, the primary student edition was stripped of marginal variant readings, which were recorded separately in an unabridged critical edition .
Pedagogical Method and Recommended Works
The book includes instructions on the traditional methodology of memorizing and reviewing texts :
- Memorization limits: Students are advised to limit daily memorization to three hadiths for hadith works, a maximum of five lines for prose texts, and three verses for poetic compositions .
- Daily routine: The new daily portion is repeated twenty times from memory after the dawn prayer (Fajr), repeated another twenty times after Asr or Maghrib, and reviewed twenty times the following morning before starting new material .
- Systematic review: Completed texts are reviewed at a rate of two pages repeated twenty times daily, with five repetitions of the previous day's review and a dedicated weekly pause day to consolidate the entire week's material .
The volume also outlines recommended commentaries (shuruh) for the Level One texts: Sharh Thalathat al-Usul by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al al-Shaykh, Sharh al-Qawa'id al-Arba' and Sharh Nawaqid al-Islam by Salih al-Fawzan, and Jami' al-Ulum wa-l-Hikam by Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali . For concurrent reading, it recommends Al-Tibyan fi Adab Hamalat al-Quran by al-Nawawi and Al-Wabil al-Sayyib min al-Kalim al-Tayyib by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah .
Institutional Teaching
A dedicated division was established at the Prophet's Mosque in Medina to facilitate the memorization and testing of these texts for students throughout the year, alongside distance-learning circles administered online .
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